Selecting the Appropriate Wifi Module for My Project

[arduinonewb13]

Which Wifi module is best for communicating with a server? and adding onto a project that includes an Arduino Mega, TTL JPEG Serial Camera, Ethernet Shield, Bluefruit EZ-Link Shield, and a Lithium Polymer 3.7v Battery Pack?

I was thinking of removing the Ethernet Shield from the project since the Wifi module includes an SD slot. Does that SD slot interfere with the server communication? such as sharing the communication port on transmitter/receiver communication?

(1) http://www.adafruit.com/products/1510
(2)https://www.adafruit.com/products/1491
(3)https://www.adafruit.com/products/1469
(4)https://www.adafruit.com/products/1534

[Franklin97355]

Which Wifi module is best for communicating with a server?

They all contain the same chip so that should not be an issue. Two do not have an SD card slot so, if you want one there are two to chose from.

[arduinonewb13]

So that's the only difference? And what is the distinction between the two with the SD slots? One being the shield and the other a breakout board which is not pre-assembled?

[Franklin97355]

I'd have to go back and read the specs but you could do that too. I think it is the antenna.

[adafruit_support_mike]

The only assembly required for the breakout or shield is to solder in the header pins.

The CC3000 breakout is only the wifi chip, the shield also comes with an SD card interface. The shield is slightly better behaved in terms of SPI communication because there's a known hardware issue with the CC3000 not releasing the MISO pin to a high-impedance state like it should when it isn't selected. If you want to work with other SPI devices, you'll need to handle that detail (we use a 74AHC1G125 buffer on the shield version). If you don't plan to use any other SPI devices it shouldn't matter.

Other than that, the options are to use the ceramic antenna or an external antenna. The product matrix is shield/breakout -vs- ceramic/external antenna.

[arduinonewb13]

Alright thanks. I have 3 wireless modules: Arduino Ethernet, Bluefruit EZ-Link Bluetooth Shield, and Adafruit CC3000 WiFi Shield with Onboard Ceramic Antenna. Which combination would be best for utilizing both the SD card and ethernet capabilities simultaneously on an Arduino Mega 2560 board?

[adafruit_support_mike]

The CC3000 shield and Ethernet shield will both give you a network connection, and either one can talk to a micro-SD card. The main question is whether you want a wired connection or a wireless one.

[arduinonewb13]

Wireless. With the ethernet shield, I ran into the problem of only being capable of selecting one functionality - SD or ethernet - using the SPI bus. I'm trying to learn how to use both. I'm trying to upload an array of images from the SD card to a server.

[arduinonewb13]

Which shield would be easier to program to send a picture to someone's email address?

[Franklin97355]

Which shield would be easier to program to send a picture to someone's email address?

Only one of the shields (cc3000) is wireless so you don't have an option among your choices. Any of the network shields will work for your project and should be close to the same difficulty since the difficult part is not accessing the shield but sending the image.

[arduinonewb13]

Are you familiar with the EZ-Link Bluefruit shield?

[adafruit_support_mike]

The EZ-Link is a Bluetooth device, so it doesn't connect to the internet. If you want to send email wirelessly, the only item from the list of devices you posted is the CC3000.