If you have any problems building the firmware, you can try using a tool called Vagrant. It will set up a virtual computer with a known configuration that's ready-to-go for firmware building. OLKB does NOT host the files for this virtual computer. Details on how to set up Vagrant are in the [VAGRANT_GUIDE file](VAGRANT_GUIDE.md).
## Verify Your Installation
1. If you haven't already, obtain this repository ([https://github.com/jackhumbert/qmk_firmware](https://github.com/jackhumbert/qmk_firmware)). You can either download it as a zip file and extract it, or clone it using the command line tool git or the Github Desktop application.
2. Open up a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the qmk_firmware folder using the `cd` command. The command prompt will typically open to your home directory. If, for example, you cloned the repository to your Documents folder, then you would type `cd Documents/qmk_firmware`. If you extracted the file from a zip, then it may be named `qmk_firmware-master` instead.
3. To confirm that you're in the correct location, you can display the contents of your current folder using the `dir` command on Windows, or the `ls` command on Linux or Mac. You should see several files, including `README.md` and a `quantum` folder. From here, you need to navigate to the appropriate folder under `keyboard/`. For example, if you're building for a Planck, run `cd keyboard/planck`.
4. Once you're in the correct keyboard-specific folder, run the `make` command. This should output a lot of information about the build process.
## Customizing, Building, and Deploying Your Firmware
1. Running the `make` command from your keyboard's folder will generate a .hex file based on the default keymap. All keymaps for a particular keyboard live in the `keymaps` folder in that keyboard's folder. To create your own keymap, copy `keymaps/default/keymap.c` to the `keymaps` folder, and rename it with your name, for example jack.c. Or, if you don't care about the ability to share your keymap with the community via GitHub, you can just modify the default keymap itself. Details on how to program keymap files can be found in other guides.
2. To build a keymap other than the default, type `KEYMAP=<name>` after `make`. So if I've named my keymap jack.c, the full command would be `make KEYMAP=jack`.
3. How you deploy the firmware will depend on whether you are using a PCB or a Teensy. In both cases, you'll need to put the keyboard in bootloader mode, either by pressing a button on the PCB/Teensy or pressing the key with the `RESET` keycode. Then, if you're using a PCB, just run `make KEYMAP=<name> dfu` to both build and deploy the firmware. If you're using a Teensy, you'll probably need to take the <keyboardname>.hex file that make produces in the keyboard's folder, and deploy it using the [Teensy Loader.](https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/loader.html)
## Helpful Tips
1. On Linux or OS X, you can run `sleep 5; make KEYMAP=<name> dfu` to delay building/deploying the firmware until for 5 seconds, giving you a chance to put the firmware into bootloader mode. You can change the 5 to any number of seconds.
## Troubleshooting
1. Try running `make clean` if the make command fails.
Jack Humbert
9 years ago