Author Topic: QMK BLE support for Bluefruit LE UART?  (Read 4106 times)

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Offline steinerlein

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QMK BLE support for Bluefruit LE UART?
« on: Mon, 15 January 2018, 07:50:50 »
Hey all,

after looking at the bluetooth option in QMK I am unsure whether it is possible to use this:https://www.adafruit.com/product/2479 with a pro micro?
I'd be thankful for a comment on this, because I am led to believe that it should be possible. Unfortunately, adding BLUETOOTH_ENABLE=yes to my rules.mk file has not resultet in any output over the serial pins.


Offline ramon0xff

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Re: QMK BLE support for Bluefruit LE UART?
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 16 January 2018, 10:53:10 »
I might be wrong, but this seems to enable the EZ-Key UART based protocol (a custom binary protocol), while the Bluefruit LE UART uses an AT command based one (e.g. "AT+BLEKEYBOARDCODE=00-32-32....".

There is code in the tmk_core/protocol/lufa/ folder for the Adafruit BLE based protocol, but over SPI instead of UART.

Offline MajorKoos

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Re: QMK BLE support for Bluefruit LE UART?
« Reply #2 on: Tue, 16 January 2018, 11:21:53 »
I've only managed to get it working with an Adafruit Feather 32u4 Bluefruit LE - https://www.adafruit.com/product/2829
It uses SPI to communicate with the BLE controller.

Offline steinerlein

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Re: QMK BLE support for Bluefruit LE UART?
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 17 January 2018, 04:56:18 »
I've only managed to get it working with an Adafruit Feather 32u4 Bluefruit LE - https://www.adafruit.com/product/2829
It uses SPI to communicate with the BLE controller.
You're absolutely right. That is what I found out after digging some more, too. I have got it kinda working now, here: https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/issues/2274 you will find a general summary of what I did. I basically turned the UART BLE module into an SPI one via a firmware change of the nrf module and then hooked it up to a pro micro.
Somehow, I have some problems when I press more than one key at a time. But I guess, that's an issue with qmk...

Offline ramon0xff

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Re: QMK BLE support for Bluefruit LE UART?
« Reply #4 on: Wed, 17 January 2018, 06:13:10 »
Beware if you enable NKRO. The AT protocol only does "6KRO" at a time.
The AT command:
AT+BLEKEYBOARDCODE=MM-00-K1-K2-K3-K4-K5-K6
where: MModifiers, 00-reserved, and 6 keycodes pressed
and then AT+BLEKEYBOARDCODE=00-00-00...00
to release them.