There are two different options for mechanical keyboard open source firmware for ANAVI Macro Pad 10, Knobs 3, and Knob 1: KMK and QMK. Both of which have been getting upgrades recently!
KMK is a feature-rich and beginner-friendly open source firmware for mechanical keyboards, written in CircuitPython, which comes preloaded on the Macro Pad 10 and Knobs 1 and 3. The source code is available on GitHub under the GPLv3 license. So… if you have code suggestions to make it better, just open a GitHub pull request. This is exactly what Stefan Misch recently did, by improving the encoder resolution.
ANAVI Macro Pad 10, ANAVI Knobs 3 and ANAVI Knob 1
Huge thanks to Stefan for his valuable contribution to the upstream of KMK! If you own Macro Pad 10, Knobs 3, and Knob 1, please consider upgrading the KMK firmware on your mini mechanical keyboard to get his fix.
In other news: the GitHub pull request that adds support for ANAVI Knobs 3 was finally merged in QMK! QMK stands for Quantum Mechanical Keyboard. It is probably the most popular firmware for mechanical keyboards and supports literally hundreds of devices, including ANAVI Macro Pad 8 and our other mechanical keyboards. The source code is available under GPLv2 license and written in C. Initial support for the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller in QMK was added in September 2022. We started the porting efforts in October, and shortly after that, patches for ANAVI Macro Pad 10 and Knob 1 were merged. However, it took almost 6 months to merge the GitHub pull request for ANAVI Knobs 3. The long wait is over: now all of our mini mechanical keyboards are supported by QMK!
ANAVI Knobs 3
The community is very important and makes all the difference in any open source project. Thank you for supporting and improving our open source hardware mechanical keyboards!
A week ago we received the acrylic enclosures for ANAVI Macro Pad 2. We contracted a trusted local company in a near-by town in Bulgaria to make them using laser cutting of 2 mm transparent clear acrylic sheets. There are blue protective films on both sides of each acrylic enclosure which you will need to remove when you receive your ANAVI Macro Pad 2 kit.
ANAVI Macro Pad 2 acrylic enclosures with blue protective films on both sides
The design of the acrylic enclosures has been done with the popular open source software OpenSCAD. It is a simple and lightweight application that runs on MS Windows, MacOS and Linux. I am using it on Ubuntu. OpenSCAD is a script-only based modeller that uses its own description language to create solid 3D CAD objects. The .scad files for ANAVI Macro Pad 2 are available in GitHub. OpenSCAD supports exporting to various different file formats, including svg and pdf.
The acrylic enclosures were designed using a script in OpenSCAD
Before the launch of the crowdfunding campaign at Crowd Supply we experimented with several different designs but finally settled on a very simple design with is easy to manufacture. Furthermore, if in future you need a spare part and have a 3D printed, you can also export stl file from OpenSCAD and print it. By the way, there is a line in the source code that you need to uncomment to covert the enclosure parts from 2D to 3D for 3D printing. The OpenSCAD files and schematics for the acrylic enclosures of ANAVI Macro Pad 2 are available in GitHub.
Morten Mathiasen, a highly skilled professional with 25 years of experience in software development and teaching, implemented an open source solution for HVAC control with Raspberry Pi, HTU21D temperature and humidity I2C sensor module as well as our open source hardware ANAVI Infrared pHAT. He recently shared details in a Crowd Supply Field Report.
Raspberry Pi 4 with ANAVI Infrared pHAT and HTU21D I2C sensor module
To save energy and to reduce global warming in his vacation house, Morten turns off the Panasonic HVAC system when his family is not there. Unfortunately, as a result next time when he arrives at the vacation house, it is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. It then takes up to 24 hours to get a comfortable temperature in the house.
Controlling the Panasonic HVAC through infrared signals and Home Assistant thanks to ANAVI Infrared pHAT and a Raspberry Pi
To solve this problem, Morten wrote in the C programming language a Home Assistant-based system that uses a Raspberry Pi with ANAVI Infrared pHAT to make an internet-connected remote control. Now, he can turn on the system remotely 24 hours before arriving to ensure a comfortable temperature.
