[crabman]

The folks at canDO+ have sent me a doo-dad to test that will listen on the canbus for an M1/2 command and then send a mode command for the gauges. In theory, it should allow an owner to hit one of the M buttons and get the gauges to come up with it.

So far I've only verified that I can read the canbus and updated the module to the latest firmware. Tomorrow I'll see if we can get it to actually work. For today, I used up my annoyance allowance on the two hidden screws that are not in BMWs official R&R instructions for pulling the center console, but do have to come out before you can pull it.

In any event, time for a beverage, I'll update as we figure things out.

[-cj-]

Looking forward to updates. It's silly that BMW doesn't allow changing the cluster as an option when hitting the M buttons.

[crabman]

We worked on it a little bit yesterday. The unit is picking up strings on the CANBUS, and we started trying to blacklist the commands we're not interested in. Picking it back up Monday afternoon.

I suppose it should be said that one possible outcome is it doesn't work for us. They do have it working in other cars with ID8X and seem hopeful. There is a lot of activity on that bus; while it's not a needle in a haystack, it is probably going to take a few sessions to sort.

[Brandt51]

Does this Dodad have abilities to make stuff in the menus easier to find, or shortcut? I’ve read the LCI cars have the driving assistant options buried in the menu somewhere.

[crabman]

The one you're probably talking about is the follow distance; it was on the wheel, now in the GUI. I've got mine on a gesture, and can adjust it on the fly. I also put it in the shortcut drawer which is one tap of the idrive controller. This makes it so it sucks less, it does not fully remove said suckage.

If I understand it correctly; I don't think you'll be able to do that with this module. But that's a real if in there, I haven't been exposed to all the possible commands yet, and they are still developing the module.