ynottony

Does anyone know what OS the iDrive system uses?
Or is it based on flash memory? SSDD?


Has anyone attempted to get inside there to see if
we have the ability to add/delete stuff from the iDrive
system?

I would be interested most in deleting the atrocious
navigation system and installing something like Google
Maps on my car or a better navi software app.

It would be even better if we could get:





As the base OS for iDrive

amit1947

The early 7 series with the first generation I-Drive (2002/2003 I think) had an I-Drive running on Windows CE. The e60 I-Drive (CCC type) runs on VxWorks, which is a popular real-time operating system.

amit1947

I've read the CPU is a Hitachi part. I would assume that the OS was loaded on some kind of PROM memory and/or Flash memory.

VxWorks is a pretty solid OS, some of the NASA space probes use it.

sleeper50

It can be hacked...I have seen a post somwhere (X5world or m5board, can't remember) where both the startup splash screen and the background pic used in the 3D map were changed.

ynottony

Woot, just what I wanted to hear

Can you post a link if you can find it? I'm going to try to search
for it right now...

ynottony

Any coders on e60 that would be willing to work with me on this one?

Would be fun to try to change the splash screen then move onto
other fun changes in the iDrive system on the e60

pm me if interested.

sleeper50

I think I was wrong. I remember finding this while researching an E39 M5 ( I went with an 06 550 instead of an 03 M5)

m5 board splash screen

x5 world splash screen

I really don't know if the Mark IV software in the e39 nav unit is similar to iDrive or not

Hope this helps, it would be good to hack into the e60 iDrive software though, keep us posted.

OverSoft

I've looked into this myself.
The OS is stored on a 64MB flash chip with no flash fail-safes!!! This means that when flashing and something goes wrong, your CCC is trashed.
Flashing can be done thru the fiberoptic plug in your glovebox. However, reading the current flash is not possible via this connection.

Also: The entire OS is one compiled program, so there's not really something you could change except for the entire OS image.

russdx

'The OS is stored on a 64MB flash chip with no flash fail-safes!!! This means that when flashing and something goes wrong, your CCC is trashed.'

if it goes wrong cant u just flash it again?

OverSoft

Nope, unfortunately the flashing is controlled by the OS itself. If the OS is corrupted by a bad flash attempt, it can't reflash itself. (Simply put, it can't boot, so it can't access the flashing "application")
You could always reflash it yourself if you open up the CCC and get an external programmer and a flashing clamp suitable for that flash chip, but that's also quite expensive and not a job for the faint-harted. (And it's way harder than just flashing it with progman)