OCC 2026 - Wee Pivot and distraction

I cloned my Debian 13 libvirt template VM and named the clone “occ”. This’ll be where I run weird OBD-II code without careful analysis.

You see, I decided to pivot away from SocketCAN/raw CAN and toward ELM327-based OBD-II diagnostics. Seems a bit easier to accomplish within the timebox. Besides, this way I can run ELM327-emulator in the VM, and run the DOS QEMU guest nested within the same VM. Keeps life simple. Once I’m done with OCC I just stop the VM. Libvirt rocks; just gotta read a lot of docs and books about it to fully understand its capabilities. It has a great Python API too, if shelling out to virsh won’t suffice.

I did eventually installed ELM327-emulator with some unforseen speed bumps. It needed an old version of setuptools because setup.py expects pkg_resources to exist, and that module was no longer present in pre-installed setuptools. ELM327-emulator runs runs, and I was able to connect to the ELM327 pseudoterminal via minicom or screen. Next I need to work out what the heck ELM327 commands look like. Stay tuned.

Updates from other OCC participants began trickling in. Some post on Gopher. Others post on Gemini. And of course some use plain old HTTP/HTTPS and HTML. Didn’t know of a Gopher or Gemini client off the top of my head. Then I recalled lynx. It does Gopher - yay! No Gemini support, however. But the good thing is this Gemini proxy portal exists and works with lynx: https://portal.mozz.us/. For example: http://portal.mozz.us/gemini/pv.smol.pub/occ-2026-day-3#old-computer-challenge-2026-day-3

Figure 2: Lynx viewing Gemini content via portal.mozz.us

Discussed possibly adding Gemini support to lynx. Funnily enough everyone assumed that I intended to upstream the code changes and go through all the gymnastics. Nah. I was just thinking I could vibecode it and circumvent the need for a Gemini portal. It is a means to an end. But for now, that portal.mozz.us seems to do the trick! ChatGPT came up with a couple things to check into, if I do choose to run a local dirty lynx tree. Any upstream contributions would not be vibecoded. The idea is to get this less-important code change done yesterday, not begin a multi-month upstreaming pilgrimage.

I’ve been busy too; can’t be bothered to plug leaks in the van, and it’s storming hard tonight. So I spent a bit of time cleaning up camp, wrapping the entire van in a tarp using tensioning knots that I recently learned. Then I drove up to Klondike to buy a large clothes trunk. Nice people. I appreciated the “God bless you” code switch experienced farther north. More neighborly, less adversarial to outsiders. They were super appreciative and gave me a bunch of other equipment (free of charge) which I have already put to use.

On my way back to camp, I stopped at a coffee shop, got distracted reading my localhost-hosted Wikipedia mirror, and spied a 3D-printed “check engine” light (CEL) keychain doodad. It seemed only fitting to obtain this trinket as an OCC keepsake.

Next up, prepare a FreeDOS image using virt-install or manually loading up a libvirt XML document to teach libvirt about the new VM. Then I’ll configure the libvirt VM to hook the local ELM327-emulator pseudoterminal in as a serial console. Finally I’ll code up something in DOS. I’m thinking a C-based DOS program that speaks ELM327’s higher-level OBD-II commands over the serial connection.

As a reminder, it’ll look like this:

DOS in QEMU ⬌ virtual serial/PTY plumbing ⬌ ELM327 emulator or device

Some OBD-II software tools to try with an ELM327 (excerpted from the ELM327-emulator readme):

I’m gassed. I’m going to take a nap.