A newbie coming through!

Created Mon, 13 Feb 2017 20:46:17 +0000 by rodah

rodah

Mon, 13 Feb 2017 20:46:17 +0000

Hi all!

I am a student and in the upcoming weeks I am going to work on a project using the chipKIT™ Basic I/O Shield. I've tried really hard to find other projects and such so I can see how it works and that I can learn. I've checked the reference manual and many different websites but it doesn't really tell me much. I would really appreciate if someone could share some links so that I can learn how to start from the scratch. Anything that might help someone like me with no experience would be very awesome thankful.

If there are any kinds souls out there that's wants to help me I'd be really grateful!

Kind regards /// Really confused student.

EmbeddedMan

Tue, 14 Feb 2017 14:13:31 +0000

rodah,

Well, if you're coming at this with absolutely zero experience, you are going to need to take some baby steps. Like learning C, learning embedded C, learning about the Arduino environment, etc.

What exactly is your end goal? What are you trying to accomplish?

We can do our best to help you through the chipKIT specific questions that you'll have.

*Brian

rodah

Sat, 18 Feb 2017 00:03:22 +0000

Well I have taken 3 java courses so I know C pretty good from that. I've also done some exercise in school with using C so that's fine I'd say. I just feel so confused using the chipKIT. We have some templates and I know for example how to use and code the buttons. But I have too many problems with the OLED.

majenko

Sat, 18 Feb 2017 12:20:39 +0000

The OLED, and the official code for the OLED, is problematic.

Personally I would suggest using DisplayCore for the OLED (using the SSD1306 driver) since it is about 10000000x more powerful than the OLED official library (if you can even get it to compile).

Also the OLED hasn't really been wired 100% correctly and ideally should have a modification to the board to make it work properly (they hard-wired the chip select pin to GND so you can never select / deselect the display, which means it's possible to confuse it.

Kinnear

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 12:51:04 +0000

Man, you pain a pretty grim picture about OLED, Majenko. Does it have any saving graces at all or should it just be avoided?

majenko

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 13:19:17 +0000

The actual OLED is quite nice (though very small). It's just the way it's been provisioned isn't great. And the code was written years ago for an old version of chipKIT, and things have moved on a long way since then.

Besides, you can get as good (or better) an OLED for a fraction of the price from eBay.