Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
199 lines (147 loc) · 12.1 KB

feature_converters.md

File metadata and controls

199 lines (147 loc) · 12.1 KB
Raw

Converters

This page documents the automated process for converting keyboards to use drop-in replacement controllers. This process is designed to be easy to use and can be completed in a few simple steps.

Supported Converters

The following converters are available at this time:

From To
promicro proton_c
promicro kb2040
promicro promicro_rp2040
promicro blok
promicro bit_c_pro
promicro stemcell
promicro bonsai_c4
promicro rp2040_ce
promicro elite_pi
promicro helios
promicro liatris
promicro imera
promicro michi
elite_c stemcell
elite_c rp2040_ce
elite_c elite_pi
elite_c helios
elite_c liatris

Overview

Each converter category is broken down by its declared pin compatibility. This ensures that only valid combinations are attempted. You can generate the firmware by appending -e CONVERT_TO=<target> to your compile/flash command. For example:

qmk flash -c -kb keebio/bdn9/rev1 -km default -e CONVERT_TO=proton_c

You can also add the same CONVERT_TO=<target> to your keymap's rules.mk, which will accomplish the same thing.

?> If you get errors about PORTB/DDRB, etc not being defined, you'll need to convert the keyboard's code to use the GPIO Controls that will work for both ARM and AVR. This shouldn't affect the AVR builds at all.

Conditional Configuration

Once a converter is enabled, it exposes the CONVERT_TO_<target_uppercase> flag that you can use in your code with #ifdefs, For example:

#ifdef CONVERT_TO_PROTON_C
    // Proton C code
#else
    // Pro Micro code
#endif

Pin Compatibility

To ensure compatibility, provide validation, and enable future workflows, a keyboard should declare its pin compatibility. For legacy reasons, this is currently assumed to be promicro. The following pin compatibility interfaces are currently defined:

Pin Compatibility Notes
promicro Includes RX/TX LEDs
elite_c Includes bottom row pins, no LEDs

To declare the base for conversions, add this line to your keyboard's rules.mk:

PIN_COMPATIBLE = elite_c

Pro Micro

If a board currently supported in QMK uses a Pro Micro (or compatible board), the supported alternative controllers are:

Device Target
Proton C proton_c
Adafruit KB2040 kb2040
SparkFun Pro Micro - RP2040 promicro_rp2040
Blok blok
Bit-C PRO bit_c_pro
STeMCell stemcell
customMK Bonsai C4 bonsai_c4
Elite-Pi elite_pi
0xCB Helios helios
Liatris liatris
Imera imera
Michi michi

Converter summary:

Target Argument rules.mk Condition
proton_c -e CONVERT_TO=proton_c CONVERT_TO=proton_c #ifdef CONVERT_TO_PROTON_C
kb2040 -e CONVERT_TO=kb2040 CONVERT_TO=kb2040 #ifdef CONVERT_TO_KB2040
promicro_rp2040 -e CONVERT_TO=promicro_rp2040 CONVERT_TO=promicro_rp2040 #ifdef CONVERT_TO_PROMICRO_RP2040
blok -e CONVERT_TO=blok CONVERT_TO=blok #ifdef CONVERT_TO_BLOK
bit_c_pro -e CONVERT_TO=bit_c_pro CONVERT_TO=bit_c_pro #ifdef CONVERT_TO_BIT_C_PRO
stemcell -e CONVERT_TO=stemcell CONVERT_TO=stemcell #ifdef CONVERT_TO_STEMCELL
bonsai_c4 -e CONVERT_TO=bonsai_c4 CONVERT_TO=bonsai_c4 #ifdef CONVERT_TO_BONSAI_C4
rp2040_ce -e CONVERT_TO=rp2040_ce CONVERT_TO=rp2040_ce #ifdef CONVERT_TO_RP2040_CE
elite_pi -e CONVERT_TO=elite_pi CONVERT_TO=elite_pi #ifdef CONVERT_TO_ELITE_PI
helios -e CONVERT_TO=helios CONVERT_TO=helios #ifdef CONVERT_TO_HELIOS
liatris -e CONVERT_TO=liatris CONVERT_TO=liatris #ifdef CONVERT_TO_LIATRIS
imera -e CONVERT_TO=imera CONVERT_TO=imera #ifdef CONVERT_TO_IMERA
michi -e CONVERT_TO=michi CONVERT_TO=michi #ifdef CONVERT_TO_MICHI

