BrickDaddy

Hi All, I want to share some information regarding the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Software here. The software is available as a 120.-€ education version and as a free "home" version. When I bought the education version, I faced some issues and made some experiences which might be worth to be shared as I couldn't find the information in the www, yet: The 2 software versions are based on the same core software. The education version is enhanced with "data logging" functionality and more than 50 "training" sessions for the programming elements, sensors, etc.. One who is interested in learning to program and a starter (like my 9 yrs. old son) has a real benefit with the education version and I can say that the additional content is worth to spend some money for it. The home version is provided as download in all available languages while the education version is being sold in "market specific" language bundles. I couldn't find any official information about that, but when I bought my software in the Netherlands I got a BENELUX version key which allows me to download the software only in the languages "english", "dutch" and "french". This is somehow strange as "german" is an official language in parts of the BENELUX countries ... Unfortunately, one does not see this "limitation" as the EV3 education software has the same LEGO part number (2000045) in all countries and the available languages can only be seen after the activation / registration of the software. The LEGO EV3 education software is shipped as an activation key which allow to download language specific installation files from the lego education website. After the activation, the LEGO EV3 education software is registered to the user account and cannot be removed any more, which implies that it cannot be resold. Note: Reselling is also excluded in the license agreement. An interesting discussion if this is compatible with the European copyright laws as they generally allow reselling of "used" software. The bricks firmware is also available in a "home" and an "education" version. The education version is enhanced with a "online data logging functionality" which allows to remotely monitor (via Bluetooth/USB/WLAN) the sensor values on a computer. The source code of the firmware home version has been released by LEGO and is available via https://github.com/m...ards/ev3sources.‎ So, that's it for now. If someone has specific questions regarding the software versions, I will be happy to provide an answer, if possible. Cheers, BrickDaddy

Sorry for my late response. For whatever reason, I don't get emails from eurobricks.com :-( I couldn't find any resource for the programs. So, yes, one needs to buy the education software to get access to the programs. I use both versions of the software (education and retail) and the education content is worth spending some bucks as the extra content really provides additional value. One more thing: The education software download file is named lme-ev3-...-full-setup.dmg while the retail version is called lms-ev3-...-full-setup.dmg

I also bought an EV3 Education Set from a polish seller via ebay before christmas. The set was not originally sealed and was missing the rechargeable battery. The letter from lego (see attachment) was not contained in the set but sent to me via email after I complained about the missing battery. I had a conversation with LEGO Education Support in Germany and they told me, that they won't provide any battery packs to end customers directly. Fortunately, my seller accepted the return of the set and paid back the money without any problems. LEGO Germany confirmed that they initially had problems with the rechargeable batteries' wiring but they have not been aware of sets being delivered without the battery pack. After all, I was somehow disappointed about the way LEGO deals with this issue leaving the problem with the end customer. This is understandable from a commercial point of view, but incomplete sets which are not marked as "incomplete" or "limited to the ... market/purpose" shouldn't have been released at all. My advise to everybody who receives a set with missing rechargeable battery: Return the set to the seller, if possible, as one cannot expect that LEGO provides the rechargeable battery to end customers.