Firmware Customization

Customizing the Blank Slate keymap/firmware.

Overview

Although ZMK does not yet have GUI keymap update software, updating the keymap can be done without installing any local build tools or toolchain. This step will walk you through setting up your personal keymap/configuration.

Prerequisites

An understanding of the high level ZMK keymaps is helpful in preparing to customize your Blank Slate keymap.

To have your new Blank Slate firmware built automatically for you, you will need to create a GitHub account to manage your personal repo.

ZMK Config Repo

After logging into your GitHub account, open https://github.com/petejohanson/blank-slate-zmk-config in your browser. In the top right corner, there is a button labeled "Fork":

Click the "Fork" button, and wait while GitHub prepares the fork. Once the fork is ready, you should be presented with a list of files in your repository:

Clicking config/ link followed by the boards/arm/lpgalaxy_blank_slate/ link brings you to the full listing of files for the Blank Slate:

The lpgalaxy_blank_slate.keymap file contains your keymap:

Enabling GitHub Actions

Before making further changes, click the "Actions" link in your fork. When presented with the option, click "I understand my workflows, go ahead and run them" button.

Keymap Editing

From the keymap file page, clicking the small pencil icon will bring you to the web editor and let you make changes to your keymap:

Once happy with your changes, enter a commit message describing them and click the commit button:

Download & Install

After committing the changes click the "Actions" link along the top to see the list of GitHub Actions builds. Find the new build in the listing, and click on the description:

From there, near the bottom of the screen will be download labeled "firmware", that you should click to download:

Once downloaded, unzip the downloaded file, and you will have a file, named lpgalaxy_blank_slate-zmk.uf2.

Connect your Blank Slate to your computer using a USB cable, and double tap the reset button through the small hole on the bottom of the case. The blue LED should flash, slowing down once detected and connected to your computer.

A new USB "drive" should appear on your connected computer, with a name of "Blank Slate". Copy and paste the lpgalaxy_blank_slate-zmk.uf2 images to the new USB drive, and Blank Slate should complete flashing the new image and instantly restart into it.