Working on a new S100 skin inspired on Apple's Carplay

I just want to show to everybody the new skin for S100 that I'm developing now. It's based and inspired on the Apple's Carplay.

 

 

 

 

 

This post will be updated time to time during the developement of the skin, comments and suggestions are very wellcome. :)

Releasing new Skinpack 15/11/2014!!

I'm releasing today a new version of my skinpack for the S100 units,  updated to suit the new firmware 1.7.9.
In this new firmware there are some changes in the user interface, not very relevant but it's better if you want to use this skinpack to upgrade your unit to this firmware, downloading it from roadnavdotcom.

This is the 15.11.2014 changelog:

- The skins are updated to suit the new firmware 1.7.9

- Many fixes and adjustments in Skinmanager (English is default language now)

- Skin4 is darker now to gain more contrast and its Nitrogen skin is darker too match it

- Some new sections skinned in Skin4: SystemInfo,SettingsGeneral, SettingsLogo,SettingsTime,WorldTime,BTSearch,BTMusic

- Some rework on Skin4 in Radio section.

The skins are independent between model versions, they work almost on every models.
To install the skins you need to:
1. extract the skinpack on the root of a normal SD card
2. set navi path to point to \skinmanager\skinmanager.exe
3. hit the navi button (twice maybe)

Once you install at least one skin, you will have skinmanager installed in the section Tool->Games (or APP) and you can switch skins in about 10 seconds.
Here is a small sample video of the skinmanager in action:

Some pics of the skins:

SKIN 2

SKIN 3

SKIN 4

Some Skin4 screenshots:




















  

Here is the new Skinpack:  Skinpack 15.11.2014.rar

UPDATE: All the skinpack aren't free anymore, to download the skinpack you have to go to this post:

May 2015 Skinpack

Once the payment is confirmed you will be redirected to the Skinpacks folder where you can find older versions, the curent one  and even the new ones when they will be available.







 

These are the packs included in the folder now:

- Skinpack 12.01.15 for fw 1.7.9

- Skinpack for fw 1.6.9

- SkinPack for fw 1.0.9.0 to 1.6.9

- SkinPack for fw up to 1.18.7

S100 Wince firmware flash and recovery method using SDBOOT

The SDBOOT recovery is not the normal firmware upgrade for wince units, this is intended to be the procedure:

- to recover your s100 unit after a bad fw flash
- to switch back to wince an S100 unit previously converted to android(only if running firmware till 06/06/2014 or a 2.34 fw)

- to convert an S150 android  unit to wince (only if running firmware till 06/06/2014 or a 2.34 fw)

First you need a firmware for your unit, possibly the original one made just for your cxxx unit.
If you don't have the original firmware you can adapt another unit firmware using this tool: SetUpdateXML_EN_2.exe (this is the version for newer 1.x.9 serie of fw)

Simply put the exe in the same folder where you have extracted the fw files and run it; select your model and hit ok.
Anyway your fw will not be safe enought until you find the correct MCU.bin for your unit, so i recommend to use always an MCU that you know it work ok for you.

Second you need this package: SDBOOT_wince.zip and a possibly new SD card (2-4Gb).
If you don't have a new SD i suggest you to use the mini tool partitionwizard to fully erase all the partitions you could have created using sd-flasher or other tools.
Once you have a clean SD card you can format it in fat32 using the sdformatter app included in the sdboot archive and label it "SDBOOT" (this is important!):

Now use “SDBOOT.exe” to write image into SD card selecting the SDBOOT_bootimage.nb0 included in the zip and press START:

The fuse process will take just a second, when it's done you can safely remove the SD card ejecting it from Windows, remove it and reinsert it again.

At this point Windows will ask you to format the sd, do it selecting quick format fat32.

Now you have a  wince recovery card where to copy your original firmware on it; a tipical Winca\Roadnav firmware contain this files and folder structure:

-BTUpdate\

-image\

-MCU_FLASH

-Patch\

-S100PROGRAM\

-update.xml

Copy these files on the root of the SD

Be sure you have removed all usb devices you have on the unit, eject the CD, go to Bluetooth section and disconnect all the devices.

Power off the unit

Insert the SD it in the gps slot and power on the unit.

The process will start....

Here is a sample video of the update procedure:

Don't touch anything until the process ends.

At the end you'll have a window that will ask you to remove the card and the unit will reboot:

That's all for now, rememeber if you like my work to hit the donate button.

I am back to Wince S100! NEW SKINPACK!! Radio stations stored by RDS name!!

