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Overview

Xebow is a nerves-based firmware for the Keybow keypad.

This project is in early development. Features and the API may be subject to change.

Resources:

  • Join the #nerves-keyboard channel on the elixir-lang Slack to chat with us and keep up on the latest developments.
  • Visit the wiki to see past meeting notes and other content.
  • Planning meetings are open to all. Feel free to join if you would like to familiarize yourself with the internals of Xebow or would like to find a place to help out. The schedule is pinned in the Slack channel.
  • Wireframes are available on Figma.

Initial Setup

Checking out the Project

$ git clone [email protected]:ElixirSeattle/xebow.git
$ cd xebow

SSH Access (optional)

If you would like to flash firmware to the MicroSD card without having to remove it from the keybow each time, you will need to set up SSH access. This also provides access to a running iex shell for running commands directly on the device.

If your SSH public key is not in your home directory's .ssh/ directory with one of the following names, then you can specify the path to your public key by setting the NERVES_SSH_PUB_KEY environment variable:

  • id_rsa.pub
  • id_ecdsa.pub
  • id_ed25519.pub

Building the Firmware

If you have not used nerves to build firmware before, you may need to install several dependencies. See the installation guide if this is your first time using nerves.

The keybow uses a Raspberry Pi Zero WH, so the target would be rpi0. However, to better support all the keybow features that xebow uses, a custom target has been setup called keybow that you will need to use instead. To build and burn the firmware:

$ export MIX_TARGET=keybow
$ mix deps.get
$ mix firmware

Writing the Firmware to the MicroSD Card

Insert the MicroSD card into an card reader attached to your computer and then run:

$ mix firmware.burn

The mix firmware.burn command will try to detect your MicroSD card and offer to write the data to the card. IMPORTANT: Triple-check that the device it plans to write to is the MicroSD Card, or you could permanently delete data on another device.

Booting the Keybow

Remove the MicroSD card and insert it into the keybow. Plug the keybow into the computer and wait for it to boot. Once booted, the keypad should begin cycling all keys through a rainbow of colors.

Updating the firmware

The firmware can be updated while the Keybow is attached to your computer as long as the Xebow firmware is running on it.

Build the firmware and upload it via SSH by running:

$ mix firmware.upload

If you would like to perform these steps individually, use mix firmware and mix upload.

Notes

  • The upload needs to be run on a computer with the same SSH public key that was used when burning the SD card or else it won't be able to connect to the Keybow.
  • If the xebow.local hostname can't be resolved, try unplugging the Keybow from the USB port, wait for the computer's USB disconnect notification, then plug the Keybow back in and try again after it's booted back up.

Web Interface

The following instructions are for running the Xebow web interface on your computer for a faster development cycle.

If this is your first time running the web interface, set up the web app with:

$ mix setup

Start the web interface, which will be available at http://localhost:4000:

$ mix phx.server

Keyboard Layout

The xebow firmware sets up the keybow as a 10-key numpad. Turn the keypad so the flashing LEDs are on the left of each key and the USB cord is facing right. In this position, the keypad has the following layout:

+-----+-----+-----+
|  7  |  8  |  9  |
+-----+-----+-----+
|  4  |  5  |  6  |
+-----+-----+-----+
|  1  |  2  |  3  |
+-----+-----+-----+
|  0  | L-1 | L-2 |
+-----+-----+-----+

The L-1 and L-2 keys activate different "layers" of the keypad, which allows mapping additional commands to each key. For example, holding L-2 and hitting 7 will trigger a command to flash the keypad red.

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • L-1 + 9: volume up
  • L-1 + 6: volume down
  • L-1 + 8: mute
  • L-2 + 7: flash keypad red
  • L-2 + 9: flash keypad green
  • L-2 + 4: previous animation
  • L-2 + 6: next animation