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Author Topic: Good MCU for QMK?  (Read 7862 times)

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Offline ThunderFart

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Good MCU for QMK?
« on: Mon, 17 April 2023, 15:19:37 »
Hey guys, I got tired of chasing the perfect keyboard, so I decided to build my own. I am not new to Kicad and I'm a software engineer myself, so I think I can pull it off.

That said, I've been glancing at QMK and wondering if this MCU would work with it?
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Offline LightningXI

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Re: Good MCU for QMK?
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 17 April 2023, 17:00:45 »
Quote from: ThunderFart on Mon, 17 April 2023, 15:19:37
Hey guys, I got tired of chasing the perfect keyboard, so I decided to build my own. I am not new to Kicad and I'm a software engineer myself, so I think I can pull it off.

That said, I've been glancing at QMK and wondering if this MCU would work with it?

A lot of QMK compatible boards nowadays will use ARM chips -- so yeah, STM32 or Atmel ATMega -- most importantly as long as it has a pre-loaded (from factory) and non-removable bootloader, you should be good.

There's also recent development on Rpi2040 compatibility but that's pretty recent so I haven't seen much documentation around it.

Always check the QMK docs to be sure it works with the firmware. https://docs.qmk.fm/#/flashing?id=flashing-instructions-and-bootloader-information

You can also join their Discord server to ask questions, I'd wager.
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Offline xjack312

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  • Location: Baltimore, MD
Re: Good MCU for QMK?
« Reply #2 on: Mon, 17 April 2023, 18:41:41 »
I can vouch for the RP2040, super easy to get up and running using the hardware design guide and is expandable. The RP2040 has imo the easiest bootloader to work with as it just shows up as a USB device that you can drag the .uf2 firmware to. I don't have experience running anything more than just a switch matrix with it but there I've seen boards that have a ton of features (OLEDs, knobs, etc), since it has a good amount of I/O.

Hardware design guide: https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/rp2040/hardware-design-with-rp2040.pdf
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Offline Iaotle

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  • Location: Amsterdam
Re: Good MCU for QMK?
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 11 July 2024, 12:03:07 »
Quote from: xjack312 on Mon, 17 April 2023, 18:41:41
I can vouch for the RP2040, super easy to get up and running using the hardware design guide and is expandable. The RP2040 has imo the easiest bootloader to work with as it just shows up as a USB device that you can drag the .uf2 firmware to. I don't have experience running anything more than just a switch matrix with it but there I've seen boards that have a ton of features (OLEDs, knobs, etc), since it has a good amount of I/O.

Hardware design guide: https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/rp2040/hardware-design-with-rp2040.pdf

I need 27 pins according to this grid, would this controller work for me?
« Last Edit: Thu, 11 July 2024, 12:05:34 by Iaotle »
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Offline Applet

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  • Location: Sweden
Re: Good MCU for QMK?
« Reply #4 on: Fri, 12 July 2024, 16:51:15 »
The STM32F303 for sure works with QMK and ships with a DFU bootloader, personally I prefer the F072 since it can use USB FS without external crystal and it's cheap. The RP2040 has more speed and flash (depending on what you choose ofc) and UF2 bootloader is nice, but it requires more external parts.

Sleepdealr made a guide/template a while back for the RP: https://github.com/Sleepdealr/RP2040-designguide

All mentioned MCU's have 27+ GPIOs you can use for the PCB.
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