Inkplate 2 Arduino IDE 2.3.5 compilation takes several hours

TECHNICAL SUPPORT Inkplate
1

Customer:

I’m running Arduino IDE 2.3.5 to program an Inkplate 2. I installed Inkplate Boards 8.1.0 and InkplateLibrary 10.0.0. When I try to compile any sketch with Soldered Inkplate 2 selected, compilation does not finish—even the BareMinimum example sketch. Is there another library I need? Is this normal compilation speed? Would MicroPython be faster?

Originally submitted via email support on 3 April 2025. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.

2

Soldered Support:

I tested this sketch on Inkplate 2:

#include "Inkplate.h"

Inkplate inkplate;

void setup() {
  inkplate.begin();
  inkplate.clearDisplay();
  inkplate.setCursor(10, 10);
  inkplate.setTextColor(INKPLATE2_RED);
  inkplate.print("Hello world!");
  inkplate.display();
}

void loop() {

}

It compiles OK and displays the message on the screen with Inkplate library 10.1.0. Compilation does take a while but eventually finishes. After the initial compile, subsequent compilations are much faster due to improved caching in Arduino 2.0. MicroPython only has partial support for Inkplate functions; the Arduino library provides the best support. Let it compile fully the first time, and you should see significant speed improvements on subsequent uploads.

3

Customer:

Your sketch works, and so does mine, but several hours is not acceptable—and this is on an Intel Core i9. The second upload is also not much faster. I tested on another PC with an i5 processor and saw the same issue. Do you have tips to improve compilation time? Also, I can only find InkplateLibrary 10.0.0 in Arduino, not 10.1.0.

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4

Soldered Support:

Several hours is absolutely too much. I compile on a ThinkPad in a couple of minutes, so this is definitely an error with the Arduino IDE itself.

See the official Arduino documentation for compilation time improvements: https://support.arduino.cc/hc/en-us/articles/

Also check if your C drive is full, as this can slow things down significantly.

Try deleting Arduino boards, libraries, and cache with this process:

For Windows:

  1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog
  2. Type %AppData% and press Enter. Navigate up one level to the AppData folder
  3. Go to: C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\Arduino15 (older versions might use Arduino15; newer versions may use Arduino or Arduino IDE)
  4. Delete these folders:
    • packages — Contains all board definitions
    • staging — Temporary files used during board installations
    • cache (if present) — Cached compilation and board data
    • preferences.txt (optional) — Resets Arduino IDE settings
  5. Restart Arduino IDE. It will regenerate fresh settings.
  6. If you’ve installed custom libraries manually, also check: C:\Users\[user]\Documents\Arduino\libraries

Re-install the Inkplate library and board definitions. You can even reinstall the entire Arduino IDE with the latest version.

The compiler is included in the board definitions, and you have the correct version. This should resolve the issue.