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Home Built Moving Map

Last Updated: 01/26/2005                     Hit Counter

This section of the website will only be for a select few until I'm satisfied it is working flawlessly. I'm not going to devote alot of time at first to this project but as I near completion of the plane I will dedicate time to complete a working model which will be usable in a 601. I have no intention to sell it, I just want to have a few working models out before I open up a walkthrough on how to make it and provide the software as a download from this site.

So Far I have bought off of E-Bay a used Iopener for $39.00. This is a nice LCD tablet computer that with a little bit of work anyone can do, it can be converted for our purposes. It 's original intent was to be a stand alone internet access machine that would only hook up to one provider. New units of this computer were sold at circuit city for $99. This was a loss to the company that provided them but they thought that they would make alot more in subscription fees it was a great idea and the hardware is top quality. Unfortunately some hacker's ( me! No I'm just the curious type!!) opened up the units, only to find that most of the inside equipment was standard PC . Some changes are necessary though.

  • Bio's chip needs to be removed and updated, this is not a problem in the first versions of the iopener, but later models had the bio's epoxied  to hold the chip's  to there socket. This is not a huge deal but will require some time and patience to remove the epoxy.

  • A hard drive needs to be added. A simple laptop 2.5 hard drive can be up to 4 gigs is more then enough for our purpose.

  • More Ram ! The Iopener comes with 32 megs but I think we can update it to 256megs

  • Power supply. Need to have an input power source of 19Vdc

  • Update the processor, originally the iopener comes with a Pentium 166 running at 200mhz This is good enough for our purpose, but I will see if updating it is feasible.

I intend on using Linux as a operating system due to reliability and background loading.

What do I want to have this thing do

  • It has to have a reliable moving map system with airport data.

  • IT has to be dirt cheap.

  • Needs to be able to have minimum input during flight situations.

  • Has to be easy for anyone to make.

  • Engine instruments may be added, but moving map is main goal.

  • Simple flight instrument may be added.

  • Have a reliable flight log.

  • Be able to download information into a USB stick.

  • Be readable in direct sunlight.

  • Must have a flight input, either trackball/touchpad or buttons installed in side of screen.

  • Has to be able to tuck away when not in use or during local cruising. During distance flights then it must be hands free and viewable by both passenger and pilot.

  • Also it must be out of site of ground traffic, the 601 is not the most secure of planes and I would rather not give anyone reason for smashing my canopy just to grab a computer. At present I'm thinking of locating the iopener on slides attached to the bottom center of 6-B-21-1 and 2. This would allow it to slide out when needed and be at eye level for both the pilot and passenger.

Here are some links to start on this journey

Imod3 - here is how to connect your hard drive.

How to get your Iopener running Linux

Free Linux Software

Great information site

This is just a start but for those of you that have this link, check back once and awhile. ANY and ALL progress will be updated here the same day it happens. Check the time stamp on this page to see when it has been updated.