(accidentally posted this as anonymous coward also, stupid cookies)
Got a mini I want to do this to, a red one even. Though they also grow yellow mackintoshes. (is that spelling for the fruit or the raincoat? my checker only had one)
It's a first year model and is about to go off warranty. we'll see what happens when it does. I'm not sure it can be done. I've got the in dash GPS system, but no CD for it so it's a useless LCD premounted in the middle of my dash with roof wired GPS just waiting for love, but the CD player may cause some hard core issues.
It's a wacky one and I think it may control a lot more than the stereo. It's a DVD player for one thing and there are numerous readouts available in the screen which means its attached somehow to the gas tank and possibly the climate control system as well. There are also control buttons in the steering wheel. I asked if they had specs once at the dealership and they looked at me like I was nuts.
There are skilled hands at least theoretically available. A certified BMW mechanic (got one, he rents my garage) A really good coder to script the weirdness for the buttons (he's also a tech writer and thinks he can get the hardware donated maybe) a machinist with a CDC for parts and an electrical engineer (brother in law and father in law of the writer, I haven't um, talked to them yet, heh..)
Won't touch it without specs though. there's just no telling what that durn stereo does.
Anyone know anything about mini in-dash electronics out there who can tell me how bad an idea this is?
There may have been a revenge factor involved. When one picks a jury to try a crime the defense tries very hard to, among other things, make sure that the actual crime victims are not on the jury. Because of the pervasive natureof spam this may not have been possible unless one found the last 12 people in the US who simply do not use the internet. Was this tried to a jury and were the jury members internet users? It might have had a major effect on the trial.
At the risk of being simultaneously off topic and political, this bears significant similarity to the whole homeland security thing. [curmudgeonly rant] Perhaps this is just what folks do when they have to protect a group, to whom they are theoretically but not actually responsible to, from something but have little actual capability to do so without causing themselves significant difficulty:
Make lots of noise and display all your actions very visibly, but don't do anything that would actually obstruct your own personal business. And maybe you can find a bit of candy for yourselves around the edges as well. [/curmudgeonly rant]
I remember either Porsche or Volkswagen having a limited slip clutch that consisted of two perforated disks set next to each other in a container of special goo. If the wheels slipped it caused the disks to rotate at different speeds and the friction caused enough heat to turn the goo solid. I can't remember why they quit using it but it was more than a few years ago. I think it was going into their 4 wheel drive race cars. Just a memory though I got no hard data. Anyone know more about this?
This is funny conceptually, but sadly it is also the way it may very well turn out. barring the enzyme type cleaners mentioned in passing below, the only real way to get your money back out of these things is to engage the sombody-elses-problem field. I really hope I don't wind up buying one of these.
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(accidentally posted this as anonymous coward also, stupid cookies) Got a mini I want to do this to, a red one even. Though they also grow yellow mackintoshes. (is that spelling for the fruit or the raincoat? my checker only had one) It's a first year model and is about to go off warranty. we'll see what happens when it does. I'm not sure it can be done. I've got the in dash GPS system, but no CD for it so it's a useless LCD premounted in the middle of my dash with roof wired GPS just waiting for love, but the CD player may cause some hard core issues. It's a wacky one and I think it may control a lot more than the stereo. It's a DVD player for one thing and there are numerous readouts available in the screen which means its attached somehow to the gas tank and possibly the climate control system as well. There are also control buttons in the steering wheel. I asked if they had specs once at the dealership and they looked at me like I was nuts. There are skilled hands at least theoretically available. A certified BMW mechanic (got one, he rents my garage) A really good coder to script the weirdness for the buttons (he's also a tech writer and thinks he can get the hardware donated maybe) a machinist with a CDC for parts and an electrical engineer (brother in law and father in law of the writer, I haven't um, talked to them yet, heh..) Won't touch it without specs though. there's just no telling what that durn stereo does. Anyone know anything about mini in-dash electronics out there who can tell me how bad an idea this is?
There may have been a revenge factor involved. When one picks a jury to try a crime the defense tries very hard to, among other things, make sure that the actual crime victims are not on the jury. Because of the pervasive natureof spam this may not have been possible unless one found the last 12 people in the US who simply do not use the internet. Was this tried to a jury and were the jury members internet users? It might have had a major effect on the trial.
Just as well. Looked like a lameo astroturf type ad anyway
At the risk of being simultaneously off topic and political, this bears significant similarity to the whole homeland security thing.
[curmudgeonly rant]
Perhaps this is just what folks do when they have to protect a group, to whom they are theoretically but not actually responsible to, from something but have little actual capability to do so without causing themselves significant difficulty:
Make lots of noise and display all your actions very visibly, but don't do anything that would actually obstruct your own personal business. And maybe you can find a bit of candy for yourselves around the edges as well. [/curmudgeonly rant]
I remember either Porsche or Volkswagen having a limited slip clutch that consisted of two perforated disks set next to each other in a container of special goo. If the wheels slipped it caused the disks to rotate at different speeds and the friction caused enough heat to turn the goo solid. I can't remember why they quit using it but it was more than a few years ago. I think it was going into their 4 wheel drive race cars. Just a memory though I got no hard data. Anyone know more about this?
This is funny conceptually, but sadly it is also the way it may very well turn out. barring the enzyme type cleaners mentioned in passing below, the only real way to get your money back out of these things is to engage the sombody-elses-problem field. I really hope I don't wind up buying one of these.