Creative use of screen in console.

Hey guys, I'm new here so I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to ask this. The centre screen that displays radio and such, could it possibly be used to display different aspects of the truck? Like is there a way to put a gauge cluster on it? That way I could see things like engine temp and stuff while keeping the interior looking stock. Thanks!

 

With the screen glare and craptastic weather app...

A good use would be removal and replaced with a trash bin.

 

I have never noticed any glare and my weather app works perfect.

 

I just want temp. The app mostly doesn't work at all.

 

Cool thought...I like the idea of putting other stuff on the screen.

Why is it the screen or weather app doesn't work?

The JBL in my 4Runner seems to work well for weather, traffic & other designed functions.

 

I have Polarized Oakley Sunglasses.... and the light glare renders my screen unusable as I use the back up camera most of the time.

Easier to see without the shades sometimes.

I've seen mods in some vehicles where folks replaced their factory unit with an iPad though!

 

Because it always gives the weather for where you aren't. Mine is always a few zip codes away.

 

Yeah but that's cause you're in motion.... it's staying a step ahead of you. You can look out the windshield for a local weather report after all...

 

Really nothing like that. Unless you're a programmer with experiance in the software they use. They just don't have that option. IPad etc is cool. I'll wait for the 2017, Many companies are using andriod or Apple screens in the soon future to be cars. I'm sure Toyo will do the same thing. I hope they are picking Apple since I like my Iphone. And at the same time a real head unit with real outputs for real amps and speakers. Give it a few years. The one you got ain't bad, just the angle is hard to read. And MANY cars have the polarized screen issue.

 

Washington? West side? Rain. J/K, love the place gonna retire near the AF/Army base in 6 years. And it's green, being in a big city like Vegas is just dry, hot, brown, traffic. I don't gable etc or go to the strip. If I was 25 again, be very cool to live here.

Edit, not retiring there in Kirkland! 940' at 280k? No way!!!!
http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...88,47.606163,-122.374993_rect/11_zm/?view=map

 

Guess I've not experienced this issue.

Where I live I only have HD as I drive towards Memphis (about 60 miles north) so, it's not usable for me until I'm on my way and it updates as I pass thru towns on the way once it begins recieving HD. Of course I thrn use recently checked locations to find areas of interest if I'm not in that town.

 

What the others said - you can't run custom code on the entune; while in theory it's possible, and some people have dumped the firmware and poked at it and it's java based, unless you're really into hacking on embedded devices it's not going to be something you want to do (and even then, the risk of bricking your head unit and rendering it useless is pretty high).

You can drop in another head unit, either one compatible with the new android or apple (depending on your preference) automotive stuff, or one that runs android native on the head unit (a slightly different beast).

Both are pushing manufacturers to integrate in the future - android auto in a third party head unit won't have access to the vehicle internals (fuel level, speed, etc etc) that a manufacturer-integrated one would.

Last I looked, Toyota has no announced plans to integrate android auto at the manufacturer - but Scion is, oddly enough.

I threw a Pioneer android auto head unit in my '14, and other than being a real hassle to get all the wiring wedged in and some quirks with the steering wheel control adapter, it works well - but it operates within the limitations of android auto; currently Google has to approve apps individually so you can't just dump Torque output onto the center console, for instance. Hopefully they relax that in the future, but I imagine they're very concerned about driver distraction at the moment.

I do android dev, so that's the route I went - I've heard good things about the apple autoplay stuff but I don't have any experience with it. You can get third-party head units with both.

Both the apple and google stuff is pretty early in their respective lifespans right now; the android auto stuff has only been around for about 3-4 months, so definite expect some bumps along the way. That said, mine does what it says on the tin more or less, and did the primary things I wanted - nav, audio, etc all comes from the phone now.

There are some cool hacks to replace the center console with a tablet - I think more often an android than an ipad, because Android is in general more friendly to hooking up external hardware. I've seem folks who mounted an old Nexus tablet as the console and connected hw for steering wheel controls, backup camera, etc... But there's not any simple kit I'm aware of, so you'd be signing up for a lot of custom work for mounting and for getting all the software working in the first place.

 

REAL ly nice post.

 

possible YES

will it happen NEVER

 

It's on par with jailbreaking an iphone - if they're doing actual image signature checks before flash (and it looks like they are from the last time i dug around looking) then it's going to be a real hassle to find some other method. Most likely it would have to be an exploit to something like the video or mp3 parsers to inject code instead of trying to modify a flash from the ground up.

All in all, highly unlikely that someone will put in the time (not enough payoff vs. something like jailbreaking iphone), especially when head units which can do what you want already are relatively cheap and available.

 

Without going too far down the rabbit hole, looks like these guys managed to get root on the embedded QNX system inside the entune using a USB to Ethernet adapter. If you really want to dig into it (and risk bricking your head unit), post 44 in this thread:

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/310-7th-generation-2012/417485-modifying-entune-update-3.html

In terms of OPs initial question - this still doesn't let you run anything custom, it's the first baby steps towards doing stuff to the entune though.