Laptops, PCs, and... Mac?
 

Just wondering - All of you out there with various stand-alone ECU's are using...?

When you got your first programmable ECU, did you already have a computer to program it with?

What did/do you have?

What is preferred between PC's and Mac's?

How many of you out there got a laptop, pc desktop or mac specifically for the purpose of tuning your ECU?

Cost ranges? Used/New?

OS? XP, Vista(Yuk!) Windows 7 anyone?


I have a Dell Inspirion 1501 I'm planning to use with the MS unit I hope to be purchasing soon.

Price: $100.00
Came from a friend who bought a newer one.

Very simple, has decent graphics chip(can play Dungeons and Dragons Online)
Came with Vista, has been turned over to XP Pro.
1.3GB of Ram - seems to run fine now with XP - was garbage with Vista.



Also --- Anyone out there in the miata world with a Car-puter in use with a stand-alone?

Pics of the setup maybe?


Thanks for info!

I don't think anyone would/does use a desktop, you'd have to have a very long serial cable and they get sketchy after so many feet. I also haven't heard of many people using Macs.

From what I've heard people tend to use laptops they already have, $100-300 brand new ones, or left overs from friends. That's what I'm doing, using my gf's old laptop that doesn't work without being plugged in. Before that it was a retired laptop from my dad's old job. Had to give it back when he left though.

There are a few people with built in computers, search around. It seems like a lot of work for something you wouldn't use much. I haven't messed with my MS tune in a month or so. Then again it's only a part time daily driver.

I dual boot my Macbook Pro with XP and am using it to tune with TS. I tried using my olde Dell laptop (which I kept for tuning with Split Second stuff), but it was only doing about 1 FPS on the dashbaord and would crash mid-burn.

TunerStudio runs on Linux, windows, and Mac...Ive used all three just fine. Pick your preferred platform

I use a MacBook Pro, either dual-boot XP or run vmware.

--Ian

I use a Samsung NC110 netbook with Ubuntu and tunerstudio. I kick myself in the ass every day for not getting something with a bigger screen. I contemplate switching over to my old ass inspiron 1000 all the time, but the thought of the netbook just rotting because it doesn't have a purpose makes me sad :(

I use bootcamp on my macbook to tune with TS. I really need to go figure out how to get my serial=>usb adapter working in OSX. Rebooting is a bitch.

You dont need to dual boot for tunerstudio on a Mac. Just use the RXTX drivers and the disc supplied with your USB adapter if its OSX compatible.

I use an old asss toshiba satellite
serial to usb adapter
windows XP
free ninety free

The only problem I have with it is that it will over heat if I put it on the seat, on the floor it's fine for whatever reason.

Work laptop Dell Latiturd something or another running linux... Got VirtualBox installed and running WinXP in there for WARI tuning software, serial connection works in VB mostly and sometimes have to use usb->serial adapter for some reason.

Seems like you need Windoze of some sorts with most of this stuff. If going with only MS stuff, I'll bet you could do just linux.

I am running MS3 which has a built in usb adapter. So no cd came with it. I know it is possible to get it working, I have just been lazy. Maybe this weekend I will figure it out

Tunerstudio runs just fine with a mac. It's just requires a little bit more work to install. There's a long discussion with help on the msextra forums.

If you're into parkinglot-rape and letting dudes take turns on you, then you should probably get an apple.

It got you to come to DC didn't it.:giggle:

Doesn't really matter whether it's got a picture of fruit on it or not, Windows XP runs equally well on both (well, assuming an x86 Mac.) The only real advantage to running Apple-branded hardware is that it removes all ambiguity about whether or not you enjoy taking it up the ass. Your ECU won't really care, however.


I bought a Fujitsu Stylistic 3400 tablet PC specifically for this purpose. Paid about $100 for it. It's a 400 Mhz P3 with 128 MB of RAM and Windows 2000, and I still have it in that configuration.


From <$100 to >$3,000.

Yes, either will do.


Depends on which ECU you have. For the MS, you can run Megatune on anything Win95 or later. I personally have Win 2000, Win XP, and Win 7 on my various machines.


I posted pics of mine a few years ago. Nothing fancy, just the aforementioned tablet sitting on a mounting bracket I made.

The mp3car forum, however, is filled w/ examples.

I'm using a viliv S5 running XP. I also have pc navigator on it. Fantastic with the car mount. Should mak
e a vid of it one day. Connecting over bluetooth to MS. Payed $599 for it. Would buy again in a heartbeat.