Overhaul the Getting Started section and add a FAQ section
skullY
7 years ago
committed by
Jack Humbert
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# Frequently Asked Questions
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## What is QMK?
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[QMK](https://github.com/qmk), short for Quantum Mechanical Keyboard, is a group of people building tools for custom keyboards. We started with the [QMK firmware](https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware), a heavily modified fork of [TMK](https://github.com/tmk/tmk_keyboard).
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### Why the name Quantum?
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<!-- FIXME -->
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## What Differences Are There Between QMK and TMK?
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TMK was originally designed and implemented by [Jun Wako](https://github.com/tmk). QMK started as [Jack Humbert's](https://github.com/jackhumbert) fork of TMK for the Planck. After a while Jack's fork had diverged quite a bit from TMK, and in 2015 Jack decided to rename his fork to QMK.
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From a technical standpoint QMK builds upon TMK by adding several new features. Most notably QMK has expanded the number of available keycodes and uses these to implement advanced features like `S()`, `LCTL()`, and `MO()`. You can see a complete list of these keycodes in [Quantum Keycodes](quantum_keycodes.html).
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From a project and community management standpoint TMK maintains all the officially supported keyboards by himself, with a bit of community support. Separate community maintained forks exist or can be created for other keyboards. Only a few keymaps are provided by default, so users typically don't share keymaps with each other. QMK encourages sharing of both keyboards and keymaps through a centrally managed repository, accepting all pull requests that follows the quality standards. These are mostly community maintained, but the QMK team also helps when necessary.
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Both approaches have their merits and their drawbacks, and code flows freely between TMK and QMK when it makes sense.
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# Introduction
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This page attempts to explain the basic information you need to know to work with the QMK project. It assumes that you are familiar with navigating a UNIX shell, but does not assume you are familiar with C or with compiling using make.
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## Basic QMK structure
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QMK is a fork of @tmk's [tmk_keyboard](https://github.com/tmk/tmk_keyboard) project. The original TMK code, with modifications, can be found in the `tmk` folder. The QMK additions to the project may be found in the `quantum` folder. Keyboard projects may be found in the `handwired` and `keyboard` folders.
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### Keyboard project structure
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Within the `handwired` and `keyboard` folders is a directory for each keyboard project, for example `qmk_firmware/keyboards/clueboard`. Within you'll find the following structure:
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* `keymaps/`: Different keymaps that can be built
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* `rules.mk`: The file that sets the default "make" options. Do not edit this file directly, instead use a keymap specific `Makefile`.
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* `config.h`: The file that sets the default compile time options. Do not edit this file directly, instead use a keymap specific `config.h`.
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### Keymap structure
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In every keymap folder, the following files may be found. Only `keymap.c` is required, if the rest of the files are not found the default options will be chosen.
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* `config.h`: the options to configure your keymap
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* `keymap.c`: all of your keymap code, required
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* `rules.mk`: the features of QMK that are enabled
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* `readme.md`: a description of your keymap, how others might use it, and explanations of features. Please upload images to a service like imgur.
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# The `config.h` file
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There are 2 `config.h` locations:
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* keyboard (`/keyboards/<keyboard>/config.h`)
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* keymap (`/keyboards/<keyboard>/keymaps/<keymap>/config.h`)
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If the keymap `config.h` exists that file is included by the build system and the keyboard `config.h` is not included. If you wish to override settings in your keymap's `config.h` you will need to include some glue code:
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```
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#ifndef CONFIG_USER_H
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#define CONFIG_USER_H
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#include "../../config.h"
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```
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If you want to override a setting from the parent `config.h` file, you need to `#undef` and then `#define` the setting again, like this:
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```c
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#undef MY_SETTING
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#define MY_SETTING 4
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```
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# QMK Overview
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This page attempts to explain the basic information you need to know to work with the QMK project. It assumes that you are familiar with navigating a UNIX shell, but does not assume you are familiar with C or with compiling using make.
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# Basic QMK structure
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QMK is a fork of @tmk's [tmk_keyboard](https://github.com/tmk/tmk_keyboard) project. The original TMK code, with modifications, can be found in the `tmk` folder. The QMK additions to the project may be found in the `quantum` folder. Keyboard projects may be found in the `handwired` and `keyboard` folders.
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## Keyboard project structure
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Within the `handwired` and `keyboard` folders is a directory for each keyboard project, for example `qmk_firmware/keyboards/clueboard`. Within you'll find the following structure:
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* `keymaps/`: Different keymaps that can be built
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* `rules.mk`: The file that sets the default "make" options. Do not edit this file directly, instead use a keymap specific `Makefile`.
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* `config.h`: The file that sets the default compile time options. Do not edit this file directly, instead use a keymap specific `config.h`.
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### Keymap structure
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In every keymap folder, the following files may be found. Only `keymap.c` is required, if the rest of the files are not found the default options will be chosen.
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* `config.h`: the options to configure your keymap
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* `keymap.c`: all of your keymap code, required
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* `Makefile`: the features of QMK that are enabled, required to run `make` in your keymap folder
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* `readme.md`: a description of your keymap, how others might use it, and explanations of features
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* Other files: Some people choose to include an image depicting the layout, and other files that help people to use or understand a particular keymap.
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# The `make` command
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The `make` command is how you compile the firmware into a .hex file, which can be loaded by a dfu programmer (like dfu-progammer via `make dfu`) or the [Teensy loader](https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/loader.html) (only used with Teensys). It it recommended that you always run make from within the `root` folder.
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**NOTE:** To abort a make command press `Ctrl-c`
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For more details on the QMK build process see [Make Instructions](make_instructions.md).
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### Simple instructions for building and uploading a keyboard
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**Most keyboards have more specific instructions in the keyboard specific readme.md file, so please check that first**
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1. Enter the `root` folder
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2. Run `make <keyboard>-<subproject>-<keymap>-<programmer>`
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In the above commands, replace:
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* `<keyboard>` with the name of your keyboard
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* `<keymap>` with the name of your keymap
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* `<subproject>` with the name of the subproject (revision or sub-model of your keyboard). For example, for Ergodox it can be `ez` or `infinity`, and for Planck `rev3` or `rev4`.
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* If the keyboard doesn't have a subproject, or if you are happy with the default (defined in `rules.mk` file of the `keyboard` folder), you can leave it out. But remember to also remove the dash (`-`) from the command.
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* `<programmer>` The programmer to use. Most keyboards use `dfu`, but some use `teensy`. Infinity keyboards use `dfu-util`. Check the readme file in the keyboard folder to find out which programmer to use.
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* If you don't add `-<programmer` to the command line, the firmware will be still be compiled into a hex file, but the upload will be skipped.
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**NOTE:** Some operating systems will refuse to program unless you run the make command as root for example `sudo make clueboard-default-dfu`
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## Make Examples
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* Build all Clueboard keymaps: `make clueboard`
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* Build the default Planck keymap: `make planck-rev4-default`
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* Build and flash your ergodox-ez: `make ergodox-ez-default-teensy`
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# The `config.h` file
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There are 2 `config.h` locations:
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* keyboard (`/keyboards/<keyboard>/`)
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* keymap (`/keyboards/<keyboard>/keymaps/<keymap>/`)
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The keyboard `config.h` is included only if the keymap one doesn't exist. The format to use for your custom one [is here](https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/master/doc/keymap_config_h_example.h). If you want to override a setting from the parent `config.h` file, you need to do this:
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```c
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#undef MY_SETTING
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#define MY_SETTING 4
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```
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For a value of `4` for this imaginary setting. So we `undef` it first, then `define` it.
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You can then override any settings, rather than having to copy and paste the whole thing.
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