@ -100,9 +100,9 @@ Things act as they should! Which will get us the following data:
The firmware can then use this correct data to detect what it should do, and eventually, what signals it needs to send to the OS.
## The actual hand-wiring
# The actual hand-wiring
### Getting things in place
## Getting things in place
When starting this, you should have all of your stabilisers and keyswitches already installed (and optionally keycaps). If you're using a Cherry-type stabiliser (plate-mounted only, obviously), you'll need to install that before your keyswitches. If you're using Costar ones, you can installed them afterwards.
@ -112,27 +112,31 @@ Get your soldering iron heated-up and collect the rest of the materials from the
Before continuing, plan out where you're going to place your Teensy. If you're working with a board that has a large (6.25u) spacebar, it may be a good idea to place it in-between switches against the plate. Otherwise, you may want to trim some of the leads on the keyswitches where you plan on putting it - this will make it a little harder to solder the wire/diodes, but give you more room to place the Teensy.
### Preparing the diodes
## Preparing the diodes
It's a little easier to solder the diodes in place if you bend them at a 90º angle immediately after the black line - this will help to make sure you put them on the right way (direction matters), and in the correct position. The diodes will look like this when bent (with longer leads):
```
┌─────┬─┐
───┤ │ ├─┐
└─────┴─┘ │
│
```
We'll be using the long lead at the bent end to connect it to the elbow (bent part) of the next diode, creating the row.
### Soldering the diodes
## Soldering the diodes
Starting at the top-left switch, place the diode (with tweezers if you have them) on the switch so that the diode itself is vertically aligned, and the black line is facing toward you. The straight end of the diode should be touching the left contact on the switch, and the bent end should be facing to the right and resting on the switch there, like this:
```
│o
┌┴┐ o
│ │ O
├─┤
└┬┘
└─────────────
```
Letting the diode rest, grab your solder, and touch both it and the soldering iron to the left contact at the same time - the rosin in the solder should make it easy for the solder to flow over both the diode and the keyswitch contact. The diode may move a little, and if it does, carefully position it back it place by grabbing the bent end of the diode - the other end will become hot very quickly. If you find that it's moving too much, using needle-nose pliers of some sort may help to keep the diode still when soldering.
@ -142,18 +146,20 @@ After soldering things in place, it may be helpful to blow on the joint to push
When the first diode is complete, the next one will need to be soldered to both the keyswitch, and the previous diode at the new elbow. That will look something like this:
```
│o │o
┌┴┐ o ┌┴┐ o
│ │ O │ │ O
├─┤ ├─┤
└┬┘ └┬┘
└────────────────┴─────────────
```
After completing a row, use the wire cutters to trim the excess wire from the tops of the diodes, and from the right side on the final switch. This process will need to completed for each row you have.
When all of the diodes are completely soldered, it's a good idea to quickly inspect each one to ensure that your solder joints are solid and sturdy - repairing things after this is possible, but more difficult.
### Soldering the columns
## Soldering the columns
You'll have some options in the next process - it's a good idea to insulate the column wires (since the diodes aren't), but if you're careful enough, you can use exposed wires for the columns - it's not recommended, though. If you're using single-cored wire, stripping the plastic off of the whole wire and feeding it back on is probably the best option, but can be difficult depending on the size and materials. You'll want to leave parts of the wire exposed where you're going to be solder it onto the keyswitch.
@ -163,7 +169,7 @@ Before beginning to solder, it helps to have your wire pre-bent (if using single
If you're not using any insulation, you can try to keep the column wires elevated, and solder them near the tips of the keyswitch contacts - if the wires are sturdy enough, they won't short out to the row wiring an diodes.
### Wiring things to the Teensy
## Wiring things to the Teensy
Now that the matrix itself is complete, it's time to connect what you've done to the Teensy. You'll be needing the number of pins equal to your number of columns + your number of rows. There are some pins on the Teensy that are special, like D6 (the LED on the chip), or some of the UART, SPI, I2C, or PWM channels, but only avoid those if you're planning something in addition to a keyboard. If you're unsure about wanting to add something later, you should have enough pins in total to avoid a couple.
