Hardware Platforms

The following hardware platforms are supported by ev3dev.

This table provides a detailed comparison of all of the supported platforms and their features.

Manufacturer LEGO Dexter Industries mindsensors.com FatcatLab Quest Institute
Website mindstorms.lego.com dexterindustries.com mindsensors.com fatcatlab.com questforspace.com
Model Name EV3 BrickPi BrickPi+ BrickPi3 PiStorms EVB QuestCape
Model Number(s)
  • 31313 (Retail set)
  • 45544 (Education Core set)
  • 45500 (EV3 Intelligent Brick)
  • BrickPi v1.7.3 [1]
  • BrickPi v2.8
  • BrickPi v3.2.1
  • PiStorms
  • PiStorms-v2
  • EVB v1.0
  • QuestCape v1.4
Compatible CPU Board N/A
  • Raspberry Pi Zero/Zero W
  • Raspberry Pi Model A/A+/B/B+
  • Raspberry Pi 2 Model B
  • Raspberry Pi 3 Model B
  • BeagleBone (White)
  • BeagleBone Black
  • BeagleBone Green [2] [3]
Display Resolution 178x128 pixels [4] N/A [6] [7] N/A [6] 320x240 pixels 220x176 pixels 220x176 pixels
Color Depth 1 bpp [5] 16 bpp 16 bpp 16 bpp
Backlight No Yes, always on Yes, always on Yes, adjustable
Touchscreen No Yes No No
Buttons Count 6 0 0 1 6 [8] 6 [8]
Center Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Up Yes No No No Yes Yes
Down Yes No No No Yes Yes
Left Yes No No No Yes Yes
Right Yes No No No Yes Yes
Back Yes No No No Yes Yes
LEDs 2 - Red/Green 2 - Blue 1 - Yellow (Amber) 2 [9] - Red/Green/Blue None None
Speaker Yes No [10] No [10] No [10] Yes No
Input Ports Count 4 4 + 1 I2C only 4 4 + 1 Grove I2C 4 4 4
Automatic Detection Yes No No No Yes [11] Yes
EV3 Sensors Yes Yes [12] Yes [13] Yes [14] Yes Yes
NXT Sensors Yes Yes [15] Yes Yes [16] Yes Yes
Output Ports Count 4 4 4 4 4 4
Automatic Detection Yes No No No Yes Yes
Battery Indication Voltage Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Current Yes No No No No Yes No
Bluetooth [17] 2.1 + EDR [18] N/A [19] N/A [19] N/A [19] N/A N/A
Wi-Fi [20] N/A N/A [21] N/A [21] N/A [21] N/A N/A
[1]The version number is not actually printed on the BrickPi circuit board.
[2]The Grove sensor ports are not usable with EVB or QuestCape because of shared I/O pins.
[3]BeagleBone Green Wireless is not supported because of I/O pin conflicts.
[4]It is possible to replace the display in the EV3. Video. The color screen is 160x128 pixels, 16 bpp, with adjustable backlight.
[5]The EV3 display is capable of 2bpp grayscale. We’re working on it.
[6](1, 2) It is possible to attach an HDMI (or NTSC) display to the Raspberry Pi.
[7]It is possible to stack a display on top of BrickPi. Blog.
[8](1, 2) EVB and QuestCape cannot detect simultaneous button presses.
[9]Some hardware revisions of the PiStorms only have 1 physical LED. However, 2 LEDs will still appear in sysfs.
[10](1, 2, 3) The headphone jack on Raspberry Pi can be used for sound. Sound is not enabled by default.
[11]The EVB cannot automatically detect some NXT sensors. NXT sensors can still be used, but the input port must be manually configured for them.
[12]BrickPi(+) only supports the LEGO EV3 sensors (Color, Infrared, Ultrasonic, Gyro, Touch). 3rd party EV3 sensors will not work. The UART sensor implementation is buggy in the BrickPi(+) firmware.
[13]BrickPi3 only supports the LEGO EV3 sensors (Color, Infrared, Ultrasonic, Gyro, Touch). 3rd party EV3 sensors will not work.
[14]PiStorms only supports the LEGO EV3 sensors (Color, Infrared, Ultrasonic, Gyro, Touch). 3rd party EV3 sensors will not work.
[15]BrickPi(+) has limited I2C sensor support. Most sensors do work, but there may be some limitations.
[16]PiStorms shares a single I2C communication bus with all four input ports, so each sensor must have a unique I2C address.
[17]Bluetooth (include Bluetooth Low Energy) support can be added to any device via a USB Bluetooth dongle.
[18]Newer models of the EV3 technically have a Bluetooth 4.0 chip. However, the new chip does not have Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) capabilities.
[19](1, 2, 3) Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and Raspberry Pi Zero W have built-in Bluetooth + LE (Low Energy).
[20]Wi-Fi support can be added to any device via a USB Wi-Fi dongle.
[21](1, 2, 3) Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and Raspberry Pi Zero W have built-in Wi-Fi.