Yes, you read it right! After one year of android fun I decided to switch back to wince and probably I'll on it. Here are my reasons for that:

1. Running android 4.03 some people, including me, are experiencing hardware faults caused by the overheating of the cpu that loose contact from the mainboard.
One of the simptoms of this is the loss of audio from the android software like audio or video player, navi sw, etc.. while the audio from radio, tv and dvd is still there.
Sometimes is enought to restart the unit and the audio come back but in other critical cases it is necessary to apply an hardware fix ,tipically a reflow. On xda forum some people have already done it successfully and their unit went back working normally but it's hard to tell how long it will last.
I'm experiencing this issue too  and i don't want to risk to replace another cpu board.
2. Wince is faster in booting, recognizing usb sticks and mostly all other things but more than anything else... it never crash!
3. In newest wince firmware Winca have added the function to store the radio stations by RDS name instead of frequency numbers.
4. A russian guy have reworked the audio player "Nitrogen" making it perfectly integrated with the unit where now even the steering wheel controls work.

5. All the android apps are nice but most of them are unusefull on a car unit, most are just phone centrated.


So summing all these points i decided to switch back to wince, I restarted working on my skins, adapting and fixing the Skinpack for the new firmwares:

and i also made a skin for Nitrogen that fit my skin4:

Here is the link to latest Skinpack:

S100 Skinpack 26.10.2014.rar

it include Nitrogen and its skin4, it can be installed as an extra app, as the default music player or even both.

Extract the skinpack on the root of SD card and put it in GPS slot, on the unit set Navi path to "\Skinmanager\Skinmanager.exe", press the Navi button

This is the Skinpack most recent changelog:

26.10.2014
- Fixed Nitrogen launch as extra app
- Moved audio player and nitrogen playlist button to match radio list position
- Better radio keyboard
- Some skinmanager fixes
- Added names to Skinmanager and Nitrogen icons in extra app
19.10.2014
- Updated Skin 2, 3 and 4 to new firmware version 1.6.9
- Updated Nitrogen to 14/10/2014 version with SWC and more integration into S100 platform
- Added Nitrogen Skin4

UPDATE: All the skinpack aren't free anymore, to download the skinpack you have togo to this post and buy it:

May 2015 Skinpack

Once the payment is confirmed you will be redirected to the Skinpacks folder where you can find older versions, the curent one  and even the new ones when they will be available.



These are the packs included in the folder now:

- Skinpack 12.01.15 for fw 1.7.9

- Skinpack for fw 1.6.9

- SkinPack for fw 1.0.9.0 to 1.6.9

- SkinPack for fw up to 1.18.7

S100/S150 android 4.03 KoTiX rom v2.4 (with "keep user data" option) - UPDATED to rom v2.6

Here I am with another update of my 4.03 rom for the S100/S150 car dvd units.
The rom is based on the latest 06/06/2014 roadnav fw for I001 (nissan) but it include a file megane3.apk for the I145 model in the folder "winca\system\app" (just delete it if you don't need it).
In this firmware version and in the previous 05/20/2014 roadnav have finally fixed the "System Upgrade" function in the settings menu that was broken since they released the first official 4.03 fw; with this function it is possible now to avoid using the fused sd recovery and use a normal SD card (inserted in the dvd slot),to update the firmware.
Even more it's possible now, throught the aroma installer, to keep the user app and data when upgrading android! So no more hassle of redownloading and reinstalling you preferred apps, you'll keep all your settings as they were before the update.
NOTE:  just the units with "System Upgrade" function correctly working can use the "Don't erase user data" option.
I added a couple of more options to the installer:
- a "WIPE Menu"  to let you choose to format or not the data partition
- an option to preinstall or not the user apps from the folder "winca\app" in the sd.

For those who are new to my roms, here are the aroma installer options that you'll find:

1. MAIN MENU

• Flash original full firmware (including BT, MCU etc..)
• Flash KoTiX custom ROM 
• Quit

2. ANDROID MENU

• Install ROOT files
• Install 160 DPI mod (using xposed and app setting)
• Preinstall user apps from Winca\app sd folder 

3. MODDED APPS

• Install KoTiX Radio player mod
• Install Bluetooth app mod
• Install Viper4Android

4. WIPE MENU

• Format data partition (If unchecked it will erase dalvik-cache only)
• Format internal Hard Disk

5. HARDWARE FLASH

• Flash Bluetooth module
• Write Flash.bin (vers. S00C)
• Write MCU.bin (vers. N004)

UPDATE: I have removed the link to the old 2.4 rom and added the new 2.6 rom.
They are very similar because both are based on the same 06/06/2014 firmware, but 2.6 have some important fixes and some apps taken from even newer firmware August 01.

This is what you'll get:

- Keep apps and data function is working properly now so you can update the firmware without loosing your settings and datas
- Waze work fine
- Youtube work fine
- The bluetooth dialer now can download all contacts from phone without problems
- Switching from radio to third party players like jetaudio turn off the radio (to go back you need to pause the player)
- I added some new logos i found in new builds.
- I added an option to format internal sdcard in the aroma installer
- maybe other things...
 Here is the link to download the new 2.6 rom that include some extra apps too:

 S150 4.03 KoTiX_v2.6.rar   
Link removed to avoid people with new fw bricks their units.

