Beginner ZMK Tutorial - How to make and modify your ZMK keymap

In this video I give you an overview of ZMK firmware modification. I show how to download ZMK, how to build the firmware, and how to modify it.
ZMK docs: zmk.dev/docs

[@imabeapirate]

I love how you organized the bindings. I theft. I thank.

[@snowtechs]

What characters are used to make such a clean layout? I want to theft but I can't seem to figure out some of those chars.

[@redndwhitee92]

Been struggling with zmk for a bit, definitely helped get pointed in the right direction.

[@mrxinu]

Awesome video. I've been putting off setting up my Kinesis Advantage 360 Pro for too long and this helped clear some of the fog.

[@maldi_tof2910]

thank you for the explanation of this. Looking at making my own keyboard and your video has made it less daunting.

[@alexandradefer9434]

This was superrr helpful!! Im by no means someone who programs and I decided to build a Corne v3… its been a journey thus far to say the least😂

[@emanueledepaoli3377]

Hi, I know this video is quite old but I have a question. Say that I want to create a new keyboard, made from my own PCB design and layout that is not present in the "supported keyboard" list. How would I make a firmware for it? Do I select the closest supported keyboard (I assume same controller and similar layout) and modify it or do I need to do something else?

[@JefCollier]

I subbed after this vid. Thanks mate!

[@zscept]

tysm bro i needed this for my bakenekogo

[@doorba2470]

This was extremely helpful, thank you!

[@SethusBuilds]

Glad I could help :)

[@Kinder112]

thanks mate, really great to start.

[@mr_mr]

Thanks, very helpful

[@dyeghocunha8364]

I Got an Souffler V3, not the Sofle... the souffler version... but the Oled doesent seems to work, and i cant reset it too ....kinda lost here

[@jackshafer9161]

So good. Would love to see more ZMK videos from you.

[@joaquindebrito14]

Thanks for the video man! i have a question, how many layers can i configure with the zmk, im using the plank ez right now and i use 6 layers, is that posible with the zmk?? i would like to switch to wireless keyboard.

[@SOGSEAL]

Awesome! is there a way to display layers layouts on the screen while learning the layouts? :)

[@wredmatic]

How did you create the tables in your text editor? Any text based table I've ever seen using pipes, plus symbols, underscores, dashes, etc always has gaps in between characters, but yours looks like continuous lines. How did you manage that?

[@SethusBuilds]

The tables came default with the zmk sweep keymap from the github. The way that it was done in the keymap was that the lines with the pipes and other symbols are commented out indicated by the // at the beginning of the line. Thanks for the comment!

[@Michael-tj1dq]

Great video, it helped me through my build. However I hit a snag, the right side will not connect to the left side. I have tried to re-flash multiple times. Not sure if I should go back and start from scratch with my repository or if you might have any ideas? I was thinking to swap the Nano's and reflash to see if the both are working.

[@SethusBuilds]

Hi Michael! Thanks for the comment! Hmmm make sure the left side is getting powered, check if the soldering joints are all good. You can probably try powering both up with usb power and seeing if that works. Then it could be a power issue. If it tries to connect through the wired connection you can add a key in a layer of your firmware to switch the Bluetooth signal like I showed in the video. If your controllers are socketed you can even try the nanos detached from the keyboard and short the connectors with a wire or tweezers or something. I had similar connectivity issues when I started and I did this to troubleshoot. Hope this helps!

[@Michael-tj1dq]

@@SethusBuilds hardware was good, I must have made a mistake on the initial flashing, ended up getting the reset coding from the NiceNano site and re-flashing. Solved that issue, then increased the Bluetooth signal, and relocated my Bluetooth dongle with a USB extension cable to the center of my desk really close to my keyboards. I love this layout for now, I might try a smaller layout in the future.

[@SethusBuilds]

@@Michael-tj1dq Awesome! Glad you figured it out and are liking the layout!

[@jed_hed2474]

@Michael-tj1dq how were you able to reflash it? I've been struggling for a couple days to figure out how to use the reflasher after getting it installed because when I get it to run, it keeps giving me errors

[@LukasB123]

Thanks bro

[@synless322]

Hi, I am currently trying to configure a DIY PCB previously running QMK. I now try to connect a nice!Nano to the lines and colums. I managed to configure the ZMK envionnement and I can compile multiple boards, like the nice!60 but other than premade board I have not been able to "make my own" board in ZMK.
Any ressources ? (I have spend so much hours in the doc, on youtube, and on the ZMK Discord ...)

[@SethusBuilds]

I have not done this myself so I may be wrong but I believe that if you want do this you must use the zmk source code. You can find that in the docs under the development section: zmk.dev/docs/development/setup. Seems like you have to set up the Zephyr tool west as well. You will also need this when building the firmware on your own device rather than through github actions: zmk.dev/docs/development/build-flash. Hope this helps! Good luck!

[@alpacamale2909]

they really make it hard for regular people

[@congnguyen-vo7gp]

Hi, how do you know which MCU that you're using, hope you can help

[@SethusBuilds]

ZMK will work on the following boards zmk.dev/docs/hardware. If your board is pro-micro based, check if it is one of these and then you can select that when creating your repo. Hope this helps!

[@congnguyen-vo7gp]

@@SethusBuilds thank you for replying bro, I tried multiple firmware to find the right board, but it seems like the only one work well is the bluemicro but without bluetooth and the oled screen, nice nano automatically detect the oled screens but can't detect the keyboard keymap, I'm using sofle v2 wireless, hope you can help me to proceed further

[@congnguyen-vo7gp]

@@SethusBuilds Hi bro, problem solve, thank you for your supporting

[@SethusBuilds]

@@congnguyen-vo7gp Awesome! Glad you worked it out!

[@morpheus4564]

can u share ur keymap?

[@SethusBuilds]

I made a video about my keymap th-cam.com/video/VShLPvF693k/w-d-xo.html

[@TobiasBlithe-r2h]

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[@ScottHugo-t4d]

Dach Knoll

[@JulianDonald-b8h]

Rohan Ranch

[@LaurelGreenhalgh-n2m]

Reichert Loaf

[@MODGNAR]

1:35 Suppository 😂

[@henrypeterson8497]

incorrect

[@KathleenClement-g1o]

Alize Spurs

[@MontgomeryAlvis-y2e]

Bogan Ports