Command line help ELM327

[exp500]

Greetings All! I'm just another former frustrated winders user converted to Mx. (formerly mepis). I've done a number of installs and some multi booting various flavors of linux. Interestingly, my installs required very little Terminal interaction. All 4 of my laptops ran wonderfully OOTB after MX14-19 installs with a printer/scanner problem now and then.
Well I bought a win 10 lenovo laptop for dedicated Auto scanner use- USB cable to ELM327 dongle into OBD2 port in vehicle. I could never get win 10 to co-operate, Window would disappear, Cortana would ask or warn or cover the screen, Popups everywhere,Menu lists that took over the entire scrreen to show 5 programs, It was like web surfing on a smartphone- never getting what I wanted, Just what they were selling. software removed, or never installed. What a list! Out of anger I formatted the hard drive to EXT4. Installed MX-19 and Wine. So far so good. Plugged in USB OBD cable, Led flashes. Program sees it. All is good until I plug into vehicle. Then program notifies Connected cannot communicate with ELM327. Well after many web searches and Browsing I'm here asking for HELP!
Since I've rarely used terminal, or done anything other than follow detailed instructions on my laptops, I am asking for the exact commands to try to diagnose this problem. It could be a missing Driver, Permissions, etc. I've found and bookmarked many pages that were solved, but they were using linux guru speak, not newbie speak. So I wasn't comfortable trying unfamiliar and possibly poorly written or improperly written commands. Most of the pages I've found are quite old, 1999-2015, so the new kernels have incorporated many of those issues.
Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. I will run the suggested commands while connected, screenshot them and report back. Thanks in advance.

[JayM]

Welcome. Can you give us more information such as what you're even talking about? I for one can't make heads or tails out of anything you've told us so far.

[freemedia2018]

hes got a piece of hardware called an elm327 for talking to his car on-board diagnostics (obd) interface:

The ELM327 is a programmed microcontroller produced by ELM Electronics for translating the on-board diagnostics interface found in most modern cars. The ELM327 command protocol is one of the most popular PC-to-OBD interface standards and is also implemented by other vendors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELM327

the (obd) program hes using says it cant communicate with the (pc-side) hardware.

exp, a suggestion-- tell us what youre trying to do with the command line. unless youre trying to learn everything about it, then we can point you to a long command line tutorial. but thats probably not what you need right now.

[Kulmbacher]

JayM, It is just diagnostic software with possibility to delete some error messages via OBDII from Laptop to your car.

I used forscan (russian softw.) with usb dongle (ELM 327chip) under win7 without problems.

So exp500, which software do you use? Expensive ones with possibility to change car configuration, illegal ones, or simple diagnostic ones?

Which ELM327 dongle do you use? There have been some kinds of them, some working with x, some with y ...


edit, to late ;-)

[chrispop99]

I've never managed to get my Elm327 EOBD scanner working under Linux or Windows 10. It actually worked best with XP!

There are some links to software you can try here:

https://www.elmelectronics.com/help/obd/software/

Chris

[JayM]

So it's something like on Mighty Car Mods when they plug a laptop into something called an ACU (automatic control unit?) to tune their engine/turbo and maximize their horsepower kilowattage at the wheels on a dyno? I enjoy their YouTube channel but I can't make out what they're talking about half the time either. I can understand points, rotors, distributors and carburetors and am lost beyond that level of automotive tech.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

This guide was written for openSUSE but it seems to be transferable to MX: https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:ELM327_based_ODB2_scan_tool

The mentioned pyobd program is available as a .deb package from here: http://www.obdtester.com/pyobd-download

But unfortunately it depends on an old version of python-wxgtk so it won't work in MX-19.

So instead download the tarball and unpack it:

Code: Select all

mkdir -p ~/builds/pyobd
cd ~/builds/pyobd
wget http://www.obdtester.com/download/pyobd_0.9.3.tar.gz
tar xf pyobd_0.9.3.tar.gz && cd pyobd-0.9.3

Now modify the dependency:

Code: Select all

sed -i 's/python-wxgtk2.6/python-wxgtk3.0/' debian/control

Then Install devscripts & the build dependencies, build the package and install it:

Code: Select all

sudo apt install devscripts
sudo mk-build-deps --install --remove
debuild -us -uc
sudo aptitude purge pyobd-build-deps
cd .. && sudo apt install ./pyobd_0.9.3_all.deb

You should now be able to run it with:

Code: Select all

pyobd

We don't need no stinkin' WINE

EDIT: 's/odb/obd/', curse my dyslexia...

[chrispop99]

So it's something like on Mighty Car Mods when they plug a laptop into something called an ACU (automatic control unit?) to tune their engine/turbo and maximize their horsepower kilowattage at the wheels on a dyno? I enjoy their YouTube channel but I can't make out what they're talking about half the time either. I can understand points, rotors, distributors and carburetors and am lost beyond that level of automotive tech.

Not really.

Any car since 1996 in the US, and 2001 in Europe, has to have a standardised interface port that can be used to look for fault codes in the (E)ngine (C)ontrol (U)nit. This is primarily for the maintenance of emission control systems.

Basic devices like the ELM came on the market so amateurs could fault-find, and reset fault codes, but the function of the ECU has evolved into controlling every aspect of the vehicles' systems, and there is no requirement for those parts of the ECU to be available to monitor or reset, outside of the manufacturer's equipment.

That makes devices like the ELM much less useful.

Other devices that can control and monitor every aspect of an ECU without needing the dealer's equipment are now available, but they are expensive, and usually only relate to a particular manufacturer.

Chris

[jeffreyC]

Maybe you could run one of the Android OBD2 reader apps through Anbox (or something like it).

[exp500]

Thanks for the replies. I am using Forscan with an OBDLINK EX USB dongle.
Kulmbacher, You hit it closest,
Freemedia, You are onto what I'm looking for, needing some diagnostic command line codes to figure out my system.
Head_on_a_stick, what you posted is beyond my expertise but I could do it with some research and maybe a few questions answered. But it's along the lines of what I'm looking for, with more emphasis on figuring out whats missing on my system.
Chrispop99, You have it partially, There are car hackers able to open everything, It seems Forscan can do more than dealer equipment. But a Sna-pon scanner at $3000.+ is out of the question.
JefferyC, I'm looking for two way communication, Androids all are one way.
JayM, Don't know about that wonder box yet.
Again, I'm just trying to diagnose my communication errors on my sytem as it stands now, I'll get a screenshot and report back.Any Command line entries you think I should try for figuring this out please post. Thanks.