LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Source Code Available

At last, the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 source code is now available for your perusal.  It’s been uploaded to the Mindboards Github space: [LINK]. You can simply clone the repository.  It would be really great if you could drop us a note to let us know what you’ve done with it!  It would be nice if some of the programming effort was not duplicated or lost.  You can simply send a tweet to @XanderSoldaat or drop a mail to ev3@botbench.com.  I’d like to compile a list of all the different cloned repos out there and keep a copy of it on this blog.

Things you will need

• A Linux (virtual) installation.  I used Ubuntu 13.04 on VMware Workstation, but I am sure other combinations also work.
• Eclipse.  I used Helios Service Release 1, but I know more recent versions will also work.
• Java JRE (for Eclipse)
• Code Sourcery Lite for ARM version 2009q1-203.  You can download here directly: [LINK].
• A USB to serial port dongle.  You need to splice an NXT cable and hook up dig0 (pin 5) and dig1 (pin 6) to TX and RX, not 100% which way around.  GND is pin 2 and 3, just pick one.  The brick’s console is on port 1 and has a baud rate of 115200 8N1.  I have a pre-made one with an NXT socket, it’s not actually as fancy as it sounds.
• An SD card to put your custom firmware on. It doesn’t use up a lot of space, but I’d stick with a simple 2GB one
• A pair of flat-nosed pliers. Why do you ask? The SD card can be a bit tricky to remove with your fingers, unless you have freakishly small fingers or nails that don’t snap off.
• A Netgear WNA1100 WiFi dongle.  It is currently the only WiFi dongle that is supported by the EV3’s firmware.  I am sure this will be remedied 2 hours after this release.

Getting started

Use Git to clone the ev3sources repo: git clone https://github.com/mindboards/ev3sources.git

The scripts in the EV3 sources expect the source code to live in a projects folder in your home directory. You will need to create a  projects symlink to the ev3sources folder that was created when you cloned the Git repo.

I’ll publish some more elaborate HOWTOs in the next few days, for now, take a look at the scripts in ev3sources/lms2012/open_first.  You can open the lms2012 folder in Eclipse to open all of the sub projects, including the kernel modules and shared libraries.

Have fun and stay tuned!