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LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Source Code Available

brickosAt 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!

About Xander

Xander Soldaat is a Software Engineer and former Infrastructure Architect. He loves building and programming robots. He recently had the opportunity to turn his robotics hobby into his profession and has started working for Robomatter, the makers of ROBOTC and Robot Virtual Words.