I can't speak to what the plans are at Digital Tuning but I can say that having a product that uses a Palm OS device makes it very affordable and ergonomically easy. They install a DB-9 serial connection on the ECU that allows the two way communication with the Palm OS PDA. I think that the critical thing here is that the Pocketlogger program is written for the Palm OS. They guys at Digital Tuning ("turbo2ltr" and "henrik") can weigh in on any future development plans for other OS's. Right now this setup is so simple and so cool. My problem is that I am a newbie to RX-7's so I don't have a baseline with with to interpret the data that the ECU is giving to my Palm i705. Hopefully with enough feedback and discussion, we can get our own "sub-forum" or whatever it is called (like the other stand-alone ECU's). After all, the Rtek 2.0 gives us the ability to "tune" our cars. Check it out for yourself.

 

I agree that the palm is probably better to use to tune in a car, but the fact is i bet many people like myself already have a laptop and no palm.

So when you get a rtek which I have been considering you have to add the cost of a palm pilot to the cost you are paying for the rtek.

I would also like to know if there is any way we could tune the rtek with a laptop.

 

I got my palm for $20 on ebay and it works great.

 

I can do $20

thats an idea

 

That's exactly the case. The Rtek works with so many different models of the Palm PDA there is almost no way that you can't get one for really short money. Just look at their site: www.digitaltuning.com

Click on the compatible PDA list. Just buy any of those Palm, Sony, IBM, Samsung etc. PDA's and you're in (most of them you can find used, some of them aren't even made anymore).

What we really need though, is some baseline information about what is normal for the Turbo II's so that we know if our cars are in line or out of line.

 

I agree with the statement that it would be nice to have a base to compare the stats to. I found a PALM emulator fpr XP online last night and will check it out to see what kind of compatibility it has.

If I end up getting the RTEK I may just upgrade my phone to a PDA phone. THat is one way to cut down on all the devices.

As far as eBay goes, I'm not a big fan of buying someone elses crap. I've seen some good deals on the site, and if the vendor has a reputable web site with the "buy now" option, I'd just use that. But I dont have much faith in the site itself.

It seems like most of you are happy with your Rtek. I read their site and am just trying to get a feel for the capacity of the CPU.

Thanks for the feedback

 

I have mixed feelings about the Palm. On the one had it is really handy in the car. But i have discovered in the cold it doesnt like to read untill my heater has come up to speed. Im guessing in the heat the screen will just go black untill it cools. So leaving it in the glove box isnt a great idea. BUT i wouldn't leave a lapto in the glove box either.
I havent' tryed to see if an emulator will work with my laptop, but it would be a nice option. But i still think it would be better to use the palm for tuning. The tuch screen is great for this.

Apperently they (digital tuning) have a way that you can use your computer to read the data logs, but i havnt tried this yet. My understanding is that you can also send the datalogs to others with this system. I will probably try these out as soon as I get off my lazy *** and put my Alt pully back on. (powder coating it)

My only major bitch about the palm is that no new models support the Rtek chip. So Ebay is about the only way to go. I picked up my palm, and data cable for under $50 but i had to wait like 2 weeks to get everything sorted out. PITA

 

Every time you HOTSYNC the PALM to your computer, the saved logs you made on the PALM are downloaded to your computer.

You have to download a JAVA program for this feature to work. There's not much time involved in doing that.

Go HERE: http://pocketlogger.com/index.php?pid=utilities for how to do the above. If I can do it ANYBODY can.

Looking at the download on the computer is MUCH more informative in evaluating what you did during your drive. You can put in the parameters YOU are interested in and compare IPW to RPM or Boost or Airflow or whatever. Do it today.

 

I went to the link and downloaded both the manual and the viewer. It put a compressed zip file on my PC. I extracted the files but I don't see an executable to start the viewer. How did you set it up? I'm confused about the renaming of plviewer.zip to plviewer.jar.

 

It seems you missed a step. On page three of the downloaded instructions they let you know that you NEED to download a JAVA program. You go to SEARCH and put in http://java.sun.com.

