Who's added Android Auto and other AIO tweaks via serial port recently?

2. I noticed that when my phone is connected via USB I have no BT audio music from phone... it plays, but no sound. Unplug usb, and it works. Only really an issue if I want to launch BT sound app (podcast, rocket player, etc) from AA. Asking to see if this is a known issue or not.

Tested this today and had no issue. Maybe walk e through exactly how you do it?
I fired up Rocket Player via BT. Then switched to AA. No change. Music playing. AA became aware I was streaming from RP and showed what I was playing.
From phone then launched Stitcher. It played fine. AA recognized it and showed what I was playing.
 
I originally tried to launch music via AA. Will try again and see what happens. I only tried once while driving, so not a definitive problem yet.

Thanks for the testing.
 
Second test was a bit different. Started BT. Connected phone. Opened AA. Phone stopped. I was able to start it in AA but that was odd. Teated 2 different apps. Same thing. Maybe it hands off to AA?
 
Ugh, I'm posting here mostly just to vent...don't worry about trying to help my hopeless self, lol -- I'll get it eventually.

I tried again tonight with a new TTL adapter. This one worked once I installed the driver. I stripped the wires on my connector cables this time and pushed them all the way through the CMU Serial Adapter to ensure a connection. Plugged it into the CMU and opened Putty, but I couldn't even get a terminal window to open. I'd read about others having this problem, so I tried Termite. That connected and displayed the matrix, but it would crash after just a few seconds every session. I finally downloaded SecureCRT and got the wall of text with no crashing, but it was all downhill from there, lol! After 30 minutes of messing around I'm pretty sure I accomplished nothing. I tried a few reboots, looked around for the login command, turned the car on and off, sent the commands repeatedly...but TBH, I'm fairly sure I never even got logged in. Argh...it's just impossible for me to tell -- too much text scrolling by at warp speed. At that point one of my cables came loose from the CMU and when I went to shove it back in I got a puff of smoke and my laptop shut down. Turns out I fried the TTL adapter. Trying to decide when I want to order another and give it one more shot. I was pretty bummed after this attempt, but I know I can make this work eventually...so many others have done it!
 
Thanks @7eregrine. I have been traveling but will test again. My BT is always on so the car connects when started.

@abein2672

I know when I ran the "ls" command to see if things worked, that paused the playback - at least with putty.
 
SUCCESS!!! Third time (and third TTL adapter) is the charm, lol! That and prayer I think :) Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions, folks. ANDROID AUTO! Yes!
 
Good to hear. It sucks that Mazda made it so difficult to upgrade. Just make sure the dealer doesn't try and upgrade your system again.
 
Good to hear. It sucks that Mazda made it so difficult to upgrade. Just make sure the dealer doesn't try and upgrade your system again.

It's not hard. He just sucks. Bwahahahaha
Just kidding! LOL
And once you're in Lbear, there's actually a thing you can run that will automatically restore your access after an update.
 
It's not hard. He just sucks. Bwahahahaha
Just kidding! LOL
And once you're in Lbear, there's actually a thing you can run that will automatically restore your access after an update.

Ain't this the truth, lol! I fried two TTL adapters (literally puffs of smoke), thought I lost my laptop forever, and had to pull the trim and bolts 3 freaking times, but I FINALLY got it to work! I left an Android phone in there that has the free, unlimited Sprint BYOD service for a year and everything worked flawlessly this morning as the CMU booted lightning quick and went almost straight into AA. Amazing.
 
Someone please educate me on what Mazda Android Auto means once the new feature is available. Please bear with my stupid questions.

Does it mean after the upgrade the Mazda infotainment unit will become an Android device internally, just like any Android based home appliance such as media player, and the Mazda Navigation system would still be a standalone unit?

Or does it mean one must bring his own Android phone, which must be installed with Waze or whatever, and have phone connected to the Mazda (through BT?) EVERY SINGLE TIME after starting the engine, before one can use the Navigation system?

This link seems to suggest an external phone must be used:
https://www.android.com/auto/

To use Android Auto, you need an Android Auto compatible vehicle or aftermarket radio and an Android phone running 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher.

If it's the latter I'd prefer MazdaConnect, assuming the AA upgrade is optional and MC will continue to be supported. thx
 
Someone please educate me on what Mazda Android Auto means once the new feature is available. Please bear with my stupid questions.

Does it mean after the upgrade the Mazda infotainment unit will become an Android device internally, just like any Android based home appliance such as media player, and the Mazda Navigation system would still be a standalone unit?

