Mac mini M2 not detecting ESP32

[nozomiman]

Just bought a Mac mini M2 to do ESP32 developement and it does not detect ESP32 boards. Mac OS 13.5. Rebuild several times.

Tried 3 seperate ESP32 devices with different cables. All work perfectly on Mac Book Air M2. None work on Mac mini M2.

Does not create the Unix device (ls /dev/*) when connected, interesting power LED comes on.

Tried installing Arduino IDE as well - does not detect the device.

I notice in the "System Settings-> Privacy & Security -> All accessories to connect" does not exist.

Any work arounds?

[nozomiman]

Finally found a combination of USB A Cable and ESP32 boards that detect on Mac mini M2.

Seems very fussy compared to the Mac Book Air M2.

[RandomInternetGuy]

So, to help others in the future, what were the boards in question and what was the solution?

There are a zillion different ESP32 boards. They're made with varying degrees of competence.

One thing that trips up dev board developers is leaving off the pullup (pulldown?) resistors on CC1 and CC2. This will let the boards 'work' on cases that don't use Apple's exacting standards of USB-C PD compliance. In particular, if you power them from USB-A, they'll work and, ridiculously, if you plug them into a Mac (or Mac-grade USB-C power source), will work only if you route them from USB-C->USB-A (which adds the resistor) adapter and then to a C to C cable. If you reverse this cable - which has "C" on each end" is works in only one direction. Swap the cable end-for-end and it will [ start | quit ] working.

Does your unnamed ESP32 board use USB-C? Do schematics (and visual confirmation) show 5.1K resistors on the CC1 and CC2 lines?

Raspberry Pi famously botched this on the early runs of the 4 boards.