Develop Bugs

Thought About the Laptop Dock

I was thinking about this yesterday and I don't see why this wouldn't be possible.
According to Motorola all the Laptop Dock is, is a screen keyboard and mouse. In the interest of saving money, why not just take an old netbook, take out the internals and convert it? I'm not exactly skilled with electronics but I don't see why this wouldn't be possible, you would need to either keep the DC board (if it is separate) or remove it from the motherboard itself. Then it would just be a matter of converting the LCD to HDMI Input and linking the USB's to the Atrix. At which point you just plug your phone via 2 cables and voila, it would work. Granted you would clearly need to change the connectors for the Keyboard and trackpad, but strip down an HDMI Multimedia dock and I could easily see this being done and saving money. (easily being subjective)

That might be challenging. Adding an HDMI input to a screen that wasn't designed with it is very difficult and potentially expensive. Most netbooks are using analog inputs and HDMI is digital.
The main way to go from analog to digital is a video capture device that encodes the analog signal. Those tend to have a fair bit of latency and are neither small nor cheap.
If you started with a display that supported HDMI input you could build a home brew laptop from that. Power might be an issue at that point though.
From what I have seen the Webtop is merely a feature of pluggin in the HDMI cable and selecting the appliction. The HDMI dock is not going to add much value other than be a convient and nice form factor.
I have considered doing somthing like you are suggesting but I am struggling with the HDMI issue. Currently the only option seems to be taking a display that supports HDMI and converting it into a homebrew laptop. At this time I can't find a digital display that is smaller that 20". An 11-15 inch screen that supports HDMI doesn't seem to exist.

I have thought of the same thing. The sticking point in my mind is the HDMI connection to the screen. The keyboard and mouse are likely just regular usb devices.
The next problem is that my Frankenstein device may cost $100+ to create and will likely look like crap.
The next problem is that the webtop appears to be locked down unless you have a tethering plan.
My conclusion from all of this is that it is cheaper and cleaner to buy a netbook and either add tethering only when necessary or root the device and add barnacle wifi.

If I'm not mistaken though, a netbook with an 11.6 inch display probably isn't only analog. I have a Toshiba T215-S1150 as well as an Asus EeePC that I'm looking into doing such with.
Granted off the top of my head a Pixel Qi display may accomplish such but I'm not sure if that is a Digital Input display.
I could be wrong though but I thought that in the end it's an LCD panel, the inputs are sodered on as to how you want to allow a Video Input.

You say the laptop dock is locked down without a tethering plan, one thing I did notice is you can buy the HDMI dock and it doesn't require it. You can use it with webtop also, I don't see how AT&T can determine if you are using Webtop on a Laptop or on a Desktop. Especially since from what I can tell, plugging in an HDMI cable will bring up the option for webtop also.
I don't see how the Frankenstein device is going to look bad especially since you will be removing most of the internals, you just remove a VGA port or plug an HDMI cable into the HDMI out. Then you use the USB as it was intended to connect the device to the rest of the internals. I know I'm not an electrical engineer or anything, but I know enough of the basics to see how this could work.
krkeegan said:
I have thought of the same thing. The sticking point in my mind is the HDMI connection to the screen. The keyboard and mouse are likely just regular usb devices.
The next problem is that my Frankenstein device may cost $100+ to create and will likely look like crap.
The next problem is that the webtop appears to be locked down unless you have a tethering plan.
My conclusion from all of this is that it is cheaper and cleaner to buy a netbook and either add tethering only when necessary or root the device and add barnacle wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

In regards to the tethering plan:
As I understand it the only requirement to have the tethering plan is to get the subsidy on the Laptop dock.
If you purchase the laptop dock outside a subsidized bundle then there is no need for a tethering plan.
As naturefreak85 said. The dock will allow webtop to launch as will a basic HDMI cable.
There is a video on you tube of a guy doing a demo where he plugs in an HDMI cable and webtop gives an option to launch.
AT&T is merely foisting the tethering plan on people who get the laptop dock on the $500 bundle. If you want to drop $500 on teh dock seperatly there is no requirement.
Mod's and Homebrew can look good. Thats up to the artist. For me its not about circumventing the $500 dock. Its about building somthing cool.
In regards to the HDMI/netbook thing... I did a little more thinking on how that works.
The motherboard has an LCD controller on it which sits between the video adapter on the MB and the LCD.
It goes:
Motherboard->Video Adapter (on silicon)->LCD controller->ribbon cable->LCD
There is also a LCD backlight and inverter involved.
If you just try to plug into the ribbon cable you loose the controller (and backlight inverter)
The contorller is the missing link and they are difficult to purchase on their own in any cost effective manner.
That is where canabalizing a monitor would workas it has a controller with it. The netbook/laptop has thecontroller embeded or loosely couple with the MB.
The hunt goes on.

