Once these has generated some questions among the community, I decided to come up with some information also here at TBs .
Similarly to what happened with BT dongles for NXT, there is a very limited choice regarding working WiFi dongles for EV3.
Until someone changes something in the firmware/VM executable there is only one WiFi dongle that will work with the EV3. It is the NetGear WNA1100 (with USB ID 0846:9030).
You can find these dongles at the moment at several sources, and eventually at your local retailer too.
- Pixmania.com (look at the respective website serving your country)
- Amazon.com
- LEGO Education (which charges a premium price for reselling this...)

It has to use a specific Atheros chipset (one supported by the ath9k_htc linux drivers, which limits us to around 20 or fewer devices) and then the VM executable checks for a specific USB device ID (unique to the NetGear dongle) before loading the atheros drivers so no other atheros-based dongle works either.
Dongles that use Ralink or Realtek chipsets do not even have driver support in the standard firmware image.
Be aware, before you get to buy something else!...
PS: I've gathered this information from an MCP expert with such firmware topics.
11 comments:
I don't understand why they would make the same mistake as last time?
Today, every Phone can connect to every other bleutooth device, so how hard can it be?
btw haven't bought a set yet, but just found one for €299, so maybe next week I'll have one
The limitation is in the EV3 drivers and VM, to support the WiFi dongle(s). Modifying the EV3 VM (and/or the linux installation) should allow other dongles to be used, and it should be transparent to X3.
better price at Pixmania.com
http://www.pixmania.nl/usb-wifi-stick/netgear-wna1100-100pes-150-mbps-wifi-n-usb-stick/04833425-a.html#description
Thanks for the heads-up- Great price and free shipping!
@Robotica (Martijn)
So you made me to order one!...
At this price and free shipping, it doesn't justify the wait for a micro dongle.
If they will ever get supported, then will order another one, and didn't have lost that much. :P :)
Added the Pixmania opportunity, to the original post.
Thanks Martijn! :)
A Micro-Dongle: http://www.legomindstormsev3.com/ev3-hardware/ev3-networking/connect-ev3-wifi.ev3 I'll try this one and will see what happens.
@Köbelis
Great finding!
Please let us know the result once you have tested it.
Yet, it works :). But only with this Firmware update: https://wiki.qut.edu.au/download/attachments/171509415/ev3-edimax.bin?version=1&modificationDate=1383238867000&api=v2 (Original Website: https://wiki.qut.edu.au/display/cyphy/EV3+EDIMAX+EW-7811Un)
I wished it works it LEGO firmware. :(
hi all , I have tested this patch from Edimax on my EV3+ this small dongle (~12 euros at CDiscount) and it works now . The issue is that it is based on an old FW version for EV3: 1.04. Any idea how this could be integrated by Lego to their latest FW 1.06E ad later?
thanks anyway for the info.
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