Mini VCI and Techstream

VCI cable goes from USB to your car's OBD2 port The software I don't know about the virtual machine business but there are versions that run on most of windows My version is for Windows 7 on a CF-19 Panasonic dealer computer which I do not have a login for Toyota and so you will not get the automatic updates for your given car when you plug it in it will still try to warn you that you have old firmware on any of the myriad of computers usually it doesn't take too long to get this running on whatever you're trying to run it on it seems a laptop is best and older one or what have you speed will not make any difference whether you have the latest and greatest laptop or an older one you'll probably find the older one is best for this as it's going to be sitting in the sun and on top of a car and on the seat and generally that sort of thing you don't need the latest and greatest machine.

 

Yes my CF19 Panasonic toughbook thingy is Windows 7 I do want to say it's 64 bit I think and it's on a my goodness equivalent of a core duo but none of that matters once tec stream is running. It overtakes the machine if you will text dream I don't think it's capable of running blazing fast like when you go from one window to the next and various things You're not going to make that go fast like you're playing a game or something like that and I don't think they would be a point to that you would go through things too quickly and miss stuff. Or something to that effect so I don't think blazing speed and whatnot is truly important so if you have to run it in VMware I guess so be it I guess running and VMware like running a windows emulator in Linux you know can slow down the computer but if the program you're running is already slow to boot and you're not looking for blazing speed then I guess my point is it pretty much doesn't matter. I would just rather have it on a junky old laptop that I don't care about it sitting in the sun for a minute or being on the hood of a car or sitting on seats and dashes possibly getting drops from knee height under the car floor or even the garage floor etc.

 

if I were you, I'd get an open port 2.0 versus mini-vci.
I actually carry three obd2 devices wth me at all time and
Tactrix Openport is the fastest Techstream OBD2 Device I’ve used

 

I have two of the three you have in the original that came with the dealer computer that I have I mean I guess the newer one there could be faster I guess you mean faster between the car and the and the computer I don't see how that would make a whole lot of difference to be honest because text stream software is not fast by nature I mean but anyway yeah they're very cool

 

fast even just doing the initial check or loading. I say the mini vci takes 30-45 seconds to click around and through, whereas open port would be 15-20 seconds. Like the hardware is better and can communicate with the Prius and computer faster.

 

don't believe the hype... I never ran into an issue on windows 10 64bit.

I just have a separate laptop with triple boot win 7, win 10, and ubuntu. the 7 32bt is needed for the software and hardware I use to make ecu changes so I put techstream and all else there

 

If amazon has "affordable" versions of openport, then they are clones - knockoffs. Be aware. Don't know how they work.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Please please please don't fall for that. The price on a real Openport 2.0 at Tactrix's web site has stayed $169 ever since I bought mine several years ago, even while other prices go up. That's hardly "quite dear" for such an article (the DrewTech one that Toyota endorses is close to $500) from a company that still exists, in the US, and actively develops and supports its product.

If you see them significantly cheaper on amazon, there is no question you are looking at counterfeits.

We have seen this movie before. The cheapest dongles you can buy that people use around here are the "XHorse" Mini VCI. I put "XHorse" in quotes because that was the original company, but no, people wouldn't spend the money on XHorse's Mini VCI when they could buy a counterfeit one for less, so the real XHorse was driven right out of their own business.

Tactrix is one of the few we've got left still in business making their own product. If you want a dongle for less money, please buy somebody else's legit cheaper dongle, not a counterfeit Tactrix. Or buy a counterfeit Mini VCI, since that's the only kind of Mini VCI it's possible to buy anymore, so that damage is already done.

 

no one has suggested any specific device, I will say... after going through two clones... DO NOT INSTALL THE LATEST VERSION OF OPEN PORT WHEN USING A CLONE, ONLY USE THE VERSION THAT CAME WTH THE DEVICE. Else, the one I purchased somewhere for a price good enough to go through two and buy another works fine for me.

 

And please, unless you want us to reach the situation where there is no actual existing US company engineering affordable working dongles we can use, if you're going to buy an Openport, support the company that makes it and buy a real one, not a counterfeit.

And if you want to buy a cheaper dongle, there are legit companies like VXDiag selling dongles that are cheaper, and there are other counterfeits like Mini VCI whose real makers already got killed off by people buying counterfeits, so that damage is already done and you aren't making it worse if you buy those.

 

Yes this is where I have a problem The j2534 should be a j standard and not anybody's or manufacturers crap they have nothing to do with the j standard or shouldn't have and here in start the problems or perpetuate the problems everybody wants to own something or be part of it or some nonsense The j2534 should be Jay 2534 across the board the pin outs of the plug and everything should be the same. It doesn't matter anything else so how can these things all not work or semi work or whatever there shouldn't be any of that The standard is the standard the pin outs of the pin outs you can't just alter that because you had a good day at the office or whatever. To me that's a bunch of BS

 

Only vehicle specific if you want to reflash ecu

A USB cable is included with all models. Only specific older vehicles need a special reflash adapter. If you have one of the vehicles listed below, please use the drop down to select which plug you need added, or see our other listings.

• OBD2 – Use for most modern OBD2 vehicles, inc:
  • Subaru BRZ, Forester, Baja, Legacy, or naturally aspirated Impreza models do not require a reflash adapter.
  • Mitsubishi EVO X, Ford Falcon BA BF FG, and more.
• 01-02 Subaru WRX – Only required for 01-02 Subaru WRX
• 03-04 Subaru WRX – Only required for 03-04 Subaru WRX
• Mitsubishi – Only required for Evo 5 – Evo 9

What OEM J2534 software does the Openport 2.0 work with?

 

For more on what the J2534 standard does and doesn't specify, see this post (and maybe this one).

J2534 is the specification of a Windows OS DLL and the functions in it that a software application (like Techstream) can call. The standard doesn't specify the dongle hardware, or how the DLL talks to the dongle hardware, as long as it does whatever it does and provides the right functions to the Windows app that is calling it.

There are various hardware capabilities that the dongle may optionally have. J2534 specifies functions that the calling app can call to use those capabilities, and functions the app can call to find out which ones are and aren't available in this particular dongle.

So if there's a dongle that doesn't support, say, K-line communications, and its J2534 DLL properly implements the "do you support K-line?" call and answers "no", then that is a J2534-compliant dongle, that doesn't happen to support that function. (If it were missing the "do you support K-line?" function, or if it answered "yes" when it doesn't, or "no" when it really does, then it would be noncompliant.)

Tactrix grew out of the Mitsubishi / Subie tuner community originally, so the features supported by an Openport are chiefly the ones needed for those cars. Mine works pretty well for most things on my Gen 3 Prius, but it has some issues talking to TPMS. I've had more issues with it on a Gen 2, and I try to also bring a Mini VCI along if I'll be working on one of those.