I'll have to do some research on the schematics of my 1000HA and see the connection the display has to the motherboard. I figure it could be done in terms of converting the display to HDMI, just a matter of figuring out the right pinout and still supplying the right amount of power.
I would love to bring this to fruition because I've never done too much modding, but always been interested in such. I envision the ability to lift up the keyboard and plug the phone in, then lay the keyboard right back down. To the average viewer, it's a laptop but you are keeping your phone nicely protected/connected in it especially nice on an airplane. Much harder to leave a laptop behind vs a phone.

emoose said:
As I understand it the only requirement to have the tethering plan is to get the subsidy on the Laptop dock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We will likely found out the answer to this on Monday, but the ATT page seems to say that tethering is required for use of firefox in the webtop mode.
The Atrix page on ATT's website states:
Code:
Full Firefox® browser use with AT&T Mobile Broadband requires DataPro 4GB Personal plan.
** Although, on second thought, that may be an "ATT Requirement" but it doesn't necessarily mean that the browser won't work.

Right as I read that it means, in order to use Webtop on 3G you need the tethering plan, but at the same time, I'm not sure how they can differentiate between desktop firefox if you change the ID tag of it. Plus they don't restrict it if used on WiFi.
krkeegan said:
We will likely found out the answer to this on Monday, but the ATT page seems to say that tethering is required for use of firefox in the webtop mode.
The Atrix page on ATT's website states:
Code:
Full Firefox® browser use with AT&T Mobile Broadband requires DataPro 4GB Personal plan.
** Although, on second thought, that may be an "ATT Requirement" but it doesn't necessarily mean that the browser won't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

naturefreak85 said:
I'll have to do some research on the schematics of my 1000HA and see the connection the display has to the motherboard. I figure it could be done in terms of converting the display to HDMI, just a matter of figuring out the right pinout and still supplying the right amount of power.
I would love to bring this to fruition because I've never done too much modding, but always been interested in such. I envision the ability to lift up the keyboard and plug the phone in, then lay the keyboard right back down. To the average viewer, it's a laptop but you are keeping your phone nicely protected/connected in it especially nice on an airplane. Much harder to leave a laptop behind vs a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue is laptop displays typically use LVDS, which is very incompatible with DVI/HDMI signals. You basically need a DVI>LVDS board, which will run into the hundreds of dollars to buy like that.
Unless your laptop uses DisplayPort for it's display connection (unlikely on a netbook,) in which case it would basically be a matter of including a 'cheap' DVI>Displayport converter then pin-matching it to the screen.
I'm actively working on a way to achieve it, too, though (with my Asus Eee 1215T.)

Sjael said:
The issue is laptop displays typically use LVDS, which is very incompatible with DVI/HDMI signals. You basically need a DVI>LVDS board, which will run into the hundreds of dollars to buy like that.
Unless your laptop uses DisplayPort for it's display connection (unlikely on a netbook,) in which case it would basically be a matter of including a 'cheap' DVI>Displayport converter then pin-matching it to the screen.
I'm actively working on a way to achieve it, too, though (with my Asus Eee 1215T.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doing a little bit more research and we have a possible solution, it may require splicing out the HDMI cable to get audio off the connector but this could work.....and it's $29
http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCAQ8wIwAA#

