[Noisebridge-discuss] Open iPhone Hardware Hacking?

[Dr. Jesus]

On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 5:16 PM, Glen Jarvis <glen at glenjarvis.com> wrote:
> I remember seeing the most recent WWDC keynote speech that the iphone
> hardware interface was being opened up, I know that TomTom did a
> presentation of how their hardware works with the iphone, etc.
> I was wondering if anyone has had any experience interfacing hardware with
> the iphone. I don't want to jump into a new project, but I *really* want to
> interface my bicycle flightdeck computer with the iphone. The shimano
> ultegra shifter I have broke and it's going to cost a lot to replace if I
> want to keep the interface with my flightdeck. I'm *really* interested in
> something like this, instead:
> http://www.everytrail.com/iphone.php
> But, since it's GPS only, it's not very accurate.
> I am curious how many people have done any hardware interfacing yet?
> A 'plan B' may be to make our own wireless harness for the bicycle so we
> could send that data via Bluetooth to the iphone...  I'm out of my depth on
> this one and really want the product more than the hack.. So, I'm curious
> and hopeful that other's may have come across this idea..

The software side is really easy, just look at the
connectedAccessories property of EAAccessoryManager, find the
EAAccessory you want, and start an EASession to it:

  http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/ExternalAccessory/Reference/EAAccessory_class/Reference/Reference.html

The hardware side is much harder, since all the specifications are
NDAed and you have to have your company vetted by Apple's dev group
before they'll talk to you:

  http://developer.apple.com/ipod/

Noisebridge could sign up for this program if someone had an email
address @noisebridge.net, since the form checks to see if your email
address matches the (mandatory) web site you have to give.