PC Interface Project - Home made DIS

[Alan_uk]

This is at the idea stage, some may say fantasy stage!

I've an old 486 laptop PC that has no real value [just saw one go on ebay for £5 - to think I paid £1200 for it 10 years ago :-( ]- Anyway, I was thinking could I use it to create my own DIS? The first issue is how to get info out of the on-board computer, presumably via the VAG port, so some questions on that:

1. Does this provide info in real-time whilst the vehicle is moving?
2. Is there an interface specification?
3. Will it provide info on distance travelled and fuel consumption?

Anyone know the answers or where to find them?

Alternatively maybe the PC can drive a webcam and record anyone deliberately raming me http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6248515.stm

 

[spike]

Hi Alan

I'm no expert on this subject but a good starting point could be VagCom. Even with an old spec lead and early software you should be able to plot live data - not sure about fuel consumption or mileage though
http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-scope/index.html

Cheers Spike

 

[Alan_uk]

Hi Spike

Thanks for the ref. I had a quick look late last night. VAG-Scope is open source and free but it's a plug-in to the VAG-Com. A shareware version of VAG-COM can be download but it needs Win95 and a 1GHz processor. My old PC is Win311 and 500MHz. Still I could test the concept on my main laptop. A serial interface cable can be got on e-bay for £15 inc. p&p. So that may be a starting point.

If I can find out the data protocols then I think it might be easier to write the software myself to do some basic data capture and calculations rather than trying to decipher and change VAG-Com.

So I'll explore some of the other s/w around in case they make it easier to figure out what the protocol is. I can then probably use Windows terminal interface software to send commands and see what comes back.