@ -179,48 +185,55 @@ When you're done with the columns, start with the rows in the same process, from
As you move along, be sure that the Teensy is staying in place - recutting and soldering the wires is a pain!
### Getting some basic firmware set-up
# Getting some basic firmware set-up
From here, you should have a working keyboard with the correct firmware. Before we attach the Teensy permanently to the keyboard, let's quickly get some firmware loaded onto the Teensy so we can test each keyswitch.
From here, you should have a working keyboard once you program a firmware. Before we attach the Teensy permanently to the keyboard, let's quickly get some firmware loaded onto the Teensy so we can test each keyswitch.
To start out, download [the firmware](https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/) - we'll be using my (Jack's) fork of TMK called QMK/Quantum. We'll be doing a lot from the Terminal/command prompt, so get that open, along with a decent text editor like [Sublime Text](http://www.sublimetext.com/).
The first thing we're going to do is create a new project using the script in the root directory of the firmware. In your terminal, run this command with `<project_name>` replaced by the name of your project - it'll need to be different from any other project in the `keyboards/` folder:
```
util/new_project.sh <project_name>
```
You'll want to navigate to the `keyboards/<project_name>/` folder by typing, like the print-out from the script specifies:
cd keyboards/<project_name>
#### config.h
### config.h
The first thing you're going to want to modify is the `config.h` file. Find `MATRIX_ROWS` and `MATRIX_COLS` and change their definitions to match the dimensions of your keyboard's matrix.
Farther down are `MATRIX_ROW_PINS` and `MATRIX_COL_PINS`. Change their definitions to match how you wired up your matrix (looking from the top of the keyboard, the rows run top-to-bottom and the columns run left-to-right). Likewise, change the definition of `UNUSED_PINS` to match the pins you did not use (this will save power).
#### \<project_name\>.h
### \<project_name\>.h
The next file you'll want to look at is `<project_name>.h`. You're going to want to rewrite the `KEYMAP` definition - the format and syntax here is extremely important, so pay attention to how things are setup. The first half of the definition are considered the arguments - this is the format that you'll be following in your keymap later on, so you'll want to have as many k*xy* variables here as you do keys. The second half is the part that the firmware actually looks at, and will contain gaps depending on how you wired your matrix.
We'll dive into how this will work with the following example. Say we have a keyboard like this:
```
┌───┬───┬───┐
│ │ │ │
├───┴─┬─┴───┤
│ │ │
└─────┴─────┘
```
This can be described by saying the top row is 3 1u keys, and the bottom row is 2 1.5u keys. The difference between the two rows is important, because the bottom row has an unused column spot (3 v 2). Let's say that this is how we wired the columns:
```
┌───┬───┬───┐
│ ┋ │ ┋ │ ┋ │
├─┋─┴─┬─┴─┋─┤
│ ┋ │ ┋ │
└─────┴─────┘
```
The middle column is unused on the bottom row in this example. Our `KEYMAP` definition would look like this:
```
#define KEYMAP( \
k00, k01, k02, \
k10, k11, \
@ -229,19 +242,23 @@ The middle column is unused on the bottom row in this example. Our `KEYMAP` defi
{ k00, k01, k02 }, \
{ k10, KC_NO, k11 }, \
}
```
Notice how the top half is spaced to resemble our physical layout - this helps us understand which keys are associated with which columns. The bottom half uses the keycode `KC_NO` where there is no keyswitch wired in. It's easiest to keep the bottom half aligned in a grid to help us make sense of how the firmware actually sees the wiring.
