Post by joeytalent on Apr 17, 2016 14:29:29 GMT
OK, so this isn't a new idea by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought I'd put together a guide for this mighty fine website.
The Idea
I don't really listen to much music in my car, but I'd love to be able to use MS Droid all the time, along with Google maps. It just so happens that a Nexus 7 tablet is about the same size as a double DIN opening, much like the one where your stereo in an MX5 sits. Someone smarter than me has already created all the necessary software to get the tablet to turn on and off with the ignition, so in theory, this should all be pretty straightforward.
The setup I'm going for is this:
Power will be supplied by an additional cigarette lighter socket that is wired in behind the dash, so it will be a plug and play solution. The flash drive will be used to store my favourite disco music, and to log from MS Droid onto.
The Tablet
I had my mum's dead 2012 Nexus 7 WiFi (model number is ME370T). For some reason, it had decided that booting up was no longer something it wanted to do any more, and it had been sat in my desk drawer for a couple of years with the vague intention of fixing it at some point. Well, I couldn't ever get it to boot up again, so I bought another Nexus 7 off eBay that had a smashed screen and swapped the internals over and voila, I have a working tablet again:
So what do you need to do to the tablet software wise? Well, it's actually pretty simple. Firstly, you should know that you will be wiping the tablet completely, so back up all those pictures of cats somewhere first.
You'll need a computer to do this. I use Windows, but I'm sure if you have something of the fruity persuasion, you'll be able to perform similar steps.
Grab the Android SDK toolkit from here developer.android.com/sdk/index.html. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and get just the command line tools.
Next you'll need the Nexus 7 drivers from here developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html.
Enable USB debugging on your tablet. To do this, go to Settings > About Tablet and press the version number seven times. You should see a message about enabling developer mode. Go back into Settings > Developer options and enable USB debugging.
Now you can plug the tablet into your computer. You should see something like this in Device Manager:
Open up a console window (press Windows Key + R and run "cmd"), and then type the following:
> adb devices
You should see a response like this:
List of devices attached
015d2d42ff101216 device
Reboot the device into the bootloader by typing:
> adb reboot bootloader
Once it's restarted, you're going to unlock the bootloader. This lets you flash the new ROM onto the tablet. Type:
> fastboot devices
Again, you should see your device listed in the console. Then enter:
> fastboot oem unlock
You'll have to accept the T&Cs on the tablet using the volume and power keys, and then the tablet will reboot. If everything has worked, then you'll see a padlock on the Google boot up screen.
Repeat the step above to enable USB debugging again.
Next up, you'll install a new recovery onto the tablet. Rather than duplicate the instructions here, just follow the appropriate link for your tablet:
Nexus 7 2012 Wifi - wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_grouper
Nexus 7 2012 GSM - wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_tilapia
Nexus 7 2013 - wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_flo
Follow the steps for "Installing a custom recovery using fastboot".
Once you have that all done, grab the ROM you want to install (I have the Nexus 7 2012 WiFi one here drive.google.com/file/d/0BxNchebgbDqqdTVrS3RZWnY4eDQ/view?usp=sharing) and save it to somewhere easy to find on your computer.
With your console still open, push the .zip file you just downloaded to the memory of the tablet:
> adb push filename.zip /sdcard/
Boot the tablet into recovery mode by typing:
> adb reboot recovery
You will now be in the recovery software you installed in the above steps. Now would be a good time to take a backup by choosing "Backup". Once that's done, choose "Wipe" and swipe right at the bottom of the screen to perform a factory reset.
Go back to the main menu of the recovery and choose "Install". Browse to the SD Card directory, and choose the zip file that you pushed to the tablet and install it. The tablet will eventually reboot, and you should now have the USB ROM installed.
Why did you do all this? Well, the special thing about this USB ROM is that it supports fixed installation mode. Once you enable this in Settings > USB Host > Fixed Installation Mode, the tablet will automatically power on when it gets power, and go into a "deep sleep" when the power is cut.
