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Networking Connecting ev3dev to the internet and other devices

  1. Documentation
  2. Networking

If you want to access your ev3dev installation from a PC or install new software on your EV3, you’ll need to connect to a network. Here are some resources to help you out.

For Raspberry Pi platforms with no display, you must use the wired Ethernet port to connect for the first time through a remote SSH session. An alternative method is to connect the pi to an HDMI screen monitor and USB keyboard and press Ctrl+Alt+F6 at the end of the boot sequence to reach a login prompt (id: robot, password: maker). Once connected, you can then set up additional connections using the command line .

Connecting to the Internet

You have a few options for connecting to the internet.

With a Wi-Fi dongle

The simplest route is to use a Wi-Fi dongle connected through the EV3’s USB port. If you have a supported Wi-Fi dongle available already, we recommend that you use it; otherwise you can use one of the other networking options below. Many USB Wi-Fi dongles which support Linux will work, but we officially support and recommend the following (these are supported by the EV3’s default operating system as well):

Once you have plugged in a dongle, you can use Brickman’s “Wireless and Networks > Wi-Fi” menu to connect to a network. Make sure you check the “Powered” box so that it starts searching for Wi-Fi networks, and then choose the one you want from the list that appears.

If you have a long Wi-Fi password, we highly recommend using a direct USB connection then use the command line in a terminal to enter your passphrase

With USB through a PC

You can use a PC to connect to the EV3 through its mini USB port and share an internet connection. To try out connecting via USB, see our Connecting to the Internet via USB tutorial.

With Bluetooth through a PC

If you have a PC or Android device with Bluetooth capability, you can connect your EV3 through it to access the Web. To learn more about this option, check out our Connecting to the Internet via Bluetooth tutorial.

With a USB Ethernet adapter

If you have a USB Ethernet adapter (or can buy one) which supports Linux, you can use it to access the network from your EV3. Just plug it into the brick and connect the adapter to an ethernet cable; no configuration is needed.

Tethering to a Host PC (no Internet access)

If you don’t need to connect your brick to the Internet, you can use a technology called “tethering” to connect it directly to a PC. This can sometimes require less configuration than other options. Some of these guides may be partially incomplete on certain platforms.

With Bluetooth

You can use Bluetooth to connect your EV3 to a PC. To do so, read through our Using Bluetooth Tethering guide.

With USB

Another tethering option is using the mini USB port on the EV3. To try tethering with USB, try our Using USB Tethering tutorial.

Further Reading

Remote terminal with SSH

Once you have a connection between your PC and ev3dev, you will almost certainly want to establish an SSH connection to the EV3. This allows you to install software, run code, and edit files. Read more in our SSH guide.

File sharing with NFS

One option to transfer code, configuration, and other files is NFS. You can learn more with our guide on setting up an NFS file share.