Starter kit

What you'll need to run a gateway.

Two USB dongles do the work. The first hears Bluetooth. The second knows where you are. Pick the path that matches what you already own.

Easiest path

You have an Umbrel Home or a Raspberry Pi.

Both have USB-A ports. The two dongles plug straight in. No adapters, no fuss.

Order these two:

Already running umbrelOS on your Pi? You're done with shopping. If your Pi is bare, install umbrelOS first (see umbrel.com/umbrelos), then come back here.

Read this first if you have an Umbrel Pro

You have an Umbrel Pro.

Pro has two USB-C ports and no USB-A. The dongles are USB-A, so you'll add one small powered USB-C hub to your cart. Everything else is the same.

Order these three:

From scratch

You don't have an Umbrel or a Pi yet.

Two options. Buy a pre-built Umbrel and skip the assembly, or build a Raspberry Pi server yourself for less money but more steps.

Option 1: Pre-built Umbrel Home , recommended

  • Umbrel Home from umbrel.com , $599. Ships with everything, plug it into power and ethernet, you're done.
  • Plus the two dongles above (USB-A, no adapter).

Option 2: Build a Raspberry Pi 5 yourself

  • Raspberry Pi 5, 8GB , around $80 from any Pi reseller (Adafruit, Canakit, PiShop)
  • Official Raspberry Pi 27W USB-C power supply, around $15
  • NVMe SSD or fast microSD, 128GB+, around $20
  • Active cooling case, around $15
  • Plus the two dongles above (Pi has USB-A, no adapter)

Pi 5 uses USB-C only for power. The four data ports are USB-A, so the dongles plug in directly. After assembly, flash umbrelOS following umbrel.com/umbrelos.

Why these two dongles, specifically.

Sena UD100 for Bluetooth. A gateway listens far more than it talks, so antenna gain matters more than transmit power. The UD100 takes an external antenna, which gives you real range improvements over the $15 dongles bundled with most kits. Linux recognises it without any driver work.

GlobalSat BU-353N for location. Every forwarded packet needs a coordinate. The BU-353N is a USB GPS receiver that GlobalSat has shipped in one form or another for over a decade, and Linux recognises it out of the box (the worker image bundles gpsd preconfigured for it). Install, plug in, your gateway picks up its first fix within a minute outdoors. A small magnetic mount on the case keeps it where it can see the sky.

Once it arrives.

Plug both dongles in, install the EE Gateway app from the Umbrel community store, and paste your credentials. The full walkthrough lives in the docs.

Read the install guide →   Start your gateway →