Xiaomi Mi 9T

Want to buy this phone for my mom ($300!!). Specs look really good. Only weakness from my view (used to getting the best camera phone out there) is the camera... But she'll have plenty. Some useful links:

• To check for coverage in Spain
• Comparison across models: hence I think Mi 9T (the Mi 9T Pro is more for me). Got the battery life.
• YouTube review
• Check the Amazon FAQ

And for me: :)

• Xiaomi MI Note 10 (CC9 Pro) Premium Edition Camera (assuming is cheaper than the Huawei Mate 30 pro, which should be at $600 vs $1200!

Second runner up: OnePlus 7 Pro

Port mirroring - Netgear GS105E

It is interesting but as time goes by, products get better and it gets harder and harder to find simple/not perfect products. But sometimes, not perfect is what one needs to do the job. That is the case when you want to listen with a computer to the network traffic from a different computer.

Traditionally there used to be hubs, little boxes with, say, 4 ports, where whatever you connected to one port went to all other ports (basically like shorting the wires). Nevertheless, that was cluttering the network (no reason to send to a cable something that is not for that computer). Switches started to appear (and were much more expensive) where they would only route between ports those packets that were directed to whatever was hanging from that port. And with time, now, it is basically the only thing you can buy. To get a hub is really tough these days. One can check eBay or for instance this

So, I wanted to monitor the packets going in and out from one computer with a different one, but the ports on my wireless router were not passing the packets from the source computer port to the "spy" computer port (because obviously were not addressed to it). So, given that hubs are hard to find, bought a Netgear GS105E which is a switch that has "port mirroring" function.

Note: careful, a splitter (like this one) will not work either.

Exchange rates on buying stuff

My friend told me that when you buy something in a foreign place with your card, and the machine offers you to pay on the local currency or on your currency, you should choose the LOCAL one. Basically when you do that, your card is the one doing the exchange, while if you choose your currency, they do the exchange and you pay that on your currency. Their exchange is likely to be worse than your card's exchange.

So, I just tested this. I purchased a flight ticket on Cathay's website and the default was HKD. The total was 2638 HKD. They give you the option to pay with USD, but when I selected that it said 348 USD. Google exchange rate was giving actually 338 USD. So, I did what my friend suggested and picked HKD. Later checking my credit card bill, sure enough, I had actually paid 338 USD! :)

Great!

GTI mkV cargo trunk liner mat

Stupid oil spill on my mat made it very messy...
Trying to clean it but if I need to buy something to replace it, the original is almost $200!?! You can also get them use for $100... These may not be bad alternatives for about $30 (are soft though so gotta put something underneath):

• https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32812361687.html?spm=2114.12057483.0.0.39805f2axLx7yA
• https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32812325782.html
• eBay
• $61

In the junk yard didn't find any :(

1. https://www.picknpull.com/check_inventory.aspx?Zip=75243&Make=242&Model=4454&Year=&Distance=100
2. https://www.twinlakesautosalvage.com/recycled-parts

Any of these would work:

Volkswagen VW Golf 5 6 MK5 MK6 Golf GTI R R32 Rabbit 2004-2014 

"Looking for a trunk liner for a VW GTI mk5 2007. If you got any Volkswagen Golf or GTI or Rabbit or R32, from the years 2004-2014 will work."

Replacing ipod adapter from GTI MKV with AUX in

You are here, so, I'll skip the why :)
The problem is well described here: "Basically the factory iPod adaptor replicates a external 6 disc CD changer to the headunit in the dash. This is why the iPod dock is limited to 6 playlists. In the bottom of that tray the dock is in there is a 12 pin connector that plugs in to a printed circuit board and the dock plugs in to it."

You can't just bypass plug to that connector on the audio pins of the ipod connector.

The CableJive solution looked promising. On one side it plugs to the ipod connector (tricking the controller to think that it is an ipod) and on the other had the aux. But in the page says it does not work well with VW: "Does not work with: ALL factory installed car audio systems 2008 and newer. Any and all factory systems (pre & post 2008) from Volkswagen, Audi, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Lexus, & Mazda "

A basic ipod to aux adapter like this one doesn't seem to work either, based on what they say on the description :(

Found also this one from Avery but it seems to work for VW MDI. I.e., watch because it is not the same and in the list actually there is no VW listed!

The enfig looks like the easiest way There is actually a whole list of products and that is the question, what to buy. It looks like they were using the VWT-AUX ($70). Somehow they recommend the VW1-AUX ($60) but I think the internal connector won't work (see this video). More videos here. BUT now they are recommending the GW1LVWT. I think the difference is that it has the stupid iPod cable WHICH I DON'T WANT. I think all the boxes for the wired version are basically the same and the difference is on the cables. So, for instance, the other version with the VWT-IPDU-AUX includes the USB (and also the aux cable).

