How do i even get this to say "Hello World!"?

So I am completely new to arduino. I just bough a bunch of stuff from ebay and my screen came in today. Its got a backpack thinger for communication to the arduino. I think it has something to do with something called i2c. I have no clue what that is. I have googled for about an hour, but I still cant get this screen to work. How can I even get it to say "Hello World"? (Im using an arduino nano)

You will need the appropriate library. The best source for this is always the supplier of the screen. It is probably called Liquidcrystal_I2C.

The library will include several code examples, "hello world" is bound to be one of them.

Wiring instructions should be straightforward, the sda and scl pins probably connect to A4,A5. Check nano's datasheet.

ive already done this. it didn't work. I got the library and tried the example. nada.

Hi and welcome.

If you are completely new to Arduino, first start with the simple examples.
Blink is the default start.
Read it and see if you understand it.
Then make some changes to it, and see if that will do what you expect it to do by uploading it to your Arduino.

Work your way like this through some more examples, that way you'll get the hang of this Arduino thing.

Once you've got some programming experience, you can go here (click !), and find out a lot about these I2C backpacks and a very valuable tool.

"It didn't work" doesn't work.
The line above this one is as clear as your statement it addresses.
Did you read the forum manual ?

rednecklawrence:
ive already done this. it didn't work. I got the library and tried the example. nada.

"nada" is not an answer. You need to be more forthcoming about what happened.

If your code is not kosher, it will not compile, the IDE will tell you that, and it doesn't say "nada"..

If the example code uploaded OK, it is kosher. In this event your problem is mechanical, i.e. wrong or slack connections. There are only four of them, two of which are for power and those can be verified by seeing the backlight, so that doesn't leave much else to go wrong.

you can select Nano with usb cable???