Madox.NET

HTML Can Sniffer

This is probably the most ridiculous way to reverse engineer something to date… a Chumby, an EasySync CAN Sniffer, PHP and JavaScript… but it works.

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After getting my EasySync USB-Can Adapter it was time to resurrect the mChumby project.  The interface GUI design hasn’t changed much, namely because its been lying idle but I figured it is good enough to try putting it onto the car for a test run.

I didn’t want to fiddle around with getting power to the Chumby, so the test is simply using my trusty old laptop and the EasySync adapter.  Only the speedometer, the tachometer and the accelerator pedal position is attached because again I’m too lazy to fiddle with my cable layout and as such its connected to the Mazda HS-Can bus only rather than the MS-Can where the goodie trip computer information is contained.

Almost every concoction of technology is used ranging from CAN, USB, PHP, HTTP, Shared Memory, XML, Flash, to an obscure programming language called HaXe.  Here is the result :-

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Neat little package

The toys just keep coming in!  Another one of those wallet killing impulsive orders whilst I was sick in bed last week just arrived today, a USB-CAN bus converter module by EasySync that promises a great interface and should work in Linux!  This will give a little bump start to my Mazda CAN Bus / mChumby projects.

Note : EasySync UK’s online form doesn’t allow international shipping but a short E-mail or two managed that.  There is a US subsidiary with US and international shipping, but the international shipping rates on the US site is plain ridiculous [$68USD to ship a $88 device to Australia].

Note 2 : I hear the interface is mimicking the Lawicel CAN-USB interface…only hearsay…

Plugged it in – didn’t work.  Doh!  Took a peek at the manual and website, nothing on Linux other than “Linux drivers provided”… So much for the marketing material, guess I have to try make it work myself.  (Yes I got it working, read on for the quick run-down post aimed at helping others)

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This is one of those posts where the sole purpose is for me to upload a few photos for a forum

I was shopping the other day and came across these cut tin can lolly containers in the shape of a fridge…”That’ll be a great Chumby shell!  All I’ll need to do is make a cutout at the front and a couple of holes at the back!”

Just thought I’ll do a quick test tonight with a chisel and a hammer… wasn’t too bad but I did it in a rush so there was an uncoordinated side cut…need to file it a bit…

Chumby in a fridge!

Ooops I had my USB memory stuck in...

The idea is to put a USB hard-drive in the ‘fridge’ as well and voila home media/web server

Working a 70 hour week dampened my enthusiasm for the MChumby but I managed to scrape a couple of hours today to try my hand with HaXe + Flash to prototype the Chumby Interface.

Test of revised layout

A few interesting tidbits were learned from the experiments :-

1. HaXe + Geany are great for developing flash widgets for the Chumby
2. Gnash doesn’t render the same as Linux Adobe Flash
3. Chumby renders the same as Adobe Flash
4. Text vertical alignment in flash is crap

A bit of background and a demo video of the widget on the Chumby after the break.

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