naturefreak85 said:
Doing a little bit more research and we have a possible solution, it may require splicing out the HDMI cable to get audio off the connector but this could work.....and it's $29
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a board designed for a specific miniITX motherboard - it takes whatever the mobo puts out and turns it into DVI and LVDS. If you could figure out what signals you need to provide to that board, then make those out of an HDMI signal, you might have a way in. Not sure just what functions that board actually provides, and it would be a rather extensive project to find out. I'm guessing that since it has a fair bit of circuitry behind the DVI port, it's not a natively DVI/HDMI-compatible signal.
That means a bit of reverse-engineering though, which I'm not *too* keen on doing. My current line of thought involves using some form of portable media player with a decent screen, since they typically accept some form of video input, haxxed into a case with a USB keyboard and (maybe) touchpad. The hard part is finding a usable screen that is actually better than the one on the Atrix.
That, or find a broken (not the screen! ) modern, high-end laptop that uses Displayport for it's display..

MHL / HDMI Mini review.

So, got mine today from mobile fun, link Below.
http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/bizlink-mhl-to-hdmi-tv-out-adapter-black-p29839.htm
Mobile Fun's mini Video Review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnU5F_0TyZI&feature=player_embedded
First of all it works, the most important thing, it works well in fact and my 1080p videos look fantastic, those I have downloaded and those I have recorded myself with this phone, they really do look great and a HD TV. So for the measly price of 15-20 sheets its worth it regardless of the issues below.
The only problem:
For those that didn't know, i.e, didn't do their homework, you cannot just plug this in and it will work, it needs power. Now I knew about this and didn't really see it is an issue as I hadn't really imagined how this would look, work and feel. Well I can say that for me (only my opinion) its a bit of a mess, its far from elegant. Basically you have to plug in a usb cable into the adapter first, this powers it, then plug the adapter into the Phone and then the hdmi into the adapter and TV. This is all easily done but like I say it is far from a more elegant one cable solution that doesn't need power and doesn't need an adapter. For me this was my first real disappointment with this phone, a floating turd in an otherwise lake of glittering gold.
Now it could be argued that I knew about this and that I shouldn't be disappointed but I am, the whole thing in your hand just feels ungainly, something you are not going to know until you put it all together. I really don't like the idea that you have to have a second cable to power it either, again I know this so I don't need this pointing out but people should be aware of this drawback, however minor.
Summary (for those who can be arsed to read)
1. It works really well, HD stuff looks fantastic.
2. Its not an elegant solution as you need a usb cable to power the adapter itself.

What about the official Samsung one? That one is probably much better.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

diehard2222 said:
What about the official Samsung one? That one is probably much better.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
marginally better in that the USB input is place in line with the cable and so when inserted it doesnt jut out at a right angle.
This Phone is never going to need MHL, its too early for the tech I think, its a fail for me, should have taken the same route as the LG2x, although even with this issue the sg2 is still the best phone on the market.

Hi. I have expansys version for £13. Also works great. But with yours whilst in use, does the phone keep charge or charge up whilst in use. With mine I find so far that even though the phone is charging whilst connected to the tv, it looses charge
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

stoolzo said:
marginally better in that the USB input is place in line with the cable and so when inserted it doesnt jut out at a right angle.
This Phone is never going to need MHL, its too early for the tech I think, its a fail for me, should have taken the same route as the LG2x, although even with this issue the sg2 is still the best phone on the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe thats true for you, I'm using and loving MHL on mine.

ripnard said:
Hi. I have expansys version for £13. Also works great. But with yours whilst in use, does the phone keep charge or charge up whilst in use. With mine I find so far that even though the phone is charging whilst connected to the tv, it looses charge
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont worry - sorted it. Stoppped overclocking to 1.5ghz and using performance govenor (DOH!) and I can now stream 1080p from youutube over wifi (only works through full fat desktop internet browser mode btw, not via the youtbe app or youtube in mobile broweser page mode) with mobile data off and still charges the phone at the same time!
Wow 1080 video over internet wifi straight to tv. This phone rocks!

my only gripe with this adapter is that it requires power, if this port was just put in place to allow charging when playing this would have been fine, its just the fact you cannot use he adapter at all without an extra the power source.

I wonder what it actually is needing the power for.

The problem here is that there is no MHL compliant TV yet afaik.
Cause the MHL port in a TV would provide power to the phone without needing another cable.

You'd want it plugged in anyway. I can see the battery lasting an hour playing 1080P video outputting internally and externally at the same time.

