Originally Posted by Michael Habib

I recently activated Android Auto on my 2018 911 GTS, which came with factory Car Play.
I researched the hell out of this topic, as I'm a die hard android user & would never touch an iPhone with a stick..

I considered JoyeAuto unit - it has the major advantage of providing Wireless Android Auto, but it requires an AUX input, which my PCM 4.0 lacks & was not even an option to add via Porsche dealer - ~$420 USD + self installation
I considered @SDK Autos - IMO has its pros & cons, but what turned me down was the lack of response from the site owner, and the very very high price. ~$950 USD + self installation
Then I came upon this thread & the extremely techy solution by @chris2 , Kudos by the way. Really impressive. Cost is almost zero, but, despite being a geek & playing around with Linux, rooting several android phones, etc, this was way beyond my capabilities..
Then I found the post from Gary @Smartauto here in the same thread, and then headed over to the 718 forums for some testimony..

I first contacted Gary over Skype, to test out a USB->Ethernet dongle I already have. It didn't work, the PCM just didn't recognize it. Gary was supportive & helpful throughout this whole pre-sales stage
I then headed to their website & purchased the Android Auto activation service - $334 USD including shipping with DHL Express for a kit containing - the USB->Ethernet Dongle, a LAN cable, an SD Card with all software required (gets inserted in the PCM SD Slot 1).
Once I had the package, it was a simple setup of Team Viewer & VPN setup on a spare laptop (for security reasons I didn't use my main laptop, but turns out I was just too paranoid), then use a small file they use to do some port redirection.

From that point it took about 20-30 minutes of Gary doing his magic (basically I suspect it's exactly the same that @chris2 has described, but someone with deep technical knowledge doing it on your behalf, and really it was painless.
End result in the pictures attached. I am running Android Auto in my 911 despite Porsche intending otherwise, and without having to remove a single screw from the car.

Minor gripes
1. The icon on the home screen is Carplay Icon, but below it the words are Android Auto
2. Steering wheel button I assigned to skip track doesn't work, volume up/down, mute, reply/end call, mute call, all work though. Just this button doesn't for some reason. Can't figure it out.
3. When a call comes in, PCM pop-up comes on to reply or end on top of Android Auto. Not Android Auto's native phone notification. I suspect it's because Android Auto still uses the Phone's Bluetooth connection for calls as opposed to CarPlay which I read doesn't.

Otherwise everything else works as intended, and as it works in wife's Audi Q7. Even track names show up in the MFD as any other audio source does.
Day/Night mode switches as intended, Google Assistant responds to 'Hey Google', but due to mine being a Cabriolet, it's a hit & miss when driving at highway speeds.
I highly recommend going this route. Money well spent.

Originally Posted by Seth K

How does one get in touch with Gary?

Originally Posted by Seth K

any shot you'd want to help a brother out with his?

Originally Posted by DeSmO ManU

Hello everyone,
first of all congratulations for the excellent work done. I am working on a custom Patch for my car and I need the files that are contained in these links:
https://github.com/ibreakifix/PorschePCMStuff

https://github.com/ibreakifix/PorschePCMStuff
linked by cris2, could someone please re-upload them?

you would do me a big favor

thanks

Originally Posted by asellus

https://www.google.com/search?q=porschepcmstuff

if using the cdennis repo, line 124 of the FEC script should read:

local FECCOUNTN="\x"$(printf "%x" $FEC_COUNT)

Originally Posted by asellus

Can't confirm directly, but having done this the manual way this just looks like an expensive way to have someone do what chris2 wrote up for you, remotely. You'll still need to get your hands dirty and there is still risk bricking the PCM.

Near as I can tell you're buying a serial->ethernet gateway and hooking up to the PCM that way. I personally did it over wifi, and you can also do it with a UART controller plugged into specific pins on the back of the headunit. Info is in this thread already on both those methods.

