CarTFT FM (Automotive USB FM/RDS tuner)
| 19.01.2010 Excellent radio reception. As described, automotive grade. I'd venture saying that it's better than my previous Alpine Headunit FM tuner. Tested in London from Wimbledon to Heathrow via the A3->M25 (which has some of the worst FM reception because of range and traffic interference on the M25). This device uses a USB interface to the PC and is detected as a serial port: "CP210x USB to UART Bridge" (manufactured by SiLabs - Silicon Labs). I suspect that the device uses a SiLabs tuner chip (Si4706 and Si4749) since the latter also provides RDS functionality (TMC too maybe?). http://www.silabs.com/products/audiovideo/rdsreceivers/Pages/Si4749.aspx The downside is that everything is interfaced by the CP210x chip. So, under linux, the only visible device is the com port. Apparently, RDS and tuner data transit through the serial device. So, no access to the actual tuner chips at all. If my previous assumptions are true, this would be such a shame since such hardware is already supported in linux. Linux has had built-in kernel support for the Si470x family for ages. Sound output also seems to be processed within the unit and outputted via 3.5mm audio jack. I'm thinking that this might be such a shame because that means that you can't use the built-in RDS receiver to get traffic information onto the PC and into my satnav application (IGO8 PC running on linux under wine)? :( Conclusion: Pros: - Good FM reception. - RDS in Centrafuse and Radiator - No need to splice your car antenna cabling, just get one of the adaptors. - Tiny! Can easily fit in space constrained casings such as the m350 with a bit of imagination. Cons: - No TMC, although this is RDS capable (TMC data is nested in RDS) - No Linux support - No access to the actual chips - No documentation of the serial protocol used to talk to the tuner or send commands to the device. The only things provided are plugins for Centrafuse and Radiator only. All-in-all, this is the best FM solution for a carpc although it could have been perfect if the design wasn't so closed and cryptic. hey CarTFT, what's all the hush-hush about??