this idea came about because i really want a vacuum gauge on my dash, but it's kind of hard to find a high quality one.

i really want a readout that shows open/closed loop, map, rpm, and some other useful stuff that the dash just doesn't do. it could also display real error codes if they occur.

i'm sure some of you have seen those cool little on-dash displays people have for their OBD-II cars. basically a little TFT with a configurable dashboard.

for a winter project, i'm going to make one, but a hacked together OBD-I version.

my idea for hardware so far, which so far seems to be very low budget:

- the normal usb aldl interface i use for whatever else
- raspberry pi for the computer part, running linux. it's credit card sized, needs no cooling, takes little power, and it's 12v.
- some small cheapo 'backup camera' grade tft for the screen (there are some for $45 on amazon) using just straight analog VGA

this puts it in the sub $100 range if anyone else wants to build one

and on the software end:

- write the software (in c) that takes serial data and runs the necessary commands
- reads tunerpro's ADF format for specs
- the 'dashboard' will first be oldschool console graphs using ncurses so it looks hax, but could easily run xwindows or a framebuffer with fancier gauges later

obviously this has potential to be more in the end, the pi has powerful multitasking and graphics, and a usb interface, so it could be expanded into a carpc or whatever later down the road.

has anyone else tried to build somethin' like this?

this is a brainstorming thread in case anyone has any ideas to contribute, obviously i'll release build plans and the source for the software in case anyone else wants to build one too...