Hoping there's enough Audi drivers out there...

...to help out with this one.

I'm about to get a 2000 S4, and I'm nothing short of delighted. After conceding to the fact that I'm going to have to rip out the factory Bose system and replace it with a custom-fabracated fascia, I've come across something else that could be considered a small point of note:

The factory Bose system has three leads coming from the head unit, as data lines to the dashboard. They display things like the radio station and the status of the CD changer and so on. They've got to be manipulated using a +/-5v current from the stock HU...is there anyone out there with the knowledge/know how to inform me a little more about this feature of the Audi's?

Thanks a lot!

It is actually 3 signals: clock, data, and an enable signal. But with with only one signalling wire, you can easily deduce that it is a serial format. If someone had a logic analyzer we could get on it to find out if is a standard serial format.

Here is the pin outs (with the data signals listed):
http://forums.audiworld.com/tt/msgs/63403.phtml

Also note at the bottom of that page there are some more links to schematics. They dont mean much to me, but they might help someone decode what it would take to interface an empeg.

I'm going to try my best to find out more information about it: a mod like this would be FAR too cool to pass up.

I'll let you know what else I find here.

Looks like there is some progress from the other side of the interface:
http://www.techreactions.com/efuspecial.htm

WOOHOO!!!! Wow! Small world! Looks like there's some VAG (VDub/Audi) fans on this site as well!!!

Yeah, like mentioned above, do a search on Audiworld as well as on VWVortex and you'll find some cool ghetto mods that people have done with that red display screen. Some have even hacked into that screen so their ValentineOne radar detectors would display info on that screen!!!

VERY COOL! (.oh yeah..... like on this forum board, I'm "JimmyD" over on VWVortex, Audiworld, Club18t, ClubDub, and MidWestImportRacing)

!.Peace.love.and.VDub.!

There has been some progress on this from the display side.

"The display of arbitrary information of external devices is supported. For example MP3 and telephone information."

URL to complete text

I've been trying a few times, but still cant get that link to work. Do you know if the site is down?

Still works for me. Took about 3 seconds to load.

Indeed. After using another ISP's dns server to resolve the domian name I can browse their site. Seems that NTL's DNS cant find the domain. Wierd!