When you get on that site, at the top of the page is DOWNLOADS. Click it. On the next page near the top area, it has DOWNLOAD JDK 5.0 UPDATE 6 with METBEAMS 5.0 BUNDLE, ENGLISH ONLY (sorry 'bout that Pedro)

Click on that and the page changes.............and I kinda forget the rest. You download the Windows verison to your desktop. That's about as far as I can go with this. I have dial up and care not to download it to the computer I'm on right now. It takes a while to download that JAVA if I remember right.

You gotta have that JAVA though or it won't work. I did it, anybody can do it.

I just love that ENGLISH ONLY. No *push 2 for Sengalise*, push 3 for spanish, press 5 for Afgan. Just love it.

 

Would you guys like to have a Rtek 2.0 subforum in the engine management section? The guys from digital tuning have agreed to help with questions ... just not sure if there are enough users to have a forum. But you could share all your maps and tuning tips there.

 

i think its a good idea!!!!

 

I think its a good idea to! It seems there will be ALOT more RTEK people now with the 2.0.

 

Absolutely! I think that you will see that the posts will pick up with the sub-forum because it will be easy to find. Right now, there are so many disparate posts, some in the engine management forum and some in the 2nd gen forum. Please, please, please. :-)

 

yes please do

 

Or try this http://www.java.com/en/download/windows_ie.jsp

 

I tried that and so now I have the latest version of Java. It still doesn't help me though. I extracted the files and there is no "plviewer.zip" to be renamed to "plviewer.jar". There are lots of files but none that are what I think that I am supposed to be looking for. We really need our own subforum. Can you imagine how many other Rtek users there are who don't even see this thread because it is buried in the 2nd gen area? How long do we have to wait? The Rtek 2.0 is going to be the ECU upgrade of choice because of cost, ease of use and low cost of ownership. Let's get this done now!

 

Slo,
As Hailers said, go here http://pocketlogger.com/index.php?pid=utilities and get the viewer file (right click and "save target as"). It's a .JAR file but *sometimes* windows renames the file to a .zip, in which case you need to rename it back to .jar.

Once you saved it to your desktop (or wherever), and made sure the extention is correct, just double click it. If you have the java runtime installed correctly, it will run the viewer.

-Mike

 

When I right clicked to "save target as" it saved it to my Rtek folder as "Plviewer.zip" and said that it was a compressed folder. Even if I rename that compressed folder "plviewer.zar" all it does it extract the compressed files/folders. What am I doing wrong?

 

Navigate to the folder with the plviewer file.
Click Tools->Folder Options then click the View tab
Make sure the "Hide extentions for known file types" is *unchecked*
Click OK
Try renaming the file again. If you do it right, it should warn you that you are changing the extention and "it may not work right". Click OK to that.

 

Even if I right click and choose "properties" and then "configure" to open with "Java" it then seems to load Java and then fail saying that there is a "file start error in the Java Web Start". Help!!!!!

 

Actually if you uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types" it appears to show the compressed folder now as "plviewer.jar.zip". After renaming it "plviewer.jar" it loads properly. I don't have any logs copied from the Palm PDA yet so I cannot say yet that I can see them with this viewer. If I sync the Palm PDA, what assurance do I have that the log files are copied to my PC? I do have some log files in the Palm PDA right now but I have not "synch'ed" the Palm to the PC.

 

HotSync the palm to the computer. Then open the PLViewer. Go to file and then open. It should show what was downloaded from the Palm. That's by memory. I don't have that computer with me right now.

 

OK, I "synch'ed" the Palm to my PC and was able to upload the logs and view them successfully. This process is a little convoluted (but it could be me). Are the values in the pull down "Preferences" then "parameters", base line ranges for what we should expect to see? If not, can we get some baseline figures to compare our cars to? In the long run, it will be a great advantage to have our own subforum for the Rtek 2.0. I wonder how soon it could be done? You know it can't be done without your support (turbo2ltr and henrik).

 

Thanks Hailers for your help too! Time to get some sleep and dream of tuning to come!