We recently bought a Honda Odessey minivan (more on that in a moment) with a Honda Navigation system installed. I’ve been highly impressed with the system – the user interface, the accuracy, and the speed are all top-notch. While the system is close to perfect, the hacker in me can’t resist wondering what else could be done with it.
I did some searches and sure enough, there are tools out there that can modify the software. Tricks that can be done include putting new “skins” on the display, getting rid of the “nag screen” at startup, and changing the background image to any picture you’d like. Pretty cool in itself, but what if you want more? The system runs Windows CE on a SH-4 processor, just like the Sega Dreamcast. Linux has been ported to the Dreamcast, and I own one of them. Theoretically, I have all the tools I need to port Linux to the navigation system!
Why would I, you ask? Potential uses would be to create a navigation app more tailored to my needs – there are a few good Linux-based map tools out there. I could get a better handle on the data the GPS is sending: more detailed travel statistics than I currently have. Other, more entertaining uses would be to put an MPEG4 or MPEG2 player on the system – allowing you to watch video on the dashboard console. The only limit is the hardware itself – how many ports are available, how much memory is installed, etc. And if I decide to go back to the original software, its easy to reset things back to the default software.
I’m not ready to muck around with our newly-purchased car just yet, but I’m sure having fun thinking about it!
I just bought a 2003 Odyssey and I am wondering what I can do with it too. I can’t believe they want us to fork out another $185 per DVD to use the navigation system! I think I may try the “get rid of the nag screen” hack and put in a picture of my family as the background, could be fun.
Let me know if you’ve taken the leap with any hacks yet.
I know this is an old blog entry but I thought I’d add my 2 cents worth and clarify the CPU model.
The Sega DreamCast and Honda/Acura navigation systems (Alpine Electronics) use the Renesas (previously Hitachi) SH-4 processor, not SA-4.
I’ve got an ’07 Honda Ridgeline truck with the nav system and I’ve been working toward hacking mine. I’ve gotten the two bin modules’ contents dumped and I’m disassembling them. The developers marked the executables and dlls as ARM cpu types instead of SH-4 – probably to throw off reverse engineering attempts. Changing the splash screen is easy enough. The nag screen has proven to be elusive so far. I’ve thought about rebuilding the runtime images to make the system run plain old CE with desktop and explorer. That’ll take a lot of work.
Thanks, Bill! That’s very interesting stuff.
Feel free to post your progress here if you make any headway.
I have a 2001 MDX with Nav. I have been following all of the hack sites for killing the Nag screen, but discovered I do not have the typical “BIN” files. I believe I have a C++ system. I have been trying o disassemble it with no luck. I am technical, but not at that level. Anyone cracked this baby yet?
Thanks.
This is a request for xbill’s September 2nd, 2007 entry. What is the name of the bitmap for the splash screen?