Getting Started

Getting Started

This page takes you from “I just downloaded ANSITerm” to “I see a colored welcome screen.”

What you need

• An Arduino-compatible board with USB (Uno, Leonardo, Mega, ESP32, and many others work)
• The Arduino IDE (or Arduino CLI, if you already use it)
• A real terminal program on your computer — not only the built-in Serial Monitor for the nicest looking boxes (see Choosing a Terminal Program)
• A USB cable

Install the library

Option A — Library Manager (recommended once published)

1. Open the Arduino IDE.
2. Go to Sketch → Include Library → Manage Libraries…
3. Search for ANSITerm.
4. Click Install.

Option B — From GitHub (manual)

1. Open the ANSITerm repository.
2. Click Code → Download ZIP.
3. In the Arduino IDE: Sketch → Include Library → Add .ZIP Library… and pick the file.
4. Or unzip the folder into your Arduino libraries folder and rename it to ANSITerm if needed.
5. Restart the IDE.

Run the first example

1. Connect your board with USB.
2. In the IDE, choose the correct Board and Port.
3. Open File → Examples → ANSITerm → BasicExample.
4. Click Upload.
5. Close the IDE Serial Monitor if it is open (only one program can use the port at a time).
6. Open your terminal program at 9600 baud on the same COM / serial port.
7. You should see a yellow welcome line, a box, and a Click Me! button.

Tip: On some boards you must press Enter/Space or click the button after the screen draws — BasicExample waits for that. See Example: Basic.

What “success” looks like

• Box corners look like ┌ ┐ └ ┘ (not strange â•• characters) → your terminal is using UTF-8.
• Colors show up (yellow / green / cyan text).
• You can activate the button with Enter, Space, or a mouse click (if your terminal supports mouse reports).

If something looks wrong, jump to Troubleshooting.

Next steps

1. Try Buttons to learn keyboard menus.
2. Skim Colors, Boxes, and Buttons.
3. Pick another demo from Using the Examples.