Inkplate-10 Proto V2.1 USB-C connection issues with Dell XPS15

TECHNICAL SUPPORT Inkplate
1

Customer:

I received the Inkplate-10 Proto V2.1. I tried to connect it to my computer with a USB-C to USB-C cable, but the computer doesn’t recognize the device and there is no LED lit on the board. The on/off switch has no effect either. When I connected a LIPO battery, the board started and displayed pictures in sequence. I then tried connecting the computer again while the battery was supplying power, but the port still refused to work.

I’ve also completed the first phase of translating the InkPlate Library for use with ESP-IDF. Drivers for both the Inkplate-6 and Inkplate-10 have been integrated. I’ve based this library on the current inkplate-10-integration branch on github. The simple graphics demo examples are working well with the Inkplate-6.

The work in progress is available at: GitHub - turgu1/ESP-IDF-InkPlate: A porting effort to the ESP-IDF framework for the e-Radionica InkPlate software. · GitHub

Originally submitted via email support on 28 December 2020. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.

2

Customer:

I was finally able to communicate with the Inkplate-10. I have a Dell XPS15 laptop with only 3 USB-C ports. I tried 3 different USB-C to USB-C cables without success. However, using a USB-2 to USB-C cable hooked through a USB-C to USB-2 adaptor plugged into the laptop worked.

3

Soldered Support:

This is an interesting report. We are using USB2 ports with USB2 → USB-C cable for all our development and have only tried USB-C to USB-C for power. We should test this in more detail. We’ll take a look at your ESP-IDF driver with the team and provide comments.