Toyota's latest infotainment system is powered by Linux

I agree about the dipstick. But newer models actually measure the oil level. The downside, it's just more electronics to go bad. But just about every car made now days is ran by the ECU. If it fails, the driver is stuck. We just hope these electronics are higher quality that throw away devices we replace every few years.

 

You and me can be friends now. I didnt think there were too many Linux users on TW. I am a Fedora man at heart and been pounding on linux since 2012 professionally.

 

Young whippersnappers... I was managing BSD4.2 systems before Tanenbaum created MINIX....

(damn kids, get off my lawn!)

 

What were the dinosaurs like?

 

Mostly friendly. Couldn't type for shyt. Arms were too short.

 

I have not owned a windows machine since 2007. Microsoft wanted my product key for windows xp after I changed my vidya card. I said eat me downloaded linux and never looked back.

 

Yeah my dad's is a 2016 BMW X3. I know it actually measures the oil level but when that sensor has a hiccup or decides to crap out after the 4 year warranty how much does it cost and how much damage will it cause. It scares me. From personal experience with that damn car I am a skeptic.

One day in the fall my dad and I were driving around doing errands and low and behold the whole gauge cluster went blank. No temp gauge, user notifications etc. Really freaking scary. I called BMW and they said maybe it is battery related. The $500 battery in the trunk that is 3 times the size of the Tacoma one apparently was running down. If you do not drive 3 miles on every trip you are draining the battery he said. Talk about scary.

 

once automotive systems start moving to 24v or higher electrical systems, that should be less of an issue.

it will happen since using a higher volt system means you can have the same output in a smaller package which will save weight (i am being very generalized since there are multiple pro's & con's are to moving to a higher voltage systems in cars)

 

It will still be brought to you by the same clueless assholes that brought us Entune. Most days I'd rather have a Walkman.

 

about the only thing i use entune for is phone calls, texts read outloud (if its important i will call), pandora via entune or via bluetooth. i dont use the other functions.

i have a 7" garmin that works much better than the nav and i get free updates and follow me tracking on long solo trips on thanksgiving to see mom (mom and wife can track me driving via the garmin unit feature of displaying live gps on a link emailed from the garmin unit).

edit : garmin smartphone link is what i use to do livetrack feature in the garmin unit.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/111441

 

Agreed... when I first got my 650i it took me quite awhile to learn but over time became very easy. The iDrive also showed 3D terrain on the nav, something I wish Toyota would do.

 

As much as I love the way most BMW's handle, I come to the conclusion they are just too expensive to maintain. And they are in the shop way too often for a $70,000. vehicle (depending on model,options). My family is Ford and Toyota. I still have 2 BMW's but one of them is going up for sale. I ready for my Tacoma that will hopefully last 200,000+ miles like every other Toyota my family has owned.

I'll will say, my first Tacoma was a 95 or 96, can't remember but whatever the very first was they came out. Head gasket issues. It was fixed under warranty but never ran the same. Dumped it with less then 10,000 miles. I had given up on Toyota. Took me 22 years to buy another one. Honestly I love it but still holding my breath.

 

Yeah my dad offered me his X3 after this year; but I bought a new Tacoma instead. I am way too afraid of the BMW the second the 4 year warranty runs out.

 

Another Linux® user here.

Linux has achieved world domination with the Android phone, it now has the most installed operating systems in the world.

 

They were big, mean, and scary.

 

Ubuntu sucks, that is all.

 

Ubuntu with the unity user interface sucks, apparently the world agrees I read it's being discontinued. Try Ubuntu Studio with the Xfce ui, doesn't suck.

 

Looking forward to it. I expect this to be in the next Tacoma refresh (maybe sooner?!)

 

This has the potential to be great as long as Toyota is willing to open it up and not lock out the popular features that other carmakers are including. After driving a vehicle with Android Auto and Apple Carplay I would prefer it over using Entune's stock features any day. Google maps through Android Auto is superior to the Entune navigation in every way and it's not even close. I would love to have Google Music as an optional music app in the current Entune suite at a minimum. I get that Pandora and Slacker radio are there but I don't use them and most of the other apps there are pretty useless to me.

 

I don't Apple, and Microsoft sucks, so thank you Mr. Torvalds. LINUX OS and everyone worldwide who contribute to keeping it great- priceless