At the risk of getting a big RTFFAQ! I post this... I did try and sort through the FAQ how ever I'm slightly confused.

Does ethernet work when powered by the 12v car input? The FAQ entries I read never said it doesn't (at least what I found).

However I read a few BBS entries that said it doesn't?

The reason I ask is I want to make a home docking station and it would be much easier for me to take a small PC power supply and hook it up as I would in a car... therefore it would run in car mode... but if ethernet doesn't work I don't want to do it. I realize there are probably entries somewhere on the BBS to answer this but I'm kinda lazy

Haven't tried it but I should imagine it does!

The power supply for home is 12V the same, the software is the same, if it's disabled then that's just a software tweak and not a hardware issue!

DC_servers=1 wouldn't be much use if it didn't

I thought it should... I just remembered seeing a few posts that suggested it somehow got turned off when in car mode. Thanks guys!

However I read a few BBS entries that said it doesn't?

I have never read a BBS entry that said the ethernet port is disabled in the car.

I have read BBS entries which said the following:

1) The serial port runs only at 4800bps in the car, and the flash upgrader does not work in the car. This is the serial port, not the ethernet port. And this is in the FAQ.

2) Many wireless ethernet bridge devices require special power requirements other than 12v, and sometimes you need to do special things to get them working in the car. This is not the empeg player itself, but rather, the third-party wireless bridge.

The FAQ entry on docked ethernet is here, and the FAQ entry on wireless ethernet is here.

I could have sworn that mlord was complaining about this in relation to his home docking station.

Edit: Oops. Nope. It was something else:

The Empeg boot firmware (runs before kernel) performs a "power source" test, and skips the "kernel download" check if running from "DC" power.. or if running from "AC" power supplied via the docking connector. This means I cannot do kernel updates while docked!!

Well, thats the post I read, thats kind of what confused me, those pictures all illustrate using the docking sled with the home AC power supply lined up in back... not running off the 12v input on the docking harness. So add the fact that I coulda sworn I read that it didn't work in the car (then again my brain likes to play tricks on me).... and well I got confused. SorryTony my bad.... Oh well thats cool I'll start my docking station tonight. Just out of curiosity why do most people make their home docking stations with the factory AC power supply? Is it just the fact that they prefer it in "home" mode or is there something else I need to know? Seems like an added pain in the rear to get lined up properly when they could grab a 12v dc power supply and run it off the sled harness?

Just out of curiosity why do most people make their home docking stations with the factory AC power supply? Is it just the fact that they prefer it in "home" mode or is there something else I need to know?

Yes, that's a big part of it. The automatic home/car mode selection is an important feature for some folks.

The home/car thing has a domino effect: Serial port speed, serial port power-on-upgrade ability, etc.

Hmm, just a thought, but maybe:

If I power the empeg via the AC connector, the player software doesn't support quite a few car features, like 4 channel EQ, phone mute, dimmer setting,...
If I power it using the sled, I don't get full speed serial (unless I changed config.ini) and I don't get the kernel upgradability through the firmware.
Now, with HiJack installed and powering via AC, if I tell HiJack to force DC mode, even on AC power, I should get all the good stuff, right?

• Kernel upgradability is given, because the firmware is active before HiJack is loaded, so it correctly thinks it is on AC power.
• 4channel EQ, tuner, dimmer etc. are enabled because the player software is loaded after HiJack and thus thinks it's on DC power.
• The serial is at full speed if I modified config.ini accrodingly.
  

As far as I can tell, that is the (almost) ideal solution. The only problem is that the serial port is also at full speed when in the car.

cu,
sven

A copule people have posted pics of where they installed ethernet jacks in their cars. With jacks in place, you can plug your laptop in and browse the empeg's web server. Someone posted pics that included one of an 802.11b AP in their trunk... can't remember where, maybe the install forum.