Or does it mean one must bring his own Android phone, which must be installed with Waze or whatever, and have phone connected to the Mazda (through BT?) EVERY SINGLE TIME after starting the engine, before one can use the Navigation system?

This link seems to suggest an external phone must be used:
https://www.android.com/auto/

To use Android Auto, you need an Android Auto compatible vehicle or aftermarket radio and an Android phone running 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher.

If it's the latter I'd prefer MazdaConnect, assuming the AA upgrade is optional and MC will continue to be supported. thx

It's the latter. You plug in your Android phone and the headunit automatically boots up the Android Auto app on both the infotainment unit and your phone. If you've never used AA, then trust me when I say you'll very quickly grow to love it! Prior to buying our CX-5, I was just using the standalone app on my Pixel when I drove -- it's that good. I'm now on day 1 of having it in on our Mazda (after applying the hacks here), and it honestly makes the infotainment unit 100x better. You can still do everything you want on the MazdaConnect system just like before, but you're one click away from Google and their touch friendly interface that can access a number of phone apps quickly and easily, such as Maps/Waze (FINALLY -- live traffic!), Pandora, Google Music, podcast apps, etc.

If Mazda ever gets around to releasing AA, most people believe you'll have to pay to get it installed at a dealer. So if you're not all that thrilled by it, you'll definitely be able to continue using the stock Connect system.
 
Yea it's totally stand alone. Just an app in the radio. You can launch it from the headunit just like you do the MPG app. Once in AA it's a couple clicks to exit and go back to Mazda.
I still don't think it's must have. I don't need live traffic. But the thing I do like about it is making the voice activated button on the steering wheel actually useful.
Hey Google > Send text. IFull Google Assistant integration is nice. It amazes me how little functionality that button has in MZD. About half of car companies do the same while the others allow you to talk and text.
I did have to admit these hackers did a great job on it. It boots fast and works so good I'm not sure how Mazda can improve it.
 
Thanks for confirming MazdaConnect is to stay and one can freely switch between the two before 100% comfortable with AA. I wrongly thought the MazdaConnect "operating system" is going to be completely replaced with an Android OS and one's forced to use AA.
 
Any of you Serial Hack Ninjas help clarify the serial wiring? When I look at the power and more connector, do you push the tx and rx into the far right ports that have no existing wiring going in? Or the ports that already have the wires present? If you are looking at the screen, is it the ports on the right or left? Thanks in advance, I really appreciate it.
 
Any of you Serial Hack Ninjas help clarify the serial wiring? When I look at the power and more connector, do you push the tx and rx into the far right ports that have no existing wiring going in? Or the ports that already have the wires present? If you are looking at the screen, is it the ports on the right or left? Thanks in advance, I really appreciate it.

The holes with no wires. I am pretty sure they are the left most ones when viewed from the back, so that would make them right most when viewing the screen.

Have you looked at the pictures? I found them very clear.
 
Thanks for the reply alphadog00 and PMs with abeln2672. It turns out the issue was the pins on the wire were too short to make proper contact. Easy fix, cut the pins off, strip the wire to about 1.5 inches. Plug in and it was good to go. Taking off the trim was surprisingly easy with $10 trim removal tool from ebay. That was 5 minutes. 90 minutes futzing with the wiring before realizing the pins were probably too short.

A hint I have for others: One way to prove to yourself that your wires and USB Serial adapter are fine is to touch the rx wire to the tx wire. Open up putty/securecrt to start the serial session as normal. Then touch some characters on the keyboard and verify they show up on your putty/securecrt session. If it does, your usb and wiring is good. If it does not, it means your wiring or usb adapter are not working properly.

To confirm wiring, while looking at the screen, the two empty ports all the way to the right. These would be the ones closest to the passenger seat.

Finally, I lost one of the screws that hold the head unit in. It's a wide head phillips screw. While I was putting it back in, it slipped out of my fingers and fell somewhere inside the dash. Darn! Luckily the head unit seems to be mostly held in with those 10mm bolts on either side. If anyone knows where I can get that screw I lost, would be much appreciated!
 
Hi all -
Just picked up our soul red CX-5 last night (I love saying that!) and am spending entirely too much time on these forums :) Just wondering if anyone has modified their infotainment system to add Android Auto and the other cool AIO tweaks via the serial port since the systems got updated past .502 and don't allow USB access anymore? Directions make it sound pretty straightforward so I've ordered the cheap parts needed for it, but just thought I'd check for experiences: https://mazdatweaks.com/serial/

There's also a long thread on the 3 owners site, so I've been browsing that as well...
 
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