The only thing with this approach is that we need to find a way to get the cable out so that we can plug it... But maybe instead of doing it through the top (drilling a whole in a new box) we can do it through the bottom (see how they install the cable from the front switches by the stick to the back).

The other possibility would be to get the BT one. There are two versions for that (one with a full BT box supporting calls...) and the other VWT-BTA-AUX which basically is like the above but has a BT interface cable (and still supports the aux). That is $20 more: $89.99. The AUX cable actually is probably not far from that so I think I'm just going to pay for this... Kind of pricey to remove some thing that I hate from the first day :(.

BTW, it seems that actually this is the manufacturer but their direct price is too high!

Understanding OBD

Under construction

Originally I had planned to talk about OBD Eleven here, but for the time being I am just going to describe OBD interface and how it works...

OBD Protocol:
This page by Klav Karr is very complete. Check all the info, not only that page, like the hardware level info and the standard fault codes.
Link
Wikipedia OBD
Wikipedia PIDs (OBD Parameter IDs)

This guy explains what adaptation, long coding, etc... is. Then posts a lot of the info corresponding to all those codes. Notice that OBD calls

Somehow there is this term out there about "measuring blocks". Not sure if it is universal or a function name on the VCDS software (from Ross-Tech). Regardless, what matters is that all the info you can pull from the car through OBD is divided in groups of 4 registers. Somehow in OBDEleven they talk about "channels" instead of groups. Regardless, each group or channels has 4 values (each for one thing, and not always all are used). Ross-Tech info on standard measuring block group. An example of key groups for my fuel cuts debugging (can see more of the word usage here) is listed below. I highlight in red the ones that I am finally plotting for debugging:

1. Group 1:
1. RPM
2. Group 2:
1. RPM (yes, again, just to illustrate that there can be repeated values)
2. Load (%). I believe this refers to the car engine load (?)
3. Group 3:
1. N/A
2. N/A
3. Throttle (%)
4. Group 103: (notice how the previous link actually has different stuff in here, as I think there are no standards...)
1. Fuel pressure (Low). Low means low pressure, not low limit or something like that. It is basically the one produced by the in-tank pump (lpfp).
5. Group 106:
1. Fuel pressure (High). High here refers to the high pressure and this value should be the same as the group 230 #2.
2. Load (%). The word load applies to different engines... In this case it is referring to the LPFP and it has nothing to do with the group 2 #2. As these pumps are usually PWM pumps, it also refers to the duty cycle of the control signal.
6. Group 230:
1. Fuel Rail Pressure: Commanded Fuel Pressure (aka specified). Fuel rail refers to the high pressure circuit, the one hitting the cylinders. Commanded because is what the ECM wants to get but controlling the hpfp.
2. Fuel Rail Pressure: Actual Fuel Pressure.
3. Fuel Rail Pressure: Fuel Pressure Difference (between 1 and 2). You can just compute this but I guess they provide it in case you want to plot that for debugging, real time...
7. Group 231
1. Fuel Pressure: Commanded Fuel Pressure (aka specified). Usually, if nothing is said, fuel pressure refers to the low one. Sometimes they say "Low" (as used above). This number should be same as group 103, #1.
2. Fuel Pressure: Actual Fuel Pressure.
3. Load (%) refers here to the load of the in-tank fuel pump (lpfp). Same as group 106 #2...

Good news is that you can't break anything by looking at this. Looks like OBD computer gives not only the register but also what the units are. So, the software can try to interpret the Byte (?) it gets. Need to learn more about the OBD memory. It also looks like these may not be standard across vehicles. Probably some are but many are not.

In OBDEleven, you access it by going to the right control unit and clicking in Live data. Once there you can also plot it (click the little graph icon on top). It is annoying because I don't think you can save the graph settings so every capture you have to retype it. Got to understand this better...

Can you really buy an OBD reader for $2?!?
The car hacker handbook

OBD for VW GTI MKV

This post is under construction. Probably don't want to spend much time on it...

Trying to find what to buy to monitor my HPFP or errors (see other posts on this), although now the car runs nice (after the spark plugs job. Update: it doesn't, see debugging here...). Here is what I learnt:

1. VCDS® HEX-V2® Enthusiast: The VW tool by excellence. $200. Uses USB.
2. BlueDriver seems to be well recommended, but not sure it allows me to program the car. It works with many cars. Free app but can't be accessed from other apps.
3. OBDEleven: lots of people says this is good. Get the PRO for about $80 that allows to program the car... Seems to work only on VW family cars... (Audi, Skoda...). Nice app, you can do everything you want yourself at low level but if you want click-only easy type of mods got to pay. I bought this one as it felt like a good trade-off. Almost regretting not to spent the $200 on the #1 but it's doing ok. My review/explanations here. 
4. Open source: but still hardware is expensive because uses some expensive MCU board... Still, the info on that site can teach us how to do ourselves one, if one day we want to.

I may update this back based on my learnings... Just putting it out there.