Proton C :id=proton_c

The Proton C only has one on-board LED (C13), and by default, the TXLED (D5) is mapped to it. If you want the RXLED (B0) mapped to it instead, add this line to your config.h:

#define CONVERT_TO_PROTON_C_RXLED

The following defaults are based on what has been implemented for STM32 boards.

Feature Notes
Audio Enabled
RGB Lighting Disabled
Backlight Forces task driven PWM until ARM can provide automatic configuration
USB Host (e.g. USB-USB converter) Not supported (USB host code is AVR specific and is not currently supported on ARM)
Split keyboards Partial - heavily dependent on enabled features

Adafruit KB2040 :id=kb2040

The following defaults are based on what has been implemented for RP2040 boards.

Feature Notes
RGB Lighting Enabled via PIO vendor driver
Backlight Forces task driven PWM until ARM can provide automatic configuration
USB Host (e.g. USB-USB converter) Not supported (USB host code is AVR specific and is not currently supported on ARM)
Split keyboards Partial via PIO vendor driver - heavily dependent on enabled features

SparkFun Pro Micro - RP2040, Blok, Bit-C PRO and Michi :id=promicro_rp2040

Feature set is identical to Adafruit KB2040.

STeMCell :id=stemcell

Feature set currently identical to Proton C. There are two versions of STeMCell available, with different pinouts:

  • v1.0.0
  • v2.0.0 (pre-release v1.0.1, v1.0.2) Default official firmware only supports v2.0.0 STeMCell.

STeMCell has support to swap UART and I2C pins to enable single-wire uart communication in STM chips. The following additional flags has to be used while compiling, based on the pin used for split communication:

Split Pin Compile flags
D3 -e STMC_US=yes
D2 Not needed
D1 -e STMC_IS=yes
D0 Not needed

Bonsai C4 :id=bonsai_c4

The Bonsai C4 only has one on-board LED (B2), and by default, both the Pro Micro TXLED (D5) and RXLED (B0) are mapped to it. If you want only one of them mapped, you can undefine one and redefine it to another pin by adding these line to your config.h:

#undef B0
// If VBUS detection is unused, we can send RXLED to the Vbus detect pin instead
#define B0 PAL_LINE(GPIOA, 9)

RP2040 Community Edition - Elite-Pi, Helios, and Liatris :id=rp2040_ce

Feature set is identical to Adafruit KB2040. VBUS detection is enabled by default for superior split keyboard support. For more information, refer to the Community Edition pinout docs.

Elite-C

If a board currently supported in QMK uses an Elite-C, the supported alternative controllers are:

Device Target
STeMCell stemcell
Elite-Pi elite_pi
0xCB Helios helios
Liatris liatris

Converter summary:

Target Argument rules.mk Condition
stemcell -e CONVERT_TO=stemcell CONVERT_TO=stemcell #ifdef CONVERT_TO_STEMCELL
rp2040_ce -e CONVERT_TO=rp2040_ce CONVERT_TO=rp2040_ce #ifdef CONVERT_TO_RP2040_CE
elite_pi -e CONVERT_TO=elite_pi CONVERT_TO=elite_pi #ifdef CONVERT_TO_ELITE_PI
helios -e CONVERT_TO=helios CONVERT_TO=helios #ifdef CONVERT_TO_HELIOS
liatris -e CONVERT_TO=liatris CONVERT_TO=liatris #ifdef CONVERT_TO_LIATRIS

STeMCell :id=stemcell_elite

Identical to Pro Micro - STeMCell with support for the additional bottom row of pins.

RP2040 Community Edition :id=rp2040_ce_elite

Identical to Pro Micro - RP2040 Community Edition with support for the additional bottom row of pins.