Do you still have to have an external power source on the official samsung MHL adapter?
If so, I really doubt I'm buying one
In other words, I need to have a PC or power contact for it to work?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Hey,
is the output really 1080p (if you have a movie which is 1080p), or is it Android´s/ the phone´s native resolution?
just wondering
bye

Its the phones resolution unless you're in the video player, in which case it outputs it in HD if the source file is HD (does 1080i for compressed video, I've heard it will do 1080p with un-compressed video, but not tried yet to confirm).

PointZeroOne said:
I wonder what it actually is needing the power for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably for the MHL-to-HDMI bridge chip and any support electronics. Note that once MHL-capable TVs enter the market, it may be possible to use a straight-through passive cable, especially if the MHL-capable TV provides charging input to the phone as promised.

can someone tell me what is the cost for a good cable in us dollars?

Wouldnt it make sense for there to be an option to turn the phone screen off when outputting to the TV?

i orderd mine from clove, still waiting for my order..

I ordered this cable just now at mobilefun, but I made an error in my phone number. Wanted to press the escape button so the page wouldn't continue but it was too late. Lol .. anyway I'm sure it'll be fine. Although, I didn't receive a confirmation email yet
"Expected back in stock: 4-8 days" Grrrr

Official Samsung cable is on Amazon UK at the time I'm posting this for £17.99
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004ULZ0IW
Not sure I really need one but a heads-up for those who want it.
Edit: "Usually dispatched within 1 to 4 months"! - oh well maybe I'll order it and see if I need it when it gets here...

i am using the official samsung hdtv adapter/hdmi adapter. just got it today.
the quality of the output video is fantastic...
only gripe is similar to what was mentioned. have to get it powered before it can be used..
sighs..

HTC Thunderbolt video out cable?

So I just got a new '11 Ford Explorer Limited and it includes a composite input. I was able to connect a camera and get it to display itself on the touchscreen so I was wondering if I can mirror the TB screen onto the touchscreen. Is there any cable available?

Sadly the TB has no TV out so no you cant.

this sucks

qman66 said:
this sucks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second that...

I'm not sure which sucks more, the lack of a video out, or the fact that the auto industry is about three generations behind on everything when it comes to consumer electronics... composite input eh? How handy, I guess I will connect my portable VCR to it... <sigh>

so with a certain app, this wouldnt work?
http://www.google.com/products/cata...a=X&ei=ksIXTqKZApOosALqzKTCBw&ved=0CF8Q8wIwAQ

Has no one searched? I try not to ever be the one that *****es about searching, but I personally started a thread on launch day about this, and someone has already tried this.

1454 said:
Has no one searched? I try not to ever be the one that *****es about searching, but I personally started a thread on launch day about this, and someone has already tried this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but with having a phone in hand/research, something could change. Search that.

Someone on another board says no....
forums.androidcentral.com/thunderbolt-accessories/79809-does-droid-incredible-micro-usb-rca-cable-work-thunderbolt.html
well it says Im not allowed to post hyperlinks on this board yet so you will have to piece that together but someone bought a cable to try it and:
"Nope, the cable can't be used with the Thunderbolt.
The micro-USB plug on the cable is non-standard in shape and contains two extra nubs that prevent it from being inserted into the TBolt.
It was worth a try."

One round-about option if you are determined to do this, is to utilize the "DLNA" capability of the TB. That is the "reason" there is no video, or even better, HDMI out on the TB.
You can buy this from HTC:
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/35642/htc-dlna-bridge-gadget-tube
I imagine you could find other DLNA to composite video adapters out there, as well.

robroy90 said:
I'm not sure which sucks more, the lack of a video out, or the fact that the auto industry is about three generations behind on everything when it comes to consumer electronics... composite input eh? How handy, I guess I will connect my portable VCR to it... <sigh>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed. these cars should come with hdmi. and how about a capacitive touch screen. so annoying having to press down on the screen so hard. feels like my old wimo phone

You can only use it for media on the device. That is one reason for hdmi/compsite or whatever video capability. I want a video out to stream from netflix and or vulkano. This is part of the reason I may* jump to the bionic when it comes out.

