Adafruit ThinkInk Monochrome E-Ink Bonnet - Buttons work, screen doesn't

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Alrighty. So I’ve a nifty little PiZero doing stirling work as a webserver. Problem is I don’t know what IP address it is on when connecting to some networks. Not a problem, I’ve a Python script that puts that to an eInk screen on my robot, I’ll add that to this one. One ThinkInk bonnet later and we’re golden. Or so I thought.

The sample code from Adafruit (Adafruit_CircuitPython_EPD/examples/epd_bonnet.py at main · adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_EPD · GitHub), suitably updated to use the newer 1680 driver, sort of works. The two buttons are active. The screen gets nothing at all.

Raspbian is up to date, all Python dependencies are installed and seem happy.

So what am I doing wrong?

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Interesting. Further experimentation using a Pi3B unearthed in a cupboard…

I think my soldering skills may be called into question. It works fine on the Pi3B but not on the Zero… And I know who soldered the headers onto the zero…

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Nope, even simpler. Turns out the case I had the Zero in was stopping it from being pushed into place by a vital mm. Remove case, add bonnet, all golden. So it’ll need a riser to use with the case. That’s fair enough.

Problem solved.

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