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geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: mike52787 on Tue, 10 May 2016, 19:27:32

Title: Help me with my custom alps tkl!
Post by: mike52787 on Tue, 10 May 2016, 19:27:32

Hey gh, I was wondering if anyone could help me out here. Does anyone have the program in tmk for a tkl similar to mine? I dont know if any of the preprogrammed layouts on hasu's github will work. Be patient with me, I might seem like an idiot, but this is my first time doing this, and I have no programming experience. Will a teensy 2.0 work or do I need a 2.0++? There is 6 rows and 17 columns. Here is the layout I made. The middle legend on the caps is the column, and the bottom legend is the row.

(http://i.imgur.com/Ovu5IdK.png)

Here is some pictures of the actual board, try not to puke at my horrible soldering job. The hot glue was used because the switches were a bit loose in the plate, and the keycaps were incredibly tight on the stems, as most alps keycaps are.

(http://i.imgur.com/joGcDYR.jpg)

Here is the top of the board with the caps on it. Does anyone have a 2u backspace, ansi enter and 1.25u  backslash that would match my current caps? If so please PM me.

(http://i.imgur.com/ocNqkwU.jpg)

Thanks for the help guys, Im sure I wont need this much help on my next custom!

Title: Re: Help me with my custom alps tkl!
Post by: khirin on Thu, 12 May 2016, 21:26:36

For 6 row and 17 columns, that 6+17 = 23 i/o pins. So, a cheaper teensy 2.0 will work just fine (it has 25 pins).  Actually, you can save a bit by using Arduino Micro (Not Sparkfun's Pro Micro), but I recommend a teensy anyway.

Title: Re: Help me with my custom alps tkl!
Post by: suicidal_orange on Fri, 13 May 2016, 05:38:55

This thread is too cool for the keyboards section :thumb:

Your matrix is sane so you can start with any tkl layout, you might need to tweak the bottom row but shouldn't be much different.  The important part is what row/column you put on which pin, so it's easier to pick a config and wire the board up to match that.

Title: Re: Help me with my custom alps tkl!
Post by: kekman on Fri, 13 May 2016, 09:37:04

looking good! i'd recommend reading matt3o's firmware guide before actually soldering controller on so you have an idea of where you would want to solder your columns and rows onto for easier programming (compatibility with pre-existing layouts in the tmk firmware)

Title: Re: Help me with my custom alps tkl!
Post by: mike52787 on Fri, 13 May 2016, 21:53:19

Thanks guys, got my teensy 2.0 in the mail today. I have most of the coding done up to keymapping, but I am wondering what to do if you dont need a led on your board. How should I modify led.c to make tmk know that there is no led installed on any pin?

Title: Re: Help me with my custom alps tkl!
Post by: jacobolus on Fri, 13 May 2016, 22:42:19

matt3o has a nice thread about customizing hasu’s tmk_keyboard firmware, over at Deskthority, https://deskthority.net/-f7/-t7177.html

If you don’t need LEDs, I would just ignore that part.

If you have tmk questions, hasu is also pretty responsive on the tmk thread here, https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=41989.

Title: Re: Help me with my custom alps tkl!
Post by: mike52787 on Fri, 13 May 2016, 22:52:51

Quote from: jacobolus on Fri, 13 May 2016, 22:42:19

matt3o has a nice thread about customizing hasu’s tmk_keyboard firmware, over at Deskthority, https://deskthority.net/-f7/-t7177.html

If you don’t need LEDs, I would just ignore that part.

If you have tmk questions, hasu is also pretty responsive on the tmk thread here, https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=41989.

I know, that is the thread I have been using. I just dont want a led pin assigned to a pin I have assigned to a column or row.