What to buy for ethernet capabilities?

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Development
1

I'm new at this so apologies if this question is insanely dumb but I'd like to have ethernet on my Arduino board, so I was just trying to figure out what I needed to buy.

Seems to me that I need the Ethernet Shield (from MakerShed, $15) and an Xport Direct module (from GridConnect, $30).

I'm just a bit confused because on the one hand, this combination seems the most common out there, yet on the other hand, I am having difficulty finding both these products at the same store. For example, on GridConnect, the Xport Direct is available for $30 but it also says "Discontinued"?

Just want to make sure I'm buying the most appropriate add-ons in order to bring easy internet capabilities to my Arduino. Any confirmations that I'm buying the right stuff?

2

Take a look at Adafruit, they have the same shield, and the Xport.

Also, you could look into the Wiznet module (lower part of the page) will save you $15 ish, but you'll lose a few capabilities.

Note that unlike the XPort modules, the WIZnet chip communicates over SPI (instead of serial) and does not have a built-in DHCP client.

SPI takes I believe 4 pins (maybe 5), while Serial only takes 2. (Not including the POWER and GROUND)

But yeah, you have the right idea! :slight_smile:

3

If you need standard Arduino Ethernet Library compatibility, you better go with the Arduino Ethernet shield or any other compatible shield with the W5100 chip on it.