CAVE Head Unit MkIII (color production)

Some concept renderings of the head unit enclosure. Rubberized plastic skins, Corian skins, and rich Mahogany skins are envisioned as possibilities. The shell of the enclosure is made out of bent sheet metal, such as stainless steel.

The MkIII Head Unit PCB from the top and bottom. The PCB sandwiches neatly with the color display, forming a compact, robust package. The display connects via a 0.5mm flex-cable and a 1.25mm JST cable. The touch screen connects with an 8-pin 1.25mm flex-cable.

Two prototype head units assembled into sandwiches. Also, a closeup of one corner of the sandwich. The perfboard under the PCB is a temporary docking connector to provide power to the head unit.

The Sony RMX-4S remote commander. This controller is supported by the MkIII head unit. It is meant to be mounted on your steering column in the car, and was originally intended to control Sony's car CD changers.

The play mode view, shown when the unit is playing a track. On the right is a test of the touchscreen entry for artist/album/song searches.

The CAVE head unit boot logo, and several album cover graphics as displayed on the head unit.

CAVE Head Unit MkII (color prototype)

The MkII head unit was based on the prototype board from the MkI head unit, except with a color LCD instead of a monochrome LCD. The main intention was to debug the LCD drivers and hardware interface for the color LCD.

CAVE Head Unit MkI (monochrome prototype)

The MkI prototype was built with an off-the-shelf evaluation board and a monochrome LED backlit graphics display. This was the first head unit tested in a vehicle. Later versions of the MkI prototype were the first to support infrared remote control and the Sony RMX-4S.