Evaluating Compatibility

Evaluating compatibility between two pieces of tech can be nontrivial. For instance, how do I know if my USB-A to USB-C cable is compatible with my phone? I plug it in and see that the charging symbol lights up. Okay, it works. Oh wait, I find out four weeks later that it doesn’t allow file transfer? Why is this? It is a mystery. It seems to have something to do with the quality of the cable, but I’m not sure what, since I’ve long thrown away the packaging. My other USB-A to USB-C cable works for this purpose though. It strikes me that a good robust software solution would be a really nice addition to this space. Something like a GUI (not strictly necessary) that allows you to connect devices via cables or various wireless connections, specify which versions of software are running on each device, and specify what you are trying to do, and then you should be able to see whether or not the thing is possible. For instance, I want to run three monitor setups on my Acer laptop, running a USB-C connection from my laptop to a dock, which is connected to power, and each of two monitors via HDMI. Will I be able to accomplish this? Answering such a question can take hours and is error prone, even for experienced tech users, so there should really be a better solution. The task should be as simple as plugging all of the model numbers into the program, connecting various connectors via an GUI, and then selecting the task you wish to accomplish.

If anyone knows any solution that attempts to fix this problem, please let me know.