81 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
81 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
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# DQz11N1G
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Firmware for a DIY controller replacement for one of the ortholinear contoured
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keyboards manufactured by [PCD Maltron Ltd](https://www.maltron.com)
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This work here in no way officially associated with PCD Maltron Ltd and comes
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with NO WARRANTY. Modifying your Maltron keyboard as described below will
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certainly void your warranty and may cause damage to your keyboard. Proceed
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at your own risk!
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* maintainer: [David Kuehling](https://github.com/dvdkhlng/qmk_firmware_dqz11n1g)
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* Hardware Supported: Maltron DQz11N1G with a replacement controller board
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assembled as described below. The work here is based on a german version
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of the keyboard: DQz11N1G-DE. I assume, but don't know for sure, that
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minor or no changes at all are required to make this work on different
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language versions of the keyboard.
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* Hardware Availability:
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* [PCD Maltron Ltd](https://www.maltron.com), for the original keyboard
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* 1x [Arduino Pro Micro](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12640)
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* 3x [SN74HC165](https://www.ti.com/product/SN74HC165)
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* 1x DIL connector 2 rows a 17 pins.
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* 19x pull-down resistors (10k Ohm),
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* 4 LED current limiting resistors (not sure about the correct resistance,
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using 470 Ohm here)
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Make example for this keyboard (after setting up your build environment):
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make handwired/dqz11n1g:default
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## In Detail
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[PCD Maltron Ltd](https://www.maltron.com) manufacturs ergonomic keyboards
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that appear to be hand-wired internally. For the Maltron DQz11N1G-DE
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keyboard that I happen to own, the keyboard matrix is wired to a 34-pin DIL
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connector. This makes it rather easy to replace the proprietary
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controller-board with a self-made board based on the QMK firmware.
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I don't really like the default layout of my Maltron DQz11N1G-DE keyboard,
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and modding it to work with QMK allows me to adapt it to my needs. It
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especially allows for the two space keys to assume different roles, thereby
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creating an additional easily reachable thumb-key.
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### Internal Details of Keyboard Matrix and DIL Connector
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### Replacement Keyboard Controller Board
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Due to supply chain problems, I decided to base this on an
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Arduino-compatible [Pro Micro](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12640)
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board which is still easy to source.
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Unfortunately pin-count of the DQz11N1G-DE's keyboard matrix is way beyond
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the Pro Micro's available I/O pin count. I'm using three 8-bit
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shift-registers ([SN74HC165](https://www.ti.com/product/SN74HC165) ) to
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connect the 19 colums of the keyboard matrix for readout. Due to diode
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direction in DQz11N1G-DE we also need 19 pull-down resistors one for each of
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the utilized shift-register inputs.
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This is a design sketch of the replacement board this is based on. Note how
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we need a custom matrix.c source file to deal with the shift register based
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keyboard readout.
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This is how the assembled controller board looks like, on the right side you
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see the original PIC-based controller the keyboard ships with.
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Inside of the keyboard after installing the new controller board:
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(Not visible in the photo: I drilled hole into the keyboard above the USB
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connector for a reset switch to simplify flashing controller firmware)
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