Hoges said:
but I'm a software engineer so I know how trivial it is to interface with hardware such as the pieces you would normally find in a vehicle
This bloody hilarious

Maaate... if it's so trivial...why consult this forum :?:
I spent 15 odd years alongside s/w engineers in the aerospace industry... most of them were trying to " interface" something or other with something else... I While I respected most, I also learned that you could always tell a certain type of s/w engineer... but you couldn't tell'em much :shock:
this stuff is not trivial... but go ahead! deconstruct the system, the algorithms, the timing etc etc, work out where the OTHER software writers "hid" stuff to protect the product from intrepid seekers of truth such as people on this forum... I eagerly await your complete RR2004 package for, let's say $10?
I didn't say it would be trivial in the case of a range rover (which has MORE electronics than the average vehicle). Nor did I say that the entire functionality would be trivial. All I said was that the interface itself should be easy. I'm not some amateur, I do know what I'm talking about (general software knowledge, not cars specifically, i don't actually own any OBD II interface, etc and haven't played with vehicle diagnostics before). I didn't mean to offend anyone, I was talking in software terms, and in software an interface doesn't DO anything, doesn't ACCOMPLISH anything. You still need to implement the functionality (and parts of the functionality are certainly easier than others). Talking to the interface should be easy (assuming there is a spec, which it seems like there must not be since everyone is laughing at me), but getting it to do what you want may be another story entirely... I figured since this is a forum dedicated to the topic there would be other programmers on this forum who like to share information about this sort of thing, but perhaps I was mistaken.
I merely thought that if I only wanted to do one thing, such as clear a fault, it may be possible to do that one thing without paying for a whole package full of bells and whistles which I may never use (attempting to perform certain repairs myself would be penny wise but pound foolish). I just asked a simple question and I haven't really gotten an answer, just ridicule.
Does anyone here know if it is theoretically POSSIBLE given plenty of time and expertise to control all aspects of a 2004 range rover using any generic OBD II computer interface, or if there is stuff that is totally non-standard which uses completely different protocols? Some people say that the communications are encrypted, etc, etc... which if true seems like it would be essentially impossible for ANYONE depending on the type of encryption used... yet there are people who have created software packages, so either it is weak encryption, or there are keys, etc available.
Any information would be appeciated, I am basically trying to decide which hardware I should buy in order to begin my work. I understand that it may take years, but I plan to own my RR for a very long time, so I have years to work with.