Let's say that instead, we wired our keyboard like this (a fair thing to do):
```
┌───┬───┬───┐
│ ┋ │ ┋│ ┋ │
├─┋─┴─┬┋┴───┤
│ ┋ │┋ │
└─────┴─────┘
```
This would require our `KEYMAP` definition to look like this:
```
#define KEYMAP( \
k00, k01, k02, \
k10, k11, \
@ -250,10 +267,11 @@ This would require our `KEYMAP` definition to look like this:
{ k00, k01, k02 }, \
{ k10, k11, KC_NO }, \
}
```
Notice how the `k11` and `KC_NO` switched places to represent the wiring, and the unused final column on the bottom row. Sometimes it'll make more sense to put a keyswitch on a particular column, but in the end, it won't matter, as long as all of them are accounted for. You can use this process to write out the `KEYMAP` for your entire keyboard - be sure to remember that your keyboard is actually backwards when looking at the underside of it.
#### keymaps/default.c
### keymaps/default.c
This is the actual keymap for your keyboard, and the main place you'll make changes as you perfect your layout. `default.c` is the file that gets pull by default when typing `make`, but you can make other files as well, and specify them by typing `make KEYMAP=<variant>`, which will pull `keymaps/<variant>.c`.
@ -261,26 +279,30 @@ The basis of a keymap is its layers - by default, layer 0 is active. You can act
Using our previous example, let's say we want to create the following layout:
```
┌───┬───┬───┐
│ A │ 1 │ H │
├───┴─┬─┴───┤
│ TAB │ SPC │
└─────┴─────┘
```
This can be accomplished by using the following `keymaps` definition:
Note that the layout of the keycodes is similar to the physical layout of our keyboard - this make it much easier to see what's going on. A lot of the keycodes should be fairly obvious, but for a full list of them, check out [tmk_code/doc/keycode.txt](https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/master/tmk_core/doc/keycode.txt) - there are also a lot of aliases to condense your keymap file.
It's also important to use the `KEYMAP` function we defined earlier - this is what allows the firmware to associate our intended readable keymap with the actual wiring.
#### Compiling your firmware
## Compiling your firmware
After you've written out your entire keymap, you're ready to get the firmware compiled and onto your Teensy. Before compiling, you'll need to get your [development environment set-up](build_guide.md) - you can skip the dfu-programmer instructions, but you'll need to download and install the [Teensy Loader](https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/loader.html) to get the firmware on your Teensy.
@ -288,7 +310,7 @@ Once everything is installed, running `make` in the terminal should get you some
Once you have your `<project_name>.hex` file, open up the Teensy loader application, and click the file icon. From here, navigate to your `QMK/keyboards/<project_name>/` folder, and select the `<project_name>.hex` file. Plug in your keyboard and press the button on the Teensy - you should see the LED on the device turn off once you do. The Teensy Loader app will change a little, and the buttons should be clickable - click the download button (down arrow), and then the reset button (right arrow), and your keyboard should be ready to go!
#### Testing your firmware
## Testing your firmware
Carefully flip your keyboard over, open up a new text document, and try typing - you should get the characters that you put into your keymap. Test each key, and note the ones that aren't working. Here's a quick trouble-shooting guide for non-working keys:
@ -302,20 +324,8 @@ Carefully flip your keyboard over, open up a new text document, and try typing -
If you've done all of these things, keep in mind that sometimes you might have had multiple things affecting the keyswitch, so it doesn't hurt to test the keyswitch by shorting it out at the end.
#### Securing the Teensy, finishing your hardware, getting fancier firmware
# Securing the Teensy, finishing your hardware, getting fancier firmware
Now that you have a working board, it's time to get things in their permanent positions. I've often used liberal amounts of hot glue to secure and insulate things, so if that's your style, start spreading that stuff like butter. Otherwise, double-sided tape is always an elegant solution, and electrical tape is a distant second. Due to the nature of these builds, a lot of this part is up to you and how you planned (or didn't plan) things out.
There are a lot of possibilities inside the firmware - check out the [readme](https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/master/readme.md) for a full feature list, and dive into the different project (Planck, Ergodox EZ, etc) to see how people use all of them. You can always stop by [the OLKB subreddit for help!](http://reddit.com/r/olkb)
skullY
6 years ago