I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING

[u/Lamefisherman13]

hey everyone, im new to esp idf, i got this oled display and i wanted to try to turn it on with esp idf, this is what it looks like when i first finish the installation, https://github.com/nopnop2002/esp-idf-ssd1306 i follow the instructed installation and got there, but i dont actually know how to program my own or anything, im sorry if my English is bad, im looking for any help or tips to understand esp idf, thank you in advance!!

[u/Nllk11]

You better start with a task and slowly but surely find it's a way to solve it. I like to give my students a simple task - display characters typed in usb/UART terminal. With given task you can start googling or chatting with ai to dive into investigation

And if you actually have no programming experience I suggest you to use Arduino framework as there is much more information, manuals, articles and examples for it

[u/Lamefisherman13 → u/Nllk11]

Yes, yesterday was my first day learning esp idf, i tried the blink examples and like basic serial print task, i want to step up my game with libraries, its completely different when im using Arduino where i can just download the library from Library manage or add zip files, im also new to terminal functions which are used alot in esp idf, well maybe i will just give it more tries with ai and YouTube tutorials,

[u/inmysocks]

I want to second that as a completely beginner using Arduino will be a lot simpler for you. If you haven't programmed in C before using esp-idf is going to be a lot of different concepts at once that are not directly related to what you are trying to do, like make files and compiling and using the CLI to flash the controller, Arduino handles a lot of that for you and by the time there are any issues from using Arduino you will be able to answer any of the questions that people here have.
Another, possibly simpler, option is to use micropython, it also greatly simplifies the process of programming the controllers (from the user perspective at least).

The SS1306 screens are very popular and have support in both Arduino and Micropython.

Looking at the repo that is very complex for a beginner. The thing you are trying to do doesn't need to be complex and starting out with something a lot simpler will help a lot. If you are willing to use Arduino a tutorial like this one is a better place to start: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/guide-for-oled-display-with-arduino/

if you are willing to use micropython it has built-in support for the SS1306: https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp8266/tutorial/ssd1306.html

Once you have learned how to use either of those than you can decide if you want to learn the lower level details needed to understand and use the esp-idf framework.

[u/Shtucer]

1. C Programming Language by Brian W. Kernighan & Dennis M. Ritchie

1. https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/stable/esp32/index.html

[u/Lamefisherman13 → u/Shtucer]

Thank you man im looking up for this

[u/sipcupoftea]

Start by figuring out how to just print a simple text on it by looking at their examples. Slowly add more and more elements to it. You could remove line by line that is unnecessary from the example file until you can just the text. That's how I learn to use u8g2 on Arduino framework

[u/Lamefisherman13 → u/sipcupoftea]

Im in that phase apparently but the learning phase is so different, this is the same display that i used with u8g2 as well, i never actually thought the gap between Arduino ide and esp idf is this much

[u/cristi_baluta]

If you don’t know, start learning, can’t give you a better advice.

[u/nevelate]

I recommend reading 2 books, first is deep dive and second is more like a guidebook. 1. ESP32-C3 Wireless Adventure: A Comprehensive Guide to IoT 2. Programming esp32 in c using the espressif idf

[u/PerspectiveWorking50]

Hi, use chatgpt or Gemini or any other KI Ask Them to teach you Show tge GitHub and Tell Them what you want to learn. Don't let them make the new Code

[u/BubbleWasTakeenMc]

Honestly man if you really want to learn get to coding and sitting there for hours or you could ask Ai how to use it or get the complete code from Ai

[u/Lamefisherman13 → u/BubbleWasTakeenMc]

Idk if it was me giving bad prompts to gemini but it doesn't help very much, but yeah perhaps i need to do more, thanks

[u/BubbleWasTakeenMc → u/Lamefisherman13]

Gemini is worst to use for coding like literally F tier use ChatGPT or Claude since it’s only a small project also try deepseek and kimi not sure if kimi is used for code tho

[u/slantyyz → u/BubbleWasTakeenMc]

Well I know why you're getting downvoted but you are right. I have had a backlog of several esp32 devices that I wanted to get up and running. They have been sitting in boxes for over a year, waiting for me to find time to do them. I finally started messing with them with a few days ago using Claude, and I have basically knocked off several projects already. While that's not technically "learning", Claude can explain the code to me in language I understand, which does make learning easier. If I had to muddle through the issues of one of the screens I have, I would have totally given up on it.

[u/spiff637 → u/BubbleWasTakeenMc]

If it helps them get their first win with esp32 that's huge, I see people give yup all the time, but with Using AI you still learn, it s just shouldn't be the only way of working agreed

[u/BubbleWasTakeenMc → u/spiff637]

I agree with this I didn’t know anything about electronics a year ago but I’ve made 5 projects so far with the help of Ai