QMK News Issue #4

[merlin64]

Announcements
It’s with regret that we are announcing that Erez (@ezuk) has decided to step back his personal involvement with QMK, and as a member/collaborator.

Erez emailed me in late 2015 asking for assistance in using my TMK fork with the ErgoDox EZ, and volunteered to help with cleanup and documentation if we could collaborate in some way. The modifications we made, and the features we added lead us to start QMK - only the qmk_firmware repo at that time. Shortly after that, I invited @skullydazed, and it’s since grown into quite a large project with 26 different repos (including the backend compiler, graphic configurator, toolbox, and OS hardware), 1000+ contributors (to qmk_firmware alone), tons of amazing features, and support for over 500 keyboard/project configurations. Along the way, we’ve had tremendous help from @fredizzimo, @algernon, @drashna, @yanfali, @mechmerlin, and @noroadsleft as collaborators.

His company (ZSA) will continue to ship keyboards with, use, and support QMK, and they will continue sponsoring @drashna’s amazing work. Erez and I have developed quite a good friendship over the years, and we will still be working together closely on the Planck EZ and other non-QMK projects in the future. Recently, Erez spear-headed the QMK Monthly, and @mechmerlin has offered to take over managing it, and will be posting it to the various forums from now on.

Thanks for all of your hard work over the years,
- Jack & the QMK community

Firmware Updates

RGB Changes
Realign Hue values in RGB Light feature to use 0-255 (to use 8 bit math, and to keep in line with RGB Matrix) #5547 by XScorpion2
This significantly reduces computational time, and improves performance for animations.
Use static table for RGB Light’s breathing animation if a center is not defined. #5484 - by mtei
Using a static table reduces the amount of computation needed to be done for the animation, and reduces firmware size.
RGB Matrix animations - by XScorpion2
Heatmap (#5786) -  Keys that you hit, and adjacent keys light up based on amount of activity
Cycle out to in (and dual) (#5812) - A very hypnotic animation
Spirals and pinwheels (#5877)
Single band of color left to right (#5867)


Cleanup of RGB Matrix (#5811) by XScorpion2,  this PR makes it easier to add new effects, as well as reference the config from anywhere. 
Add range function for RGB Light (#5856) by mtei
This allows for setting a range of LEDs at once.
Reduce RGB Matrix Firmware size (#5919) by XScorpion2
Add custom center point to rgb matrix (#5886) by XScorpion2
This allows for offsetting the center of the matrix, so that you can have it centered in the middle of the alpha keys, rather than offset to the side of it, which will produce better animations
Fix HSV to RGB conversion issue with saturation was 0 (#5915) by XScorpion2

Core Changes
Add LINK_TIME_OPTIMIZATION_ENABLE option to enable LTO easily (#5674) by drashna
This allows for easier optimization of firmware size, and disables features that would error out when LTO is enabled, normally.
Make Python a required build dependency (#5784) by skullydazed
Fix Arch install script, to install avr-gcc 8.1.0 (#5857) by zvecr
Add configurable delay to Audio Clicky feature (#4286) by jdmcfad
Make delay for caps lock in Hold-Tap (Mod-Tap/Layer-Tap) function configurable (#5497) by drashna
Make DEBUG keycode a toggle, rather than just enabling (#5898) by fauxpark
Changed layerstate from uint32_t (32 bit unsigned integer) to a typedef, that can be configured. (#3637) by alex-ong
This allows for using a smaller integer for the layer state mask, which in turn can improve the speed of keymap lookups and reduce firmware size.

Split Keyboard changes
Fix split_common i2c backlight issues (#3886) by rclasen

Documentation
Chinese (Mandarin) started by ymzcdg (#5807)
RGB Light Animation documentation overhaul (#5813) by yanfali
Update to Style guide (#5500) by skullydazed (long live 2 spaces :’( )

Configurator Updates
Printable Keymaps
Learning a new keymap and/or layout? Can’t remember what layer you put what key on? New feature this month, printout your keymaps for posterity so you can look like the expert h4k0r we all know you want to be.

https://imgur.com/a/7zdTKgu
I18N Translation
French UI translation by gab-a (First translation)
German UI translation by heieisch (Second translation)
Keyboard Input
Numpad and FKey Support (mukealicious)
Shifted Keycodes Support (idea by u/yomima****a)
Misc
Massive number of default keymaps (noroadsleft)
Updated dztech keymaps (moyi4681)
WASDAT keymap (fauxpark)
Updated keyboard folder exclusion list (noroadsleft)
Keymaps for Sol, Zen and Zygomorph (XScorpion2)
Signum 3 updates (jceb)
Update v-select to v3
Fix janky searchable dropdown behavior  (XScorpion2)
Fixes
Fix output text for keymap JSON import (noroadsleft)
Off by one error on potato facts (noroadsleft)
Invalid layer input, restrict to 16 layers
Whitelist allowable keymap name characters
Modifier keycode handling (noroadsleft)
GMK Mizu and Striker colorways (noroadsleft/mechmerlin)
Massive colorway refactor (noroadsleft)
Fix AnyKey dynamic updating (reported by noroadsleft)
Fix Layer key breakage due to Print feature (reported by tufkin)
Fix broken keymap name generation due to white list (fauxpark)
Fix broken keymap state due to print feature (reported by fauxpark, erovia and lucky)

New Boards
Wilba Tech WT69-A (#5721) by Wilba6582
Butter Stick (#5742) by germ
BM16S (#5659) by bontakun
Nomu30 (#5759) by takai
KagaMidget (#5755) by yynmt
DZtech DZ65RGB (#5756) by moyi4681
Cannonkeys Practice65 (#5795) by awkannan
ProjectKeyboard Alice (#5581) by awkannan
UT47.2 (#5788) by keyhive
Noxary 280, 260, and 220 (#5814, #5815, #5816) by mechmerlin
KBD67 v2 (#5777) by Vorror
NEK Type A (#5175) by ecopoesis
RGBKB Zygomorph (#5841) by XScorpion2
Daishi handwired (#5712) by Croktopus
Wasdat controller by maartenwut (#5855) by fauxpark
Keycapsss O4L 5x12 (#5859) by BenRoe
Scythe (#5873) by ka2hiro
40percentclub nein (#5876) by zvecr
Novelkeys NK65 (#5865) by yiancar
Fox Lab Leaf60 (#5882) by mechmerlin
Halberd (#5874) by ka2hiro
Mars 8.0 (#5894) by mechmerlin
Mullet and Mulletpad keyboards (#5878) by coseyfannitutti
Treadstone32 (#5888) by marksard
YD60MQ support (#5911) by krusli
Peiorisboards Ixora (#5931) by coarse
LazyDesigners Dimple (#5963) by Erovia
AbstractKB Ellipse (#5939) by AbstractKB
LSJ Ares (#5588) by Maartenwut
Spacetime Keyboard (#5969) by kyleterry

Contributors

yanfali, drashna, noroadsleft