From there you let these guys remote into your laptop and they perform the same steps chris2 outlined earlier, with a few differences. They provide you with an SD card with the MIB image already hacked -- they ask you to send them a picture of your firmware version "to make sure it's compatible" but this is really so they know which MIB image to put on the SD card for you. Basically the whole process of dumping, unpacking, editing, and repacking the mibroot they have already done to all the images they've gained access to. You put that SD card in the left slot of your headunit, plug in your laptop, go through their VPN stuff and give them the teamviewer login information, and they'll use your computer to telnet into the headunit, copy over the hacked FEC container and issue the flashing commands. I bet they even black out your screen so you can't watch, just like some of the more sophisticated bank account scammers do.

chris2 removed the critical portion of hacking the mibroot image from his writeup to specifically prevent people like this from selling this hacking service. Keep in mind you're paying someone $300 to do about ten minutes of work, with no actual guarantee, warranty, or anything. It's 15 minutes of work and if they brick your PCM they say "welp, sucks to be you, here's your 300 dollars back, bye!"

I'll say this again in bold:
The risk of bricking your PCM is the same as if you do it yourself, and they will not help you if they brick it. You are effectively paying someone to help you pirate software owned by VAG. They will blame you for unplugging a cable, letting the battery drain too low, or whatever other excuse they fancy. You will have no options to go after them over it, either. They might be kind and refund you your $300.

That said it's pretty hard to brick the PCM doing this, as I've mentioned numerous times before in this thread. At the end of the day, it's your $300, do what you want.

Originally Posted by DeSmO ManU

Thank you very much friend, I need about mkifs and attribute for repack ifs. is the attribute file standard for all mib2?

Originally Posted by Seth K

Asellus, I've been researching this for a few days.. I do not believe I have the technical know how to do what Chris 2 wrote up and i'm very close to reaching out to Gary at Unichip as it seems to be my second best option at this point. Here's the bad news. You are my best option! LOL I can follow instructions. any shot you can talk me through this on the phone? I have a basic understanding I just get a bit overwhelmed. Let me put this in perspective for you. I understand the entire concept of what's happening in chris 2's scenario but at the same time , I'm having trouble finding my own responses to these posts on this form. Make any sense? I'm at 917 833 0402 shoot me a text. I'll gladly zelle you enough for a round or a steak or whatever your time is worth rather then blindly send it overseas if you'd be willing to help a brother out. Let me know if you'd be willing.
Seth K

Originally Posted by asellus

Not sure. I didn't use the script chris2 references -- instead I manually wrote out the commands for repacking the ifs. They are listed several times in this thread.

Doing this over teamviewer or something is less than possible due to the method I use, which is using the car's wifi to access the PCM. That's outlined within a page or two of chris2's post.

You'll need a laptop with wifi to connect to the car, a linux based machine (so.. a mac, or a linux VM, or just full blown linux on your laptop, whatever), to deal with packing the files, IDA Pro or Ghidra to actually perform the hack, a hex editor (such as HxD on windows), and an SD card. Basically, most of what chris2's step 1 lists. I did not perform his step 9 and it worked for me, but folks like enzotcat had to do a little extra to get things to play nice.

The gotchas I know off the top of my head are:
- the PorschePCMStuff repository out there needs the FEC builder modified, as I posted about above
- hacking out the FEC check needs some serious know-how or a cheatsheet that someone happened to post
- you may need to put the 'dd' binary on your SD card in order to actually write the data

If you'd like I can write up my specific procedure, as the information has become a bit scattered aroudn this thread.

Originally Posted by asellus

... a linux based machine (so.. a mac, ...

Originally Posted by DeSmO ManU

i think the command to pack the ifs should look like this:

mkxfs -t ifs -nn -o ./ -r / ./mkifs_attributes.txt ./ifs_extracted ./patched_ifs.ifs

however it refers to the mkifs_attributes.txt file which I don't know if it is correct and if it is the same one used by chris2.
I tried to see both of these repos:

https://github.com/cdennis12280/MIB2
https://github.com/magna413/PorschePCMStuff

and they contains the same mkifs_attributes file.
Did you use this command to repacking the patched ifs file?

Originally Posted by enzotcat

Yeah, those look fine. My recollection is that they're slightly different to what was originally used in the OEM file system, but other than that they allow things to function just fine.