Enjoy and if you like my work, please consider donating ;-)

S150 MODS INJECTOR for android 2.34

Hi guys, lately I've worked a little on the android 2.34 fw... I've tryed to port the aroma installer but the touch screen don't respond so I decided to make something different, I created a flashable zip that include:

• root access (CWM Superuser)
• my radio player mod
• bootanimation from my 4.03 fw
• more apns for 3g connection
• some user apps preinstalled: EsFileExplorer, Jetaudio, AudioGlowLW, TitaniumBU,WAZE.
• Viper4Android

Here is my Mods Injector V1.0  

It is only for S150 units with android 2.34 firmware , it's NOT for units with android 4.03.

Uncompress it on a normal SD (don't need a fused one), put it in sd DVD slot (not GPS) and from settings do a "System Upgrade"

It will NOT erase your user data, it will just erase dalvik-cache.

If you already have one of the mentioned above apps.... i don't know... you tell me what will happen.

Enjoy

New S150 KoTiX 2.2 ROM based on the 30/04/2014 android 4.03 fw - UPDATED to 2.3

Time for a new ROM update today:

S150 KoTiX v2.2
EDIT: I have updated the ROM to version 2.3 to include a fix for Youtube and GooglePlayServices:
S150 KoTiX v2.3
If you don't use them, you can stay on v2.2

05.06.2014 - Fixed Google Play Services and Youtube
26.05.2014 - New bootanimation
25.05.2014 - New 160 DPI mod using Xposed and AppSetting
24.05.2014 - Removed Gapps option, they are already there!
14.05.2014 - New base fw 20140430

The rom is based on the latest 30/04/2014 winca firmware.
As you can see in the changelog winca already added the gapps so there is no need of them anymore in the aroma installer.
There aren't big changes in the rom but I used a different method to get the 160 DPI mod using Xposed framework and AppSetting, allowing to use the default launcher and allowing me in the future an easyer way to upgrade to a new fw without needing to mod each apk file.
Anyway the xposed framework will be installed in a strange way so that will be already running the app setting module right after flash but if you try to run it, it won't work. Let's see what you guys think of it and togheter will try to find a better way of running it.

The most noticable changes anyway are in the external folders "system" and "Igo", where in system you can add system apps, modify the build.prop or other folders that you need to preinstall during flash.
The iGO folder has been added by winca in this last fw and will be copied to the internal harddisk, so i guess you should copy there the maps or whatever iGO needs.

As many of you already know in the winca folder there is an "app" folder that is used to preinstall the user apps during the flash of the firmware. In this folder you can put all the apks you like, just paying attention to remove spaces from the apk name.
I prepared a small package with some usefull apps you can paste in that folder:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/luy3f1j266qi0xb/S150%20Extra%20apps_v1.0.rar

Enjoy for now, I'll wait for your comments ;)

NOTE for new users: if you want all the above mods you'll have to choose the "Custom install" option in the installer.

New S150 KoTiX  2.1 Rom available!!

I've uploaded the new version of my Aroma 4.03 rom v2.1, download link is at the end of the post.

First I'd like to thanks the russian developer Dimadina for his 160 DPI mod, the UI looks a lot of better now, the third party apps and the whole UI is not zoomed anymore and it's much better to use. So all credits for this mod goes to him :good:

From Dimadina  rom I also decide to copy the same MCU file becaue the V003 included in the 28/03 original winca fw is not stable and was causing me problems at boot/shutdown of the unit, like taking around 10 seconds to light up the power button before the logo.

So this is the changelog:

04.05.2014 - Added Custom Bootanimation option
30.05.2014 - Fixed Viper Lib installation
           - Changed Aroma resolution to lower dpi
           - Fixed Aroma progress bar
           - Added option to use 160 dpi interface

I increased the Aroma resolution, so we have more room for cheboxes and the progress bar is kind of working now (need more fixes  but it's ok)
Viper4Android now install without problems, you don't have to install the drivers, just enable it for the speakers.
If you select 160 DPI mod you can still choose my modded version of the radio and bluetooth apk.
I added the option to install a bootanimation in "data/local" just put the bootanimation.zip in the "bootanimation" folder, best if you use a "...x480" resolution as the screen size is 800x480, just don't use a 480x800 that is vertical mode.

If this rom don't have problems, I will stop for a while modding the 4.03 rom and I'll start porting the aroma installer, the modded radio and other mods to the 2.34 fw. With the aroma will be easyer to move to 4.03 and go back to 2.34 without flashing MCU.

Enjoy ;)

S150 4.03 Aroma-Root-160DPI_v2.1


(As always the firmware is made for the C001/I001 model, if you have different unit, use it at your own risk and be sure you have the original firmware for backup and you know what you are doing, specially regarding the risks of flashing MCU.)