My plan is to buy a small (4 or 5 port) hub to go in the car. I spent some time in the store looking at the models they had on the shelf. Most run around 7.5V so a transformer would be needed. I'm starting out slow (don't even have the empeg installed in my car yet) but my ultimate goal is:

- 5 port hub hidden behind empeg (lots a room back there)
- 2 discretely mounted RJ45 jacks (one for passenger, one in back)
- Linksys WAP11 802.11b access point
- terminal server for OBD-II & GPS

The Linksys AP can serve many different needs (but only one at a time):
- act as an AP for laptops with wireless NICs in car
- do bridging to your home network's AP
- be a wireless client to your home AP connecting the two networks while still allowing other wireless clients to connect to your home AP (not bridging)

About the only thing you can't do is use it as an AP for your laptop in-car, pull up to your house and browse the net via your home's broadband... you'd have to reconfig the Linksys AP first.

Has anyone ported dhcpd to the empeg? how about named? Would be nice if laptops could just jack-in to the car and browse the empeg without having to reconfig to use a specific IP. Ideally, with the OBD-II and GPS connections into the empeg, I'd like to have it keep logs and generate graphs. The laptop could view these via the web. MRTG comes to mind, but maybe something a bit more customized would be better. While not quite as pretty, generating bar graphs is simple in HTML.

What other uses do people have for ethernet while in-car?

In this thread there's a link to a page of install pics the last of which show the Linksys AP in the trunk.

wow.... thats sweet! My audi has a connector for the factory phone in the armrest that just happens to use a cat5 connector, I might have to rewire it... but that would be cool... I think I might even have an old 10baseT 5 port hub laying around the only thing I'd need are TIME and wireless stuff....

Before you install your hub, you may wanna check to make sure that the wiring is actually cat5 (or at least cat3) spec. Other devices use RJ45 jacks, but wiring that isn't cat5. For general use, any wire will do, but for 10Mbps ethernet, it has to be at least cat3. Flat wire is commonly used for serial ports and won't work for ethernet.

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- Linksys WAP11 802.11b access point

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Indeed, this is slick because of all it can do, but it wants 2 amps at 5 volts according to (I think it's somewhere at http://www.seattlewireless.net ) so you'll end up needing to create a source of 5v power in your car. Not very hard to do, but not a simple "plug it into the car socket".

I may get one anyway.

I have a Hawking Wireless AP in my Dodge Ram.
The range isn't fantastic, but gives me a consistent 11M link to the office from the carpark.

I use it and the empeg to provide a streaming mp3 server at work.

I also have a hijack app that connects to our inhouse voicemail server and downloads and plays my voicemail when I pull in to the carpark. Technology for its own sake, I know, but its kinda fun to see the look on your passengers face when you pull into the car park and hear "you've got voicemail...."

PK

I use it and the empeg to provide a streaming mp3 server at work.

Didn't you hear about the company that was sued by the RIAA because their employees had an MP3 server? Anyone have the link to that article?

Hi Tony.

Actually, the company (IIS) was sued because it _actively_ _provided_ the server for their employees. Full story (from the RIAA poitn of view) can be found here.
No decision in court though, the RIAA and IIS agreed on a payment of 1Mio.$.

No chance the RIAA would be able to sue a company because one of their employees provided a streaming server on his own hardware and not even from inside the building. They would probably have a hard time to sue the individual either. He is probably owning the CDs re ripped the MP3s from, and they would have to prove that he intended to provide those MP3s to his co-workers. If he just "accidentally" had the server open to all, they would probably only achieve an order to shut that server down.

cu,
sven

cu,
sven

Er <thinking fast> its for my own use. All mp3s on the server were ripped by me from cds that I own.

To the best of my knowledge no one else uses it, and I have taken reasonable steps to prevent anyone from downloading files when I'm not around. </thinking fast>

Good point though Tony.

Oh Yeah,
Due to a (minor) bug in the shutdown code, the player only goes into standbye for a maximum of about 20 mins and then shuts down.

Never thought I'd be grateful for a bug, but I guess they can't sue me if the server only stays up for about 20 minutes a day.

PK

Is there a market for WAP boxes that operate off of 12 volts? Seems like.

Calvin

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Is there a market for WAP boxes that operate off of 12 volts? Seems like.

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Cars. Where else?

Get a zener diode, mount the sucker and get on with life.