V1 Virtual Display

Making a new order

2007-06-03T14:45:00.001-05:00

It has been a while but I am still around and i think I have gotten enough emails to put together a new order of supplies to make another batch of V1VD units. I am going to be sending out emails here shortly. If you are interested in getting in on this order and haven't email from me in the next couple of days please send an email to dolphin at exitzer0 (with a 0, not an O) dot com to make sure that you get in on the list.

The units will be $60 shipped to the US, for other orders please send me city, country and postal code and we will work out the shipping.

Please let me know in the next week if you are interested to make sure you get on the list. I will be ordering some extra, but they were all sold pretty quickly last time.

Small fix

2006-11-10T10:22:00.000-06:00

Thanks to DodgeCummins at MP3car.com for pointing out a bug that would cause a problem if you had certain other usb devices installed on your system. I have uploaded a new version that should fix the problem.

Enable Sounds = false

2006-05-29T20:15:00.000-05:00

The Enable sounds option should work on the latest version, pick it up if you want to turn off the sounds.

Now shipping!

2006-05-16T10:11:00.000-05:00

I have shipped out (most of) the paid orders, and I am taking orders for the remaining stock. You can use the button below while supplies last.
SOLD OUT For shipping outside the US, please contact me via email (dolphin at ExitZer0 dot com)

Parts!

2006-05-08T09:17:00.000-05:00

According to UPS, the last of the components should be coming in today. I will be building the units over the next few evenings, and I hope to be able to start shipping them this weekend. The units will be $65 plus shipping ($3 for continental US). Please send me an email at dolphin at exitzer0 (with a 0 not an o) dot com for paypal payment instructions.

Thanks.

New order made

2006-04-03T09:09:00.000-05:00

I have just got confirmation that all the parts have been ordered for another batch, and the parts should be here in 3-6 weeks (hopefully 3). If you have sent me your email address in the past, I will hold one for you for a week or two once all the pieces come in.

I will post more updates as pieces come in.

Almost there

2006-03-21T10:08:00.000-06:00

I have sent out an email to all those who have expressed interest in a new batch, to help me get an idea of how many I should make. It will be waiting a few days for responses, so please send me an email if you didn't receive one, and i will put you on the list.

dolphin at exitzer0 (with a 0 not an O) .com

Thanks!

Still collecting names

2006-01-25T09:02:00.000-06:00

It has been over a month since my last update. I haven't received as much feedback as I had hoped, but the majority of it has been positive, with no major problems reported so far, with the exception of a possible (unconfirmed) compatibility problem with older V1 units.

I still need about 5 more people to be able to put together another batch, so tell your friends to send me an email!

All Gone

2005-12-06T10:15:00.002-06:00

Okay, I am on my way out the door to send out the last two from this batch. I have gotten a little bit of feedback on the units, and no one has reported any problems yet.

I am about half way to another batch, so I still need some more interest before I can make another. email dolphin at exitzer0 (with a 0 not an O) .com.

V1VD on eBay

2005-11-28T13:59:00.000-06:00

eBay Listing

After getting all the units out for the pilot, I have ended up with two left.

I have decided that I am going to make one available on eBay, with a low starting price of $50 and no reserve. You have got a week to bid on it.

The second unit I am going to pick randomly from the requests that I have received, along with any new ones that I get this week. Please send an email to dolphin at ExitZer0 dot com to let me know if you are interested in getting the second one. This one will be $80, shipped to the continental US.

I can do another order with as few as 25 people willing to buy one, so send me an email if you would like to get in on the next buy.

Minor install fix v0.9.3.1

2005-11-28T12:18:00.000-06:00

v0.9.3.1
I think I have finally tracked down all the missing files (I know, I just jinxed myself) and this package should have all the need files.

V1VD v0.9.3

2005-11-21T15:30:00.000-06:00

V1 Virtual Display v0.9.3

There were two different issues relating to a missing driver dll, FTDI2XX.dll. The first one caused a problem installing the driver. The second was causing a problem with the actual running of the application. The package has been updated, and the inf files have been corrected, and both issues appear to be cleared up.

First Batch Shipped

2005-11-14T15:52:00.000-06:00

I just got back from the post office, and all the units (except for one I am waiting for an email on) have been shipped. People should start getting the units this week.

I am looking forward to see what people have to say.

V1VD v1.0

2005-11-12T15:42:00.000-06:00

I have just finished building and testing the first unit, and it looks like it is a success. Until I had all the pieces assembled, I was worried that the fit was going to be off, but that didn't turn out to be a problem.

I don't know how many I will be able to build this weekend, but I will start shipping them out on Monday.

Stay tuned!

...and tracking....

2005-11-09T07:34:00.000-06:00

Apparently the rest of the supplies are stuck in customs in Alaska due to some missing paperwork and a delay in getting a response from the shipper. I called FedEx and it should be continuing on its journey from Anchorage today, hopefully by Friday.

Tracking Circuit Boards

2005-11-03T09:01:00.000-06:00

I just received the tracking info for the last of the parts (and the most important, the circuit boards). The company that is producing them is pretty cheap for small orders, but I guess they make up for it in their turnaround time. I should be getting all the boards on Monday. I will be testing everything out, then hopefully start sending out the units next week. I will be shipping out the assembled units in the order i received payment, and I will be building them by hand, so it may take a few days to get them all out.

I am excited to see some other people using the V1 Virtual Display Soon!

V1VD Prototype parts ordered

2005-10-10T15:16:00.001-05:00

I have gotten all the prototype parts ordered, and hopefully I will receive everything in 3-4 weeks. The cases and the boards both have somewhat of a long turnaround time, I hope that they don't go too far over their estimates.

