Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Hardware configuration
The hardware configuration in this chapter is really simple. At this point, you should
already have the Arduino Ethernet shield connected to your Arduino Uno board. If that's
not the case, please do so now.
You then have only two cables to plugin: a USB cable between your computer and the Ar-
duino Uno board and the Ethernet cable. Simply connect the USB cable to one port of your
computer.
For the Ethernet cable, you have several options. The easiest thing you can do, which is
what I recommend, is to connect the Ethernet cable directly from the shield to the main
router of your home. Usually, you will have a Wi-Fi router in your home, which you use to
enable Wi-Fi connectivity for your computer and other devices. This router should also
have some Ethernet ports, where you can connect your Ethernet shield. The advantage of
this solution is that your shield will automatically get an IP address and will have access to
the Internet automatically. This assumes that your router is configured for DHCP; go to
your router settings to enable DHCP. As this procedure varies depending on the brand of
your router, refer to your router documentation to find out how to do this on your specific
router.
If you don't have a router, you can directly connect the Ethernet cable to your computer. I
don't recommend this alternative, as configuring your computer to connect to the shield and
sharing the Internet connection with the shield is really complex, and it also depends on
your operating system.
If you really don't have access to a router but you have access to a Wi-Fi network, I recom-
mend buying one of these small Wi-Fi routers that have an Ethernet port. It can connect to
any Wi-Fi network in range and share the connection automatically with other devices via
Ethernet.
For example, as shown in the following image, I recommend the
TP-Link MR3020 router
:
