Pi Zero: Any way to solder on an Ethernet Port?

Question

I was wondering if it's possible to solder on an ethernet port. Having a OTG USB to Ethernet is a bit bulky.

What I'm trying to do is fit a Raspberry Pi inside my MacBook, and then solder the connection points of my MacBook Ethernet port to my Pi Zero Ethernet port. So, every time I turn on my MacBook it will also boot up my Pi Zero. Is this even doable?

If you would consider WiFi check this out http://hackaday.com/2015/11/28/first-raspberry-pi-zero-hack-piggy-back-wifi/ — Steve Robillard, Nov 30 '15 at 04:16
Why would you want to do this? Before you get to worrying about Ethernet how are you planning to power this, physically get it to fit, route power, handle graceful shutdown, access the SD Card so you can swap it out without disassembling your macbook? — Steve Robillard, Nov 30 '15 at 04:27
deleted - my point was that the pi zero has nowhere to solder an ethernet socket — Jaromanda X, Nov 30 '15 at 05:23
@JaromandaX That is a good point and deserves to be made just in a different way - thanks for deleting/rewording your comment. — Steve Robillard, Nov 30 '15 at 05:29
Raspberry Pi A and Zero models do not contain an Ethernet controller so you cannot simply solder an Ethernet port - I explained this in the comment here: https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/38622/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-get-network-connectivity-to-the-pi-zero#comment53440_38744 ------ The options of connecting an Ethernet are covered in this question: What's the cheapest way to get network connectivity to the Pi Zero? — pabouk - Ukraine stay strong, Nov 30 '15 at 09:01
Best options is to just get a orange pi R1 which has 2 ethernet ports built in, but its only 256mb ram. — Patoshi パトシ, Jul 10 '19 at 14:44

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:56

Well, you can, according to this article: Ethernet On Pi Zero – How To Put An Ethernet Port On Your Pi! There the poster reports how they got what seems to be a HanRun branded ENC28J60 SPI-to-Ethernet board which does seem to occur on a certain on-line auction site for a few dollars/pounds.

I found another article for the same device here which suggests that it is 3.3V but 5V tolerant which is promising for something to be hooked up to the RPi.

Whether you can fit this as well as the RPi Zero and any other bits you need inside your MacBook is another matter but this might be useful information for others considering a Wired-Ethernet connection for a Zero.

Edit: Also you may want to refer to "What's the cheapest way to get Network connectivity to the Pi Zero?" and "Which Raspberry Pi Os images support ENC28J60 Ethernet port natively?"

Pi Zero: Any way to solder on an Ethernet Port?

1 Answers1