This is the base Nerves System configuration for the Raspberry Pi Zero and Raspberry Pi Zero W.

If you are not interested in Gadget Mode it might be worth checking out nerves_system_rpi. That image configures the USB port in host mode by default and is probably more appropriate for your setup.

^{Image credit}

The base image activates the dwc2 overlay, which allows the Pi Zero to appear as a device (aka gadget mode). When plugged into a host computer via the OTG port, the Pi Zero will appear as a composite ethernet and serial device.

When a peripheral is plugged into the OTG port, the Pi Zero will act as USB host, with somewhat reduced performance due to the dwc_otg driver used in other base systems like the official nerves_system_rpi.

The base image includes drivers for the Red Bear IoT pHAT and the onboard Raspberry Pi Zero W wifi module (brcmfmac driver).

If you are using another WiFi module (for example, a USB module), you will need to create a custom system image. Before doing this, check if the nerves_system_rpi works better for you. That image configures the USB port in host mode by default and is probably more appropriate for your setup.

Add nerves_system_rpi0 to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

  def deps do
    [{:nerves_system_rpi0, "~> 0.16.0"}]
  end

Image credit: This image is from the Fritzing parts library.