Customer:
I can’t run the Hello World example on Inkplate 6. I’ve configured these settings:
- Core Debug Level: verbose
- Erase All Flash Before Sketch Upload: enabled
- Flash Frequency: 40MHz
- Flash Mode: DIO
- Upload Speed: 115200
After uploading, the serial monitor shows:
ets Jun 8 2016 00:22:57
rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x33 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
flash read err, 1000
ets_main.c 371
ets Jun 8 2016 00:22:57
rst:0x10 (RTCWDT_RTC_RESET),boot:0x33 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee
clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00
mode:DIO, clock div:2
load:0x3fff0030,len:1184
load: ,len:13232
load: ,len:3028
entry 0x400805e4
[ 6] [esp32-hal-cpu.c:244] setCpuFrequencyMhz(): PLL: 480 / 2 = 240 Mhz, APB: Hz
[ 455] [esp32-hal-psram.c:96] psramInit(): PSRAM enabled
[ 463] [esp32-hal-i2c.c:75] i2cInit(): Initialising I2C Master: sda=21 scl=22 freq=100000
[ 1546] [Wire.cpp:513] requestFrom(): i2cRead returned Error 263
[ 2549] [Wire.cpp:513] requestFrom(): i2cRead returned Error 263
What could be causing this?
Originally submitted via email support on 13 October 2025. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.
Soldered Support:
Are you connecting anything else to Inkplate 6 other than the USB cable? If so, please disconnect it.
Is the Inkplate connected to a battery?
Try resetting it via the software reset button on the back before uploading.
Are you using the “Soldered Inkplate 6” board definition? If so, try switching to “e-Radionica Inkplate 6” or vice versa.
Are you able to upload an empty sketch to Inkplate using the current board definition?
The i2c error could potentially be caused by different board definitions - they are meant to interact with different i2c GPIO expanders.
Customer:
I switched the board definition to “e-Radionica Inkplate 6” and it works!
Following up: how do I install and run Python code on the device? Looking at the documentation (MicroPython Overview | Soldered Documentation), I’m not sure which MicroPython runtime to install. The chip on the back of my Inkplate says ESP32-WROVER. I don’t see a proper build on MicroPython - Python for microcontrollers
Also, how do I copy files to the board? Do I open the .bin file in the Arduino IDE and hit the upload button?
Soldered Support:
The MicroPython libraries have been updated only for the new models of Inkplate (with PCAL GPIO expander, so “Soldered” Inkplates). For MicroPython on your board, you will need to use the older version of the MicroPython library.
Here is the older library: GitHub - SolderedElectronics/Inkplate-micropython at 8d8ad85a9799d4843be0d38a52ed04309fbbf77a · GitHub
Check out the examples and code in that repository. The command to copy the library should be exactly:
python pyboard.py --device COM5 -f cp inkplate6.py gfx.py gfx_standard_font_01.py mcp23017.py PCAL6416A.py image.py shapes.py soldered_logo.py :
This has the correct Inkplate 6 MicroPython library and the correct GPIO expander. Check the README in that repository for the full tutorial.
Customer:
I got my bus tracker display working! I ended up using C++ with the Arduino IDE instead of Python, coding 99% of it with Gemini Canvas. At one point I even took a photo of the display, uploaded it to the AI session, and asked for feedback on the UI.
One more question: if I want to draw text with a font bigger than 24pt, do I need to create a new one using the Adafruit GFX documentation?
Soldered Support:
Using the Inkplate library, you can use setTextSize(2) to make the font double the size, setTextSize(3) to make it triple, and so on.
Check out the documentation here: Inkplate 6 – Printing Text | Soldered Documentation
You can also download many compatible fonts through the Adafruit website: Using Fonts | Adafruit GFX Graphics Library | Adafruit Learning System