Wired split keyboard support

[matrixik]

I saw in few places users requesting wired connection between split halves of some keyboards using ZMK firmware (like Advantage360 Pro or Glove80) and developers said that it is not supported by ZMK for now so this is tracking issue for this request.

Personally I would also prefer wired connection when I'm using my stationary computer so that I don't need to think about charging or constantly using additional USB port (beside the one used for central role) when I have LEDs turned on all the time. And then using Bluetooth only on the go.

[BeatScherrer]

I'm currently using the nice nano wired without any issues on my sofle v2. zmk firmware on my repo but it's basically default generated. I don't even have batteries attached.

[caksoylar]

ZMK doesn't support wired communication between two halves. The data connection between the two sides go through Bluetooth, even if you are powering each side with wires. Maybe this is not clear in the FAQ item as well.

[ai212983]

Technically it is possible (and was done by Glove80 guys) to treat both halves as separate keyboards. Then one can have fully wired connection via USB splitter for example.

[cgoates]

This in progress PR is working toward wired communication between the two halves: #1117 It doesn't look like it's ready for testing at this point, but it is actively being developed.

[MrMarble]

What about charging the board through the jack cable? That way with only one cable you can charge and use both half at the same time.

I only have one type-c cable and when the keyboard runs out of battery I have to keep changing the cable to still be able to use it wile charging.

[caksoylar]

What about charging the board through the jack cable? That way with only one cable you can charge and use both half at the same time.

I only have one type-c cable and when the keyboard runs out of battery I have to keep changing the cable to still be able to use it wile charging.

This is not related to firmware but to the board you are using. As far as I know nice!nano doesn't support charging through TRRS while for instance Mikoto does.

[aureumleonis]

I'm really excited about this feature! Having one side die on me drives me crazy. As far as hardware goes, will it be possible to mix and match? E.g having a nice!nano on on the central side but a plain pro micro (and no battery) on the peripheral?

[Percentnineteen]

Pro micro doesn't speak zmk, so that won't work. I'm pretty sure you could get away with a port expander like the OG ergodox used to use right now (assuming you used a supported port expander)

[petejohanson]

Any mixed solution needs to be mindful to not force polling the peripheral side, otherwise battery life will suffer drastically, FYI.

So things like four wire TRRS with an i2c expander would work today, the battery life wouldn't be good.

[aureumleonis]

Interesting... do y'all have an intended hardware architecture for this use case? I'm planning a new build and want to make sure I have the correct pieces.

[petejohanson]

Interesting... do y'all have an intended hardware architecture for this use case? I'm planning a new build and want to make sure I have the correct pieces.

This will be more relevant for dual wired ZMK keyboards, e.g. running RPi pico/rp2040 on each half eventually.

[0x64746b]

I would love to run ZMK on any board using Pro Micros so that I

• can experiment with how the mod tap options differ from what QMK does
• later just switch out the Pro Micros with a pair of n!n to make the whole thing wireless (and maybe even switch back, when I borrow the n!ns for the next project ;))

[petejohanson]

I would love to run ZMK on any board using Pro Micros so that I

• can experiment with how the mod tap options differ from what QMK does
• later just switch out the Pro Micros with a pair of n!n to make the whole thing wireless (and maybe even switch back, when I borrow the n!ns for the next project ;))

Note: this is about wired split support for supported chipsets/architectures. ZMK will never support AVR/atmega based devices like the original pro-micro, because Zephyr doesn't support those 8-bit devices at all,not never will.

[Davides98]

there are some news?