Arduino IDE usage problems

[Krishkal]

Hi, I followed the instructions in the Github page to install the Arduino IDE on my Windows 11 laptop. I then got to the part where you have to add the adafruit JSON to the Additional Boards Manager URLs in the Preferences dialog. I did that as instructed and clicked on OK. However, there is no "adafruit" folder in C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino. I only see two folders there, "hardware" and "tools".

What am I doing wrong?

[admin]

I’m away from home so I’m not able to check on my machine, but I believe the newest version of the IDE puts the Adafruit packages in a different location—you may have to search for Adafruit to find it.

[Krishkal]

Hmmm.... I did the search within the AppData\Local\Arduino directory, and am not seeing anything that looks like it. Can you please check into this when you get a chance? Here is what I am getting:

C:\Users\Kalkr\AppData\Local\Arduino15>dir /s *adafruit*
Volume in drive C is Local Disk
Volume Serial Number is 6633-7B82

Directory of C:\Users\Kalkr\AppData\Local\Arduino15

03/11/2024 03:47 PM 293,985 package_adafruit_index.json
1 File(s) 293,985 bytes

Directory of C:\Users\Kalkr\AppData\Local\Arduino15\libraries\TFT\extras

03/11/2024 03:44 PM 1,501 Adafruit-license.txt
03/11/2024 03:44 PM 1,125 Adafruit-README.txt
2 File(s) 2,626 bytes

Directory of C:\Users\Kalkr\AppData\Local\Arduino15\libraries\TFT\src\utility

03/11/2024 03:44 PM 17,185 Adafruit_GFX.cpp
03/11/2024 03:44 PM 11,706 Adafruit_GFX.h
03/11/2024 03:44 PM 22,120 Adafruit_ST7735.cpp
03/11/2024 03:44 PM 4,680 Adafruit_ST7735.h
4 File(s) 55,691 bytes

Directory of C:\Users\Kalkr\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\hardware\avr\1.8.6\drivers

03/11/2024 03:43 PM 9,368 AdafruitCircuitPlayground.cat
03/11/2024 03:43 PM 3,719 AdafruitCircuitPlayground.inf
2 File(s) 13,087 bytes

Total Files Listed:
9 File(s) 365,389 bytes
0 Dir(s) 430,955,409,408 bytes free

C:\Users\Kalkr\AppData\Local\Arduino15>

[gonzoB]

Have you actually installed the Adafruit boards in the IDE yet? Via the tools>board>Boards Manager

Gonzo

[Krishkal]

No I did not. I was going with the step-by-step instructions on the github page, and did not see that was a step. In my Board Manager, I have the following Adafruit entries:
1. Adafruit AVR Boards
2. Adafruit nRF52
3. Adafruit SAMD Boards
4. Adafruit TeeOnArdu
5. Adafruit WICED

Which of those should I install? All of them?

Thanks!

[gonzoB]

The AVR boards is the one you want.
It has the Adafruit ItsyBitsy 32u4 3V 8MHz board in it.

Gonzo.

[Krishkal]

That one was installed already (default? I don't remember doing that). However, I can't find the adafruit package in the AppData\local folder. Other ideas?

[admin]

Just to confirm, it’s the Adafruit AVR installation that you need, not the Arduino AVR one (which is installed by default).

I just looked online a bit and couldn’t find an alternate location where it might have put the Adafruit boards package, but I’ll continue to research that. When I get home in about a week I can also check my machine, but I believe on mine it’s the location that’s mentioned in the WARBL ReadMe.

[gonzoB]

I take it you are looking for the board.txt file?

I use linux and mine is where the ReadMe file said it would be: /home/(username)/.arduino15/packages/adafruit/hardware/avr/1.4.15

So I suspect that for your Win machine after you have installed the Adafruit AVR board, then the adafruit directory will be under the packages directory

Gonzo

[Krishkal]

That was it! I got confused between the Arduino AVR and the Adafruit AVR boards. Once I did install the Adafruit AVR boards, the files show up as per the instructions.

Andrew, may I suggest a small change in the instructions for folks like me who may not think it "obvious" to click install on the Adafruit AVR boards package? (BTW, it is not easy to find out that the Adafruit AVR Boards package is the one that contains the Itsy Bitsy board, unless you already know it. At least on the Windows version, clicking on the "More Info" button unhelpfully takes you to the adafruit site main page). So, here is the suggested change:

In the second bullet under "Editing the Warbl Firmware" there is an instruction to "Install the Adafruit Boards package". If you could simply change that to "Install the Adafruit AVR Boards package following the instructions ...". Even more helpful is to explicitly mention that after adding the JSON file, you have to come back to the Boards Manager" to install the Adafruit AVR boards.

Thanks,
-Kal,