It's cool that it has DLNA I guess if your TV supports it, but I think it was kind of a bad decision by HTC. First of all 99% of Thunderbolt owners probably don't even know the phone has it, most of them probably don't have DLNA capable TV's, and HTC's "media link" adapter for people who don't have DLNA TV's costs like $150. I would rather buy a $10 HDMI cable and be done with it.
/rant

Oh yeah, I think it's a bad decision too. also thinking about the bionic...

Can the Droid Charge do video out?

TauntingBull said:
Can the Droid Charge do video out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes hdmi out
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

Sadly very very true
Kitten Mittens said:
It's cool that it has DLNA I guess if your TV supports it, but I think it was kind of a bad decision by HTC. First of all 99% of Thunderbolt owners probably don't even know the phone has it, most of them probably don't have DLNA capable TV's, and HTC's "media link" adapter for people who don't have DLNA TV's costs like $150. I would rather buy a $10 HDMI cable and be done with it.
/rant
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

Galaxy S3 composite out?

I've been searching and I'm not finding any real answers which leads me to believe that it won't be possible without a digital converter box. I'm looking for some type of analog out adapter for my S3. I would like to hook it up to my car's in-dash head unit which does not support HDMI. Now a days a regular micro usb port on these phones seem to be used for every purpose. I do want video. Has anyone had any luck?
EDIT: This post started with 6 adapters and has dwindled down to just 3. I'm surprised to find the S3 VGA adapter but this is the digital to analog converter I need. The total cost is about $30. I pulled the trigger and will update you guys in a few weeks once it arrives.
Samsung Galaxy S3 S III i9300 MHL Micro USB 11p to VGA
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sam-sung-Ga...372122?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item3a7a349f1a
VGA to Composite
http://ebay.com/itm/PC-VGA-to-TV-S-...=US_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item337c25cbe6
3.5mm to Composite
http://ebay.com/itm/3-5MM-Male-Audi...=US_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item45faa58acf
Edit: Wow I feel dumb... You can't convert from VGA to Composite without a converter box. What a waste. I was focusing on the conversion from digital to analog and didn't consider the encoding is different... The VGA out does however work with my HDTV. It's not great though. The output is fixed at the 720p resolution which means it uses about 1/3th of my 1080p screen. The screen flickers occasionally too. Sometimes it won't even work without a minute of messing with the cables. The screen is just staticy until I get it right. It has however gotten better so maybe it needed to break in or something. Either way, I guess I'm going to buy an HDMI to Composite converter box instead.

Moved to first post.

Heck, a raspberry pi is cheaper than these converter boxes and it's a full computer.

Moved to first post.

I'd be I interested in one of these too. For the same reason
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Anyone ever used one of these? I'm curious if the micro usb port will both charge my phone and power the converter.

Use this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271014996085?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
Got good reviews on amazon, im planing to buy one soon

0mega007 said:
Use this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271014996085?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
Got good reviews on amazon, im planing to buy one soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems nice! Waiting for feedback...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0080KN18K/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1
Here are the reviews on amazon

0mega007 said:
Use this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271014996085?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
Got good reviews on amazon, im planing to buy one soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the guy I was looking at first but you have to buy a 5 to 11 pin adapter, an MHL HDMI cable, and then the converter. That's around $50. The VGA adapter will only run you $30.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sam-sung-Ga...jectors-Adapter-/251158372122?#ht_5213wt_1163

Wow I feel dumb... You can't convert from VGA to Composite without a converter box. What a waste. I was focusing on the conversion from digital to analog and didn't consider the encoding is different... The VGA out does however work with my HDTV. It's not great though. The output is fixed at the 720p resolution which means it uses about 1/3th of my 1080p screen. The screen flickers occasionally too. Sometimes it won't even work without a minute of messing with the cables. The screen is just staticy until I get it right. It has however gotten better so maybe it needed to break in or something. Either way, I guess I'm going to buy an HDMI to Composite converter box instead.

Raspberry Pi
Hopefully people are still reading this... Someone had mentioned a Raspberry Pi... How would I go about using that to connect my phone to my car system to get video? any ideas anyone?

