I caught this after a bit of quick R&D on maemo. Basically, it turns your Nokia Tablet into an OBD-II analyzer (not sure if OBD-II is a globally accepted standard or not).

I actually had an OBD-II device (scan guage) a while back that I picked up from thinkgeek. I used it for reporting, much more so than performance tuning, though.

Judging from the photos … Carman looks vastly superior in terms of user experience (but from all outwards appearances, not Flash based, rather Python).

Check out the screenshots (I’d post more images, but it’s not Flash so I don’t want to get people confused). Pretty Sweet, though.

FYI: In terms of requirements, you can find them here.

You need a vehicle newer than 1995 for it to have the OBD-II input into the vehicle’s data (check engine light, MPG, temperature, etc), also a Nokia Tablet like the N800.

Here is a breakdown of this project:

Overview
Carman is the first OBD-II analyzer for Maemo platform. You are wondering why your car’s Check Engine Light is on. Carman will help you answer that.

Features
Monitor live data
Continuous monitors sensors data (e.g. Engine RPM, Calculated Load Value, Vehicle Speed, Coolant Temperature, and many others).

Check Trouble Codes
See the recorded trouble codes and understand why the Check Engine Light is on.

Two Views
A Hildon based view for the hobbyist mechanics and a SDL based (Rich) view for the customization lovers.

Easy Customization
Some of the Carman modules (e.g. Sensors, Rich View Screens) can be easily customized by changing an XML file.

Data recording
Sensors data can be recorded in a text file and “played” later.

Performance Monitor
See how long your car takes to go from 0 to 100 km/h.

Bluetooth wireless communication
Carman communicates with the OBD-II bus scan using Bluetooth.

Requirements
Hardware
Nokia Internet Tablet 770 or N800
OBD-II compatible car
OBD-II Scan Tool with Bluetooth support
Software
Python2.5 for Maemo

You can find more info over at the carman project site.

-sj

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Flash Mobile, Flash Mobile Developer, Gadget, Mobile, Nokia Tablets, maemo.org, nokia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.