Hi everyone, it's been a while since I posted but I started working on something fun and thought I'd share...
I had been looking for a head unit for my 635csi and started to become frustrated with the available options. Original BMW radios from the era are now getting silly expensive (in Europe, anyway) and the functionality is lacking by modern standards. There are aftermarket "retro" options, but they really aren't that perfect of a match for BMW's design language of the era. Not to mention that they are still missing many features we take for granted these days, and are also expensive for what they are.
So... I decided to design and build my own, and here is what I have come up with. The front panel's texture, switches, and knob match the 80s-90s BMW design perfectly, and the small screen that is incorporated is deliberately small so that it does not look out of place in these classic models.
The software's graphical interface which I am working on takes inspiration from the first BMW OBC monitors which appeared with the e38 7 Series in 1996 (slightly later than our e24 and related models, but still old enough to not look inappropriate from a design perspective.) The screen is to have an alternative, purely monochrome orange/black mode if the user would prefer to have an even more classic appearance.
As it stands we have a working prototype with a few technical issues left to solve relating to the audio processing and power supply.
Any suggestions from the community will certainly be helpful in further development, I would love to know what features you guys find most useful in a device like this and what you find irritating about the currently available solutions. Let me know what you think!
I had been looking for a head unit for my 635csi and started to become frustrated with the available options. Original BMW radios from the era are now getting silly expensive (in Europe, anyway) and the functionality is lacking by modern standards. There are aftermarket "retro" options, but they really aren't that perfect of a match for BMW's design language of the era. Not to mention that they are still missing many features we take for granted these days, and are also expensive for what they are.
So... I decided to design and build my own, and here is what I have come up with. The front panel's texture, switches, and knob match the 80s-90s BMW design perfectly, and the small screen that is incorporated is deliberately small so that it does not look out of place in these classic models.
The software's graphical interface which I am working on takes inspiration from the first BMW OBC monitors which appeared with the e38 7 Series in 1996 (slightly later than our e24 and related models, but still old enough to not look inappropriate from a design perspective.) The screen is to have an alternative, purely monochrome orange/black mode if the user would prefer to have an even more classic appearance.
As it stands we have a working prototype with a few technical issues left to solve relating to the audio processing and power supply.
Any suggestions from the community will certainly be helpful in further development, I would love to know what features you guys find most useful in a device like this and what you find irritating about the currently available solutions. Let me know what you think!
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