What car system do you have? What kind of input methods are available? What are you trying to achieve?

shamez23 said:
What car system do you have? What kind of input methods are available? What are you trying to achieve?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an Avic Z1 in my car. The video inputs are just RCA/Component cables... no high-def. I essentially just want to be able to play movies off my phone onto my screen/sound system in my car. I have a Raspberry Pi sitting around; I've never used it though, so no idea what to do with it. I'm hoping I can use that so I don't have to buy anything else. Any ideas?

Well, the Pi does have RCA output. So you could connect it to your Z1. The Pi is a little computer on its own. You could just use it instead of your phone and put your movies on a sd card or a thump drive. It is possible to use the Pi as a dlna device and your phone as a dlna server that transmits movies to the Pi which in turn outputs the video to your Z1. That however isn't the easiest of feats. It takes a lot more effort than a plug and play solution like a hdmi to RCA converter box would.
The Pi is linux based and I don't use Linux. So I don't know if Linux can work with the MPA or whatever that standard is named, that the S3 uses instead of the standard older phones are using which makes them appear on a computer like a harddrive when connected via USB. If Linux can work with the S3 you could just connect it and use it as a Harddrive, using the computer system of the Pi to navigate content on your phone. Would be a lot easier than streaming.
Anyway, there are a couple of ways you could use the Pi but none of them are easy out of the box solutions. The Pi is more of a developer device at least when you want to do more than what the Linux distributions that are available can offer. There are some that offer that DLNA feature I was talking about. Look for XBMC, there are Videos on Youtube. All those solutions aren't plug and play. If you like playing with computers and figuring out stuff, make it work, this should be fun for you. If not, you better think of something else to do with your time.
Edit:
Looked it up. It's called MHL, not MPA.
Plug and Play would be to use one of those:
http://www.amazon.com/Sanoxy-HDMI-Composite-S-Video-Converter/dp/B0047PDBP0
You'd also need a MHL Cable that turns your Micro USB out to a HDMI out, Plug it into the converter and said converter into your Z1. Once you've set that up with all the cables needed (quite a lot of cables going on there), it will be plug and play in the future.
Not cheap, so it depends on how often you are going to use it, if it's a worthwhile endeavor.

shamez23 said:
Well, the Pi does have RCA output. So you could connect it to your Z1. The Pi is a little computer on its own. You could just use it instead of your phone and put your movies on a sd card or a thump drive. It is possible to use the Pi as a dlna device and your phone as a dlna server that transmits movies to the Pi which in turn outputs the video to your Z1. That however isn't the easiest of feats. It takes a lot more effort than a plug and play solution like a hdmi to RCA converter box would.
The Pi is linux based and I don't use Linux. So I don't know if Linux can work with the MPA or whatever that standard is named, that the S3 uses instead of the standard older phones are using which makes them appear on a computer like a harddrive when connected via USB. If Linux can work with the S3 you could just connect it and use it as a Harddrive, using the computer system of the Pi to navigate content on your phone. Would be a lot easier than streaming.
Anyway, there are a couple of ways you could use the Pi but none of them are easy out of the box solutions. The Pi is more of a developer device at least when you want to do more than what the Linux distributions that are available can offer. There are some that offer that DLNA feature I was talking about. Look for XBMC, there are Videos on Youtube. All those solutions aren't plug and play. If you like playing with computers and figuring out stuff, make it work, this should be fun for you. If not, you better think of something else to do with your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting... I'll have to look into all that.. My only concern is then I'd have to keep a mouse and keyboard in my car at all times, correct? I was hoping I could just play something on my phone and it would appear on my car screen. I'll youtube the stuff you mentioned and see what works. Thanks a lot!

I was hoping I could just play something on my phone and it would appear on my car screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the converter box would do that.
With the Pi being a real computer however, some kind of input device will be necessary. Using the Pi is kind of a long shot anyway. It's possible but it's not what the Pi is intended for. It usually is easier and more user-friendly using a dedicated system instead of something cobbled together.

shamez23 said:
Well, the converter box would do that.
With the Pi being a real computer however, some kind of input device will be necessary. Using the Pi is kind of a long shot anyway. It's possible but it's not what the Pi is intended for. It usually is easier and more user-friendly using a dedicated system instead of something cobbled together.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha.. that's what I figured. Thanks a lot!