ANAVI Miracle Controller is a new entirely open source development board for addressable (digital) LED strips like NeoPixels, WS2812B, WS2811, etc. The major advantages are that you can control two LED strips simultaneously, add a mini OLED display and I2C sensor modules as peripherals. Recently we launched a crowdfunding campaign for it at Crowd Supply.
ANAVI Miracle Controller
ANAVI Miracle Controller is a development board and it is easy to flash a custom firmware on it. The process is very similar as for our other open source project like ANAVI Thermometer, ANAVI Gas Detector and ANAVI Light Controller.
This tutorial explains the exact steps how to compile and upload the default open source Arduino sketch for ANAVI Miracle Controller using Arduino IDE.
Required Hardware
ANAVI Miracle Controller
USB to UART debug cable
Addressable LED strip
Appropriate power supply at 5V or 12V depending on the type of LED strips
Personal computer with MS Widows, Mac OS or GNU/Linux distribution
Optionally a mini OLED display and other peripherals can be attached
ANAVI Miracle Developer kit
Download Source Code from GitHub
The default firmware of ANAVI Miracle Controller is an open source Arduino sketch. It relies on several popular open source Arduino libraries, including FastLED for controlling addressable LED strips. Clone or download the source code from GitHub.
Connecting UART to USB
Each ANAVI Miracle Controller kit includes a USB to UART debug cable with CP2102. Depending on the operating system on your PC you might be required to install additional drives. It works out of the box on GNU/Linux distributions. As open source enthusiasts we are using it on Ubuntu. Plug the USB in your computer and connect the 3 wires as follows:
ANAVI Miracle Controller
USB to UART Debug Cable
RX
TX
TX
RX
GND
GND
Connecting USB to UART cable to ANAVI Miracle Controller
Download Arduino IDE
Download and install Arduino IDE on your personal computer. It is free and open source software available for MS Windows, Mac OS and GNU/Linux distributions.
Launch Arduino IDE. From File > Open load an Arduino sketch. It can be the default firmware or any other compatible with ANAVI Miracle Controller Arduino sketch.
Configure ESP8266 in Arduino IDE
Go to File > Preferences. Select Settings and in the field Additional Boards Manager URLs add: http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json
From Arduino IDE select Tools > Board: Generic ESP8266 Module. Set the flash size to 4M (1M SPIFFS). The upload speed is 115200. Adjust the exact port of USB to serial debug cable connected to your computer.
In Arduino IDE click Verify/Compile. If there are any errors, please double check that you have installed all required libraries and their exact versions. If the source code compiles successfully, please proceed to to the next step for flashing the firmware.
Set the jumper to 5V or 12V depending on the type of addressable LED strip and power supply. Mismatch of the voltage may lead to severe hardware failure.
In Arduino IDE click Upload. Set the jumper on ANAVI Miracle Controller to 5V or 12V depending on your power supply and type of LED strips. The power supply voltage must match the required voltage by the LED strips, for example 5V for NeoPixels and the WS2812B included in all kits. Press and hold the RESET button on ANAVI Miracle Controller. Without releasing the RESET button, plug the power supply in the barrel jack of ANAVI Miracle Controller.
Do NOT release the RESET button until you see in Arduino IDE that the upload is 100% completed!
ANAVI Miracle Controller with 2 WS2812B LED strips connected to a laptop using USB to UART cable
ANAVI Miracle Controller is an open source hardware Wi-Fi development board powered by the ESP8266 and designed to control two 5 V or 12 V addressable LED strips simultaneously.
ANAVI Miracle Controller supports popular addressable LEDs including Neopixel, WS2811, WS2812B, TM1809, etc. It also has a dedicated slot for a mini OLED I²C display and slots for up to three additional I²C sensor modules. The default firmware is available at GitHub as an Arduino sketch implementing Home Assistant MQTT Light component.
Back in 2018 we created ANAVI Light Controller for low-cost 12V RGB LED strips. Inspired by a lot of people asking for open source hardware dev board for addressable LEDs strips we created ANAVI Miracle Controller.