GPS Support

2005-10-10T15:16:00.000-05:00

V1 Virtual Display v0.9

I have just published an updated version of the V1 Virtual Display software, with basic GPS support. When connected to a supported GPS, V1VD will log the speed, heading, and position (decimal latitude and longitude) to the alert log.

It isn't very useful just yet, but some new features are on the horizon, including auto muting based on speed, smart filtering of alerts based on logged falses, and maybe even real time tracking of other people's alerts (with an always on internet connection in the car :))

I have also improved the filtering of alerts, and I drove all over town the other day without having the display pop up without an actual alert.

DoIt

2005-09-06T16:08:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, while I was waiting to hear back from people I wrote a little utility that I have been thinking about for some time.

Do It is designed to work like the Startup folder in Windows, except that there are also folders for Suspend, Resume, Battery, AC and Shutdown. Just drag a shortcut into the appropriate folder and it will get run when that event occurs.

Do It Setup and ReadMe

Update

2005-09-01T08:57:00.000-05:00

I have sent out an email to all respondents requesting payment for their V1 USB adapter. I am hoping to place the order for all the parts next week. If you have already signed up and haven't yet, please send me your payment via paypal.

If you are interested, but haven't signed up yet, it isn't too late. Please send me the information requested below, and I will get you in.

Pilot

2005-07-20T12:15:00.000-05:00

After months and months of effort to build the hardware to connect the Valentine One to a PC via USB, we are finally ready to produce a small run of test units.

Participating in the Pilot
Since this is a pilot, we are looking for individuals who are willing to participate in evaluating the V1 USB Adapter. We will be selecting 25 individuals to participate in the pilot. This number will help evaluate the effectiveness of the V1 USB Adapter, make any necessary modifications and incorporate any potential suggestions participants may have. We ask those participating in the pilot provide feedback about the operation and performance of the V1 USB Adapter and accompanying software. Occasional feedback will be requested of those participating in the Pilot.

Costs?
There is a small cost associated with participation. These costs are simply covering actual production of these first 25 units. In an effort to encourage participation, we have tried to ensure the cost of participation is as low as possible. If you are interested submit a request for participation.

How to Request Participation:
E-mail dolphin@exitzer0.com and include the following information in your e-mail:

Car Year, Make and Model
Car Audio equipment and config
PC equipment and config including:
1. CPU
2. RAM
3. Hard drives, dvd drives, CF drives, etc.
4. Monitor, including aspect ratio and resolutions that are used regularly as well as connection (VGA, SVIDEO, etc.)
5. USB devices used regularly
6. Operating system
7. Commonly used applications, including media players, gps software, front ends or other applications that will commonly be running at the same time as the V1 Virtual display
8. Startup/shutdown controller/method. How is your computer started and shutdown, and is hibernate an/or standby used regularly
9. What kind of input devices do you use (touchscreen, mouse, etc.)
Valentine One software version
How your Valentine One is connected (e.g. hardwired, cigarette lighter adapter, etc.)
What other devices you have attached to your Valentine One (remote display, audio adapter, etc)
Approximate length of wires between each Valentine One hardware piece, including an estimate of the length of the wires to connect the V1 USB Adapter
Modifications to the vehicle (engine, electrical systems…)

As a sign of appreciation for helping to refine this product, all those participating in the Pilot and providing the requested feedback will be given a generous discount toward a final product unit if the pilot is a success.

Hardware Requirements:
Valentine 1 compatible with the Valentine One Concealed Display
Windows 98, 2000, XP with USB and .Net Framework

Download the Software:
You will need the Virtual V1 software below. The software can be used to view skins and playback previously recorded log files, without a V1 USB adapter connected.

Thanks for your interest and we look forward to hearing from you!

Release v0.8.3 now available

2005-05-09T20:58:00.000-05:00

V1 Virtual Display v0.8.3 is now available.

Changes:

Basic sound theme support, with loading of sounds, and playing for startup/shutdown sounds. The sounds can either be in the themes directory, or in a skin directory.
Error and debugging information is written to a log file. The size of this file is capped (on startup only) to 128k.
There is now an option to log alerts to a file. The size of this file is checked on startup to make sure it does not exceed a user definable size. If the file exceeds this, it is copied to another file, and a new one is created. This logging can be turned off. The format of the file is a single line with the time the file was first written to (stdlib time, in hex), followed by one line for each unique entry, with the application time as the first value (hex milliseconds), and the alert (hex).
Alert logs can be played back. The time between changes is capped to 1 second to allow for quicker playback.
A new flag was added to the skin definition AlwaysShowLastMode which allows the skin to always have the mode indicator visible.
Changing of skins is now done in the options dialog. Skin preview images are are displayed if they exist. The preview images must be in the skins directory and must be gif format, with the same name as the skin.

DLL Changes:

The DLL had to change to reflect the v1.0 hardware, basically, reversing the mute toggle.

Skin Changes:

The skin XML format changed slightly, changing the Name element into an attribute.

USB connection v1.0

2005-05-08T02:56:00.000-05:00

I have finished updating the connections and have posted the latest schematic. This one has and input and an output jack (for simultaneous connection of the official remote display), and no longer pushes the mute button unexpectedly. I have a board layout, and am researching the best place to get some boards produced.

Serial Support

2005-04-30T22:42:00.000-05:00

I have made the necessary changes to V1VD to support a standard serial device. In the options you set port to the com port that you have your V1 connected to, or enter 0 or V1VD to connect to the USB interface.

Short Video

2005-04-29T15:35:00.000-05:00

I made a short video if you are interested in seeing V1VD in action.