I have the old tvout cable from s1....is it good?
But I can't find the tvout settings in the phone...
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-i9300 using TapaTalk2

No. The S3 has it's own cable and it's different than the ones from the S1 or S2. There is an adapter available but that one usually costs nearly as much as a new cable from ebay.
Also, depending on your ROM, TV-out may not work at all. There is no TV-out on Cyanogenmod ROMs for example.

What I want to be able to do with my GS3....

I want to be able to plug my GS3's USB port into a wire, or maybe do this wirelessly, and then see Android screen on a large monitor and use a mouse and keyboard to intract with the display on the large screen.
I am baffled at the idea that this is not possible... so I must be missing something?
I have a little netbook that I use in this way, and the GS3 is a much more powerful device (it can play videos that the netbook cannot manage).

Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. HDMI MHL adapter.
But why? They make a pc for that.
Gs3 is not very powerful and you won't have good resolution. Productivity will be minimal.
If you want a mobile PC grab a windows 8 tablet like the surface pro.

Do you want a desktop or a mobile device?
You could buy a transformer type tablet or build a desktop for pretty cheap.
If you want this to be mobile, that's a lot of crap to carry around... How would you even power the screen? Seems like those people who bring desktops to coffee shops.
If you want a desktop, you can come build or buy one that's much more powerful for not all that much more than the cost of hooking your phone up - and then you don't have to worry about battery life draining and overheating.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

synpax said:
I want to be able to plug my GS3's USB port into a wire, or maybe do this wirelessly, and then see Android screen on a large monitor and use a mouse and keyboard to intract with the display on the large screen.
I am baffled at the idea that this is not possible... so I must be missing something?
I have a little netbook that I use in this way, and the GS3 is a much more powerful device (it can play videos that the netbook cannot manage).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You guys don't quiet get it. I have a powerful desktop replacement and a netbook.
But I like the idea of having all this in my pocket and just plugging into a workstation at home.
And a Microsoft Surface? EEWWwwwww.

It is possible, I'm using WD Live, no keyboard use tho, but I can stream YouTube or play files from my phone onto tv using wd and some other UpnP apps.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Surface PRO. Not a toy like an iPad or surface rt. The Pro is a productive machine.
I dont understand.. So you want to carry a keyboard, mouse, HDMI adapter, and power cable in your pocket along with your phone?

bkaltec said:
Surface PRO. Not a toy like an iPad or surface rt. The Pro is a productive machine.
I dont understand.. So you want to carry a keyboard, mouse, HDMI adapter, and power cable in your pocket along with your phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmao, idk why I thought this comment was hilarious
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for --> https://play.google.com/store/apps/...DEsIm9yZy52aWRlb21hcC5kcm9pZG1vdGVjbGllbnQiXQ..
synpax said:
I want to be able to plug my GS3's USB port into a wire, or maybe do this wirelessly, and then see Android screen on a large monitor and use a mouse and keyboard to intract with the display on the large screen.
I am baffled at the idea that this is not possible... so I must be missing something?
I have a little netbook that I use in this way, and the GS3 is a much more powerful device (it can play videos that the netbook cannot manage).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

If you want to be able to just plug it into yet another set of hardware at home... just go buy the stuff and plug it in.
Bluetooth is still a better deal than wired keyboard/mouse - but you still have the battery drain issue, which is why this is not a practical idea - especially since we're talking about an S3. It should be able to accept hardware input through the micro usb, but it's not really designed for that - and you'd have to get adapters and hub and why have all that crap taking up space if you already have a home system ? I wonder what would happen if you had three pieces of hardware trying to use the same micro-usb input, too (obviously, hubs work, but they have to share - and the monitor is going to want a lot of the available transfer capacity for itself) - makes more sense to just use it for HDMI to the monitor and use bluetooth for the peripherals.
If you had a phone that could run off AC only, it might fare better - since there'd be no battery constantly charging and draining and heating everything up, but the S3 won't do that.
Cool idea in theory ? Yeah. It would be great. But in practice, not so much. It would be better if the S3 could run from AC only - heck, it'd be almost a good idea. But since it can't and it lacks great cooling (since it's a compact, air-cooled phone), you're just going to be exposing the phone to high operating temperatures for extended periods of time which isn't exactly great for it.