In-Dash Screen as Monitor of Autopi?

Hi All,
I am wanting to install an Autopi in my 2018 Ram Promaster 2500 which I use for work but also have some of my ham radios in.
My first question is being my Uconnect is the dumbed down version and does not have a Mapping program in it, can I acquire the screen through the bus whereas I am able to port a map program and some ham radio digital apps to it thus eliminating the need to install another screen?

Secondly, If I want to utilize a Pi4 what do I need to purchase?

Super specific question may only be best answered on a Ram forum (i.e. is there a factory harness to HDMI adapter?) My experience in this area is tangentially related (my car had a junky UConnect 3) but I would expect the answer to be unlikely and not with software alone. I have seen some adapters that allow multiple RCA inputs into a factory head unit, particularly if it already has one (yourā€™s is a 2018 so I believe itā€™s legally required to have a backup camera.) Then youā€™d have to consider, where is your map/ham app coming from? The Pi? A phone? You may need additional hardware/software to achieve.

All considered, I ended up replacing my unit because I wanted CarPlay and HDMI came along for the ride. Once I started messing with Pi in the car you realize there are some drawbacks to head unit for this application. It counts as a ā€œsourceā€ so your music stops while viewing HDMIā€¦ Less than ideal.

There are some decent affordable brand name units out there, most of which support HDMI. If you can I would try them out and see if they suit your needs. Otherwise a secondary display would be easier and cheaper, but likely DIY looking. Sounds like you were looking to have a clean OEM look.

Also, to the best of my knowledge, Raspberry Pi 4 is not well supported in AutoPi, but it sounds like support is planned.

Thank you Carrrl for the reply and the information! I most likely will build up a pi in a secondary display which I can fold or otherwise hideaway when not in use.
Thanks again!

I have Done this now. I have use the local MQTT Broker and convert this sensor values to a Odroid Show2. I had the still lying here.


But now the Raspberry 3 a+ has too much to do. All my scripts bring it to the limit

event.system.kernel.timestamp: ā€˜2021-05-20T16:11:05,009850+0000ā€™
event.system.kernel.message: ā€˜Out of memory: Kill process 2759 (python) score 348 or sacrifice childā€™
event.system.kernel.level: err
event.system.kernel.facility: kern

I try it now again with a Raspberry 4

The Odroid Show orginal script it also written in Python2. But I would like to rewrite it to Python3. Therefore the whole thing is far from final. But through the MQTT broker it is relatively easy to get the data on a LCD display. I use an old ILI9340 here. The modern ones are also much faster with the data write and display.

If you are interested I can open the repo with the script. I would then like to have more input.

2 Likes

Hi @dasTholo,

Cool project, its always great to see your builds.

For reference, we recently released our RPi4 supported image. You can find it here:

Best
Peter

I did it this morning! I am waiting for the device activation of the support, with the new minion id.

And failureā€¦I have broken the Displayā€¦
Now i want to switch to a another GUI to show the MQTT Valuesā€¦ When itĀ“s doneā€¦