Internet connection

Before installing Dataplicity, your Linux device needs a working internet connection. The examples below use Raspberry Pi, but the same network principles apply to other Linux-based IoT hardware.

Wired Ethernet connection

Consumer routers are usually configured to issue an IP address to your devices via DHCP as soon as they are connected. In most cases, connecting via wired Ethernet is as simple as plugging a standard Ethernet cable between your device and your router or switch.

Device connected to a switch

Troubleshooting an Ethernet connection

Test the connection on a PC or laptop first. If your PC can reach the internet on the same cable, the device usually can too.

Possible issues:

1. A damaged Ethernet cable
2. DHCP service disabled on the device, so no IP address is assigned
3. USB-to-Ethernet adapter driver issues - try the built-in Ethernet port first
4. Router or ISP fault - power-cycle the router and contact your ISP if needed

Wireless connection

Raspberry Pi WiFi setup

These steps apply to Raspberry Pi 3 or newer running a recent Raspberry Pi OS image (2021 or later).

The fastest way to configure WiFi on Raspberry Pi is with raspi-config:

sudo raspi-config

Select your country, enter your WiFi network name and password, then reboot. After reboot, a background service will connect to your network.

Test your connection

Ping is the most common way to verify connectivity:

sudo ping -c 5 www.google.com

If you see an error like ping: unknown host www.google.com, the connection is not working.

Find your IP address

hostname -I

Once your device has internet access, proceed to install the Dataplicity agent.