From 0624c6c54a3292571229727b3e19088bb155e482 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Pete Johanson Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2020 10:20:51 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] State Of The Firmware #1. --- docs/blog/2020-05-24-wip.md | 2 +- docs/blog/2020-08-12-zmk-sotf-1.md | 52 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 53 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) create mode 100644 docs/blog/2020-08-12-zmk-sotf-1.md diff --git a/docs/blog/2020-05-24-wip.md b/docs/blog/2020-05-24-wip.md index 2ec2956e..eaf2b795 100644 --- a/docs/blog/2020-05-24-wip.md +++ b/docs/blog/2020-05-24-wip.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ author: Pete Johanson author_title: Project Creator author_url: https://gitlab.com/petejohanson author_image_url: https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/2001ceff7e9dc753cf96fcb2e6f41110 -tags: [keyboards, firmeware, oss, ble] +tags: [keyboards, firmware, oss, ble] --- This blog is a work-in-progress as I work on basic docs + blog on this nascent keyboard firmware. diff --git a/docs/blog/2020-08-12-zmk-sotf-1.md b/docs/blog/2020-08-12-zmk-sotf-1.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2b695350 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/blog/2020-08-12-zmk-sotf-1.md @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ +--- +title: ZMK State Of The Firmware \#1 +author: Pete Johanson +author_title: Project Creator +author_url: https://gitlab.com/petejohanson +author_image_url: https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/2001ceff7e9dc753cf96fcb2e6f41110 +tags: [SOTF, keyboards, firmware, oss, ble] +--- + +Welcome to the first ZMK "State Of The Firmware"! + +With interest and Discord activity growing, it seemed important to lay out the progress made recently, current major bugs/showstoppers, and planned next steps. + +## Recent Activity + +There's been lots of various activity in ZMK land! + +- [Nicell](https://github.com/Nicell) (nice!nano creator) contributed initial [RGB Underglow](/docs/feature/underglow) ([#64](https://github.com/zmkfirmware/zmk/pull/64)) support to ZMK. +- Tons of [documentation](/docs) work. +- Refactoring ([#73](https://github.com/zmkfirmware/zmk/pull/73), [#74](https://github.com/zmkfirmware/zmk/pull/74)) of [keymaps](/docs/feature/keymaps) to make them simpler for users. +- Mod-Tap Behavior (docs coming!) is much improved ([#69](https://github.com/zmkfirmware/zmk/pull/69)) and usable now. +- An initial [`setup.sh`](http://localhost:3000/docs/user-setup#user-config-setup-script) script was created, allowing users to quickly bootstrap a "user config" setup and push it to GitHub, where GitHub Actions will build the firmware for you. +- Corne shield ([#80](https://github.com/zmkfirmware/zmk/pull/80)) shield definition was added. +- Initial [encoder](/docs/feature/encoders) support ([#61](https://github.com/zmkfirmware/zmk/pull/61)) was added. + +## Bugs and Showstoppers + +Despite the flurry of activity, there are still some serious bugs and show stoppers that potential ZMK users should be aware of: + +- [Bluetooth Related](https://github.com/zmkfirmware/zmk/issues/58) - There are several key bugs and fixes needed, including one complete show stopper: + - Fully working split wireless is not working. In particular, both split halves can properly pair, but once they do so, pairing with the _central_ host will not work. Workaround: You can currently have both halves pair, and use USB on the central side (Left side right now for Kyria, Corne, Lily58) and receive HID events over USB. + - BT bond information is not currently stored to the devices, so after powering off or restarting your device, users need to re-pair +- USB - There is one important USB related bug which is a showstopper: + - The Zephyr USB stack does not have a built in queue for endpoint data being written. As a result, HID events sent by ZMK are sometimes [dropped, or lost](https://github.com/zmkfirmware/zmk/issues/84). + +## Next Steps + +There's plenty of places to go next! To help keep folks in the loop for what's next, I've created a [Core Functionality](https://github.com/zmkfirmware/zmk/projects/1) project/kanban board in GitHub, where users should be able to get some visibility into items being focused on. + +Of course, at the top of that list currently is the above bugs/showstoppers, and then from there, I hope to: + +- Work on power management. +- Improve our documentation on various aspects of the system, mostly around: + - End user documentation for understanding how to use ZMK, better installation docs, etc. + - Developer focused documentation, so interested contributors can start building out more behaviors and ZMK functionality. +- Implement true "hold" detection, useful for several behaviors such as Mod-Tap and Layer-Tap. +- Hopefully acquire a proper and official USB Product ID for use for the project. +- Fun things that come up along the way! + +## Thanks! + +A big thanks for everyone who has shown interest in the project, tested things, asked questions, and contributed PRs ([Nicell](https://github.com/Nicell), [CrossR](https://github.com/CrossR), [careyk007](https://github.com/careyk007)).