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Platform Comparison

  1. Documentation
  2. Platform Comparison

This table provides a detailed comparison of all of the ev3dev-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 v1.7.31 BrickPi v2.8 BrickPi v3.2.1 PiStorms
PiStorms-v2		 EVB v1.0 QuestCape v1.4
Compatible CPU Board N/A Raspberry Pi Zero
Raspberry Pi Model A/A+/B/B+
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B		 BeagleBone (White)
BeagleBone Black
BeagleBone Green2,3
Display Resolution 178x128 pixels4 N/A5 N/A 320x240 pixels 220x176 pixels 220x176 pixels
Color Depth 1 bpp 16 bpp 16 bpp 16 bpp
Backlight No Yes, always on Yes, always on Yes, adjustable
Touchscreen No Yes No No
fbdev /dev/fb0 /dev/fb1 /dev/fb0 /dev/fb0
Buttons Count 6 0 1 66 66
Enter Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Up Yes No No Yes Yes
Down Yes No No Yes Yes
Left Yes No No Yes Yes
Right Yes No No Yes Yes
Back (Backspace) Yes No No Yes Yes
LEDs 2 - Red/Green 2 - Blue 1 - Yellow (Amber) 27 - Red/Green/Blue None None
Speaker Yes No8 No8 Yes No
Input Ports Count 4 4 + 1 I2C only 4 4 + 1 Grove I2C 4 4 4
Automatic Detection Yes No No Yes9 Yes
EV3 Sensors Yes Yes10 Yes11 Yes Yes
NXT Sensors Yes Yes12 Yes13 Yes Yes
Port Addresses in1
in2
in3
in4		 ttyAMA0:S1
ttyAMA0:S2
ttyAMA0:S3
ttyAMA0:S4		 spi0.1:S1
spi0.1:S2
spi0.1:S3
spi0.1:S4		 pistorms:BAS1
pistorms:BAS2
pistorms:BBS1
pistorms:BBS2		 evb:in1
evb:in2
evb:in3
evb:in4
Output Ports Count 4 4 4 4 4
Automatic Detection Yes No No Yes Yes
Port Addresses outA
outB
outC
outD		 ttyAMA0:MA
ttyAMA0:MB
ttyAMA0:MC
ttyAMA0:MD		 spi0.1:MA
spi0.1:MB
spi0.1:MC
spi0.1:MD		 pistorms:BAM1
pistorms:BAM2
pistorms:BBM1
pistorms:BBM2		 evb:outA
evb:outB
evb:outC
evb:outD
Battery Indication Voltage Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Current Yes No No Yes No

  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 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. It is possible to stack a display on top of BrickPi. Blog. ↩

  6. EVB and QuestCape cannot detect simultaneous button presses. ↩ ↩2

  7. Some hardware revisions of the PiStorms only have 1 physical LED. However, 2 LEDs will still appear in sysfs. ↩

  8. The headphone jack on Raspberry Pi can be used for sound. ↩ ↩2

  9. The EVB cannot automatically detect some NXT sensors. NXT sensors can still be used, but the input port must be manually configured for them. ↩

  10. BrickPi only supports the LEGO EV3 sensors (Color, Infrared, Ultrasonic, Gyro, Touch). The UART sensor implementation is buggy in the BrickPi and BrickPi+ firmware. EV3 sensor support on the BrickPi3 is improved. ↩

  11. PiStorms only supports the LEGO EV3 sensors (Color, Infrared, Ultrasonic, Gyro, Touch). ↩

  12. BrickPi has limited I2C sensor support. Most sensors do work, but there may be some limitations. ↩

  13. PiStorms shares the I2C communication bus with all four input ports, so each sensor must have a different I2C address. ↩