The Idea
I don't really listen to much music in my car, but I'd love to be able to use MS Droid all the time, along with Google maps. It just so happens that a Nexus 7 tablet is about the same size as a double DIN opening, much like the one where your stereo in an MX5 sits. Someone smarter than me has already created all the necessary software to get the tablet to turn on and off with the ignition, so in theory, this should all be pretty straightforward.
The setup I'm going for is this:
Power will be supplied by an additional cigarette lighter socket that is wired in behind the dash, so it will be a plug and play solution. The flash drive will be used to store my favourite disco music, and to log from MS Droid onto.
The Tablet
I had my mum's dead 2012 Nexus 7 WiFi (model number is ME370T). For some reason, it had decided that booting up was no longer something it wanted to do any more, and it had been sat in my desk drawer for a couple of years with the vague intention of fixing it at some point. Well, I couldn't ever get it to boot up again, so I bought another Nexus 7 off eBay that had a smashed screen and swapped the internals over and voila, I have a working tablet again:
So what do you need to do to the tablet software wise? Well, it's actually pretty simple. Firstly, you should know that you will be wiping the tablet completely, so back up all those pictures of cats somewhere first.
You'll need a computer to do this. I use Windows, but I'm sure if you have something of the fruity persuasion, you'll be able to perform similar steps.
Grab the Android SDK toolkit from here developer.android.com/sdk/index.html. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and get just the command line tools.
Next you'll need the Nexus 7 drivers from here developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html.
Enable USB debugging on your tablet. To do this, go to Settings > About Tablet and press the version number seven times. You should see a message about enabling developer mode. Go back into Settings > Developer options and enable USB debugging.
Now you can plug the tablet into your computer. You should see something like this in Device Manager:
Open up a console window (press Windows Key + R and run "cmd"), and then type the following:
> adb devices
You should see a response like this:
List of devices attached
015d2d42ff101216 device
Reboot the device into the bootloader by typing:
> adb reboot bootloader
Once it's restarted, you're going to unlock the bootloader. This lets you flash the new ROM onto the tablet. Type:
> fastboot devices
Again, you should see your device listed in the console. Then enter:
> fastboot oem unlock
You'll have to accept the T&Cs on the tablet using the volume and power keys, and then the tablet will reboot. If everything has worked, then you'll see a padlock on the Google boot up screen.
Repeat the step above to enable USB debugging again.
Next up, you'll install a new recovery onto the tablet. Rather than duplicate the instructions here, just follow the appropriate link for your tablet:
Nexus 7 2012 Wifi - wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_grouper
Nexus 7 2012 GSM - wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_tilapia
Nexus 7 2013 - wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_flo
Follow the steps for "Installing a custom recovery using fastboot".
Once you have that all done, grab the ROM you want to install (I have the Nexus 7 2012 WiFi one here drive.google.com/file/d/0BxNchebgbDqqdTVrS3RZWnY4eDQ/view?usp=sharing) and save it to somewhere easy to find on your computer.
With your console still open, push the .zip file you just downloaded to the memory of the tablet:
> adb push filename.zip /sdcard/
Boot the tablet into recovery mode by typing:
> adb reboot recovery
You will now be in the recovery software you installed in the above steps. Now would be a good time to take a backup by choosing "Backup". Once that's done, choose "Wipe" and swipe right at the bottom of the screen to perform a factory reset.
Go back to the main menu of the recovery and choose "Install". Browse to the SD Card directory, and choose the zip file that you pushed to the tablet and install it. The tablet will eventually reboot, and you should now have the USB ROM installed.
Why did you do all this? Well, the special thing about this USB ROM is that it supports fixed installation mode. Once you enable this in Settings > USB Host > Fixed Installation Mode, the tablet will automatically power on when it gets power, and go into a "deep sleep" when the power is cut.