Is there a glossary of the terms used on the sit?
This may help:
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/HomePageOther than that, Google is your friend.
I have a grand total of two posts since early 2013 of which I have no recollection whatsoever.
Here they are:
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=158763what is SMC or something sounding similar on the screen presented after logging in.
If you actually want help you need to provide more information.
Another one on that page was "tembo" or "tambo" or a variation of them.
What page? You need to provide exact and complete information, not some vague garbage that is just going to waste our time and yours.
What makes a library invalid?
There are two causes of the "Invalid library" warning that I've seen:
- It's not a library. Frequently the issue is caused by people putting sketches(other than the example sketches included with the library) in the libraries folder but it could be caused by anything else that's not a library.
- It is a library but the library folder is not in the root of the libraries folder.
Will they now be "broken: as there were used with Arduino v1.1.05 I think it was
Libraries that were valid with older Arduino IDE versions are still valid with the current IDE. The difference is the old IDE versions didn't give a warning message about the useless stuff you had cluttering up your libraries folder and the current version does. There has never been an "Arduino v1.1.05".
the current 1.1.12.
There has never been an Arduino IDE 1.1.12. You probably mean 1.6.12, the most recent version of the Arduino IDE. It might sound like I'm being picky but successful programming requires you to be very precise and if you want to be effective at being helped you're going to need to take the same approach here on the forum. Make the effort to provide correct information if you want us to make the effort to help you.
Perhaps you are right, I should have done so.
No perhaps about it.
Re the invalid libraries error it was not on the web site but on the application
You should have made that clear. This is exactly what I'm talking about. You completely failed to explain what your issue was.
"the application" is called the
Arduino IDE. Why not make the effort to say that. There are millions of applications, be precise!!!
That is something very very confusing re the arduino site, that is being able to find the same page twice.
That's not a problem with the "arduino site". You will find the same issue with the internet in general. The solution is to become proficient with bookmarks, browser history, search engines, taking notes, and other research tools.
I feel like chucking it all in if the website is so friggin' confusing,
Maybe someone could help you with the problem if you actually explained what it was. So far you haven't really asked many specific questions we can attempt to answer.
installing libraries with the library manager also failed
We can definitely help you with these issues but you just need to make the effort to give us enough information. What evidence do you have that installing the library via Library Manager failed?
it still won't compile because that library is said to be missing when I can see it in my file system
Post your code
USING CODE TAGS(
</> button on the toolbar).
When you get an error compiling or uploading you will see a button on the right side of the orange bar "Copy error messages". Click that button. Then paste the error in a message here on the forum
USING CODE TAGS.