Awhile back I made a post in which I gave an overview of my setup for running Android Auto on the stock display of my 2011 G37x.
Back then, my installation was a mess of wires and hacked up harnesses. While it worked, I was really unhappy with how it was done. If it ever broke, it wouldn't be easy to fix. If I wanted to do a future upgrade to the system, I would have to first undo every modification I had originally done.
So I set about doing it correctly, and that resulted in Boomerang and ScreenSlaver.

Boomerang is a Raspberry Pi Hat that enables it to output RGBS video (which the G37 display consumes).


The second board is ScreenSlaver - this plugs directly into the G37's display and injects an external RGBS signal, no modification of the factory harness is needed.


Together, these boards allow a raspberry pi to display to the G37's display without irremovable modifications to the factory harnesses.
These boards can be manufactured and populated with components for less than $50.

If anyone wants to grab the gerbers and make their own, or just check out the project, the source and some more documentation is available on my github.

https://github.com/icecube45/G37ScreenSlaver
https://github.com/icecube45/Boomerang


Let me know what you think!

 

LOL... but that is cool and sounds promising to the other display threads!? one step closer to the 21st century!!!!

 

Essentially, with these two PCBs, I can make my car do this


Without having to cut any of the factory wires, or mess with the screen.

 

Yeah, it's similar to my project except it retains the stock display. This is much less work as well.

So your screenslaver will likely only work on the non nav G right? The screen wiring is slightly different.

Also, did you ever get any of that CAN stuff working?

 

All of this is designed for the non-nav, the nav versions use a completely different protocol, which requires more expensive converters.

CAN stuff is on hold until I receive my CAN PCBs - COVID has slowed everything down in that regard.

 

Oh the newer 2010+ nav models use GVIF or something right? This will probably still work on pre 2010 nav models - mine uses RGBS and it's a nav car, 2007.

 

Yea, GVIF.
Interesting, didn't know that about the older nav models - if the pinout for the RGBS signals is the same, it should work.

 

just stumbled across this post i have a 2011 Bose, Non navi and im very interested. How does the music play? USB port or Bluetooth (Factory/Aftermarket) how do you switch displays? i looked and didnt see, but do you have a short youtube video to show how it functions? AND are you still selling?

 

Looks like the 2008 Bose W Nav also have RGB driving the screens


Just need the CAN signals for the car integration and this solution will be a go

 

I'm using a GROM-BT3 to replace the satellite radio with bluetooth/aux in, and wired the aux into the raspberry pi.
Screenslaver handles all the electronics of switching screens, you just need to wire a switch into it - in my case I rewired the snow mode switch to toggle between displays.
I don't have a video handy unfortunately, but I continue to use this in my car - I run dash on it.

Never was selling these, but rather opensourced the boards - you can send the gerbers off to a manufacturer like JLCPCB and get a PCB manufactured, though you'd have to assemble it yourself.

 

I can't remember what the state of CAN integration was at the time of the last update, but I have dash pretty well integrated into my G37 - it can display HVAC data, door status, hooks into the headlights for day/night theme, tire pressure, and more that I'm forgetting. The only thing it doesn't do yet (honestly because I've just been too lazy to run another USB cable) is replicate any of the button presses (which I have the code to do, in theory, just haven't yet). I just tapped into the OBD2 port in my vehicle

 

Did you push the update for the vehicle plugin? I'm still on the one that just has a debug menu with TPMS 1,2,3,4

 

Good point - dash just merged in the vehicle widget so will do so once im back in my car.

 

icecube45..... My goal is to stream apple music from my iphone 12 and have it display basic song information like artist and track name. I (like 98.3% of all other owners) really kick my self in the **** for not researching more on non-navi cars before i bought mine. I love the car, hate the radio limitations and the expense to make anything else work. At the moment it appears my best option is the GROM-BT3-NIS02 as it retains full steering wheels controls, but i still have no navigation besides phone. I researched the forums for countless hours and it seems to be VLine, Tesla, or home brew like yours that's outside my abilities. I am on the fence with the Tesla option partly with the cost, but mainly due to the bad reviews (i realize some people think they are "capable and knowledgeable" and are not) but the appeal of wireless carplay, and a screen that displays more information than learning to read books...... keeps sucking me back in.

​​​​​​​Quick question on the Grom BT-3, when connected, will the top display on the radio at least display basic song information?

I love what you did with the raspberry pi and i'm above average concerning wiring and mechanicals, just a beginner with soldering circuit boards or programming (im capable, just need videos to follow). Did your setup need both Grom and raspberry pi to work?

 

It has been a hot minute since I've used the bluetooth capabilities of the Grom, but I seem to remember it did display the current track.
My setup does need both, but I'm only using the Grom for 3.5mm aux input capabilities.