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Update README to reflect new thinking around the project and discoveries

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Josh Klar 2018-09-14 12:08:51 -07:00 committed by Kyle Brown
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@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
# kmk_firmware
# KMK
Mechanical keyboard firmware for humans (and ARM microcontrollers)
@ -11,14 +11,17 @@ make easy. KMK was heavily inspired by QMK - in fact, KMK was only created
because QMK didn't correctly support some hardware I bought, and hacking support
in was going to be a heavy uphill battle.
This project is currently written and maintained by @klardotsh and @kdb424.
This project is currently written and maintained by [Josh
Klar](https://github.com/klardotsh) and [Kyle Brown](https://github.com/kdb424).
## Supported Devices
### Officially Supported
- [Adafruit Feather nRF52 BLE Controller](https://www.adafruit.com/product/3406)
- [Teensy 3.2 Controller](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2756)
| Board | Chipset | Python Platform | Notes |
| ----- | ------- | --------------- | ----- |
| [Seeed nRF52840 Micro Dev Kit](https://www.seeedstudio.com/nRF52840-Micro-Development-Kit-p-3079.html) | nRF52840 | TBD, likely CircuitPython | This is basically as bleeding edge as it gets, will likely require upstream patches to uPy/CPY, but it supports everything we need at a hardware level, unlike the nRF52832. |
| [Adafruit HUZZAH32](https://www.adafruit.com/product/3405) | ESP32 | CircuitPython | This is the HUZZAH you actually want to build a keeb with. More lanes, more better. |
| [pyboard v1.1](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2390) | STM32F405RG (Cortex M4F) | MicroPython | |
### Support Planned/WIP
- [Planck rev6 Keyboard](https://olkb.com/planck)
@ -35,13 +38,42 @@ for new keyboards. The base requirements for device support are a port of
CircuitPython or MicroPython, at least 256KB of flash storage, and USB and/or
Bluetooth LE interfaces.
Devices require at least 256KB of flash to run KMK, and that's already pretty
tight. This means that no AVR based microcontrollers are, or will ever be
supported. This extends to Arduino-compatibles, including the Pro Micro. If you
want to run custom firmware on your Pro Micro-equipped keyboard, or for that
matter anything running the ATmega32U4 (Let's Split, Plancks before rev6,
hundreds of others), check out [QMK](https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware), the
biggest influence of KMK by far. They're great people.
Here's a list of boards that seem like they should otherwise be supported, but
are currently not, due to some deficiency uncovered in development/testing:
| Board | Chipset | Python Platform | Reason Unsupported |
| ----- | ------- | --------------- | ------------------ |
| [Adafruit Feather nRF52 BLE Controller](https://www.adafruit.com/product/3406) | nRF52832 | CircuitPython | Lack of USB HID (HW) |
| [Adafruit Feather Huzzah](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2821) | ESP8266 | CircuitPython | Suuuuuper limited on GPIO lanes, Lack of USB HID (HW) |
| [Teensy 3.2 Controller](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2756) | | MicroPython | Lack of USB HID (SW - MP) |
## The Great Hackaround
While it is required that at least the device talking over USB/BLE HID (the
"primary brain") be from the Supported Devices list and running the primary
component of KMK, it will soon be possible to build split keyboards with other,
otherwise unsupported devices (currently this means a Pro Micro), either to
reduce costs or to convert existing QMK boards to KMK. You'll need to flash
"dummy" firmware to each Pro Micro which simply scans a matrix and passes the
values over I2C to the "brain" device, which does the heavy lifting from there
(including actually sending HID events).
The obvious downsides of this method are increased number of moving parts,
increased number of things to flash (though the Pro Micros only need flashed
when matricies change, which should almost never happen once a board is built),
and all downsides that go with those points (increased power usage, etc.) The
upside is that it can be a _ton_ cheaper to build a split keyboard this way -
cheapo Pro Micro clones can be had for as little as $4 CAD at time of writing,
whereas a HUZZAH32, for example, is closer to $26 CAD, and to build the
"traditional" way, you'd need N of them (where N is the number of split sections
of your keyboard).
It is also possible to convert many QMK boards through this fashion - while
untested for now, just about anything with a TRRS jack should work (Ergodoxen,
just about anything from keeb.io, etc.)
This hackaround is almost certainly pointless for non-split boards.
## License, Copyright, and Legal