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'serial' Driver

The Serial driver powers the Split Keyboard feature. Several implementations are available that cater to the platform and capabilites of MCU in use. Note that none of the drivers support split keyboards with more than two halves.

Driver AVR ARM Connection between halves
Bitbang ✔️ ✔️ Single wire communication. One wire is used for reception and transmission.
USART Half-duplex ✔️ Efficient single wire communication. One wire is used for reception and transmission.
USART Full-duplex ✔️ Efficient two wire communication. Two distinct wires are used for reception and transmission.

?> Serial in this context should be read as sending information one bit at a time, rather than implementing UART/USART/RS485/RS232 standards.

Bitbang

This is the Default driver, absence of configuration assumes this driver. It works by bit banging a GPIO pin using the CPU. It is therefore not as efficient as a dedicated hardware peripheral, which the Half-duplex and Full-duplex drivers use.

!> On ARM platforms the bitbang driver causes connection issues when using it together with the bitbang WS2812 driver. Choosing alternate drivers for both serial and WS2812 (instead of bitbang) is strongly recommended.

Pin configuration

  LEFT                      RIGHT
+-------+      SERIAL     +-------+
|   SSP |-----------------| SSP   |
|       |       VDD       |       |
|       |-----------------|       |
|       |       GND       |       |
|       |-----------------|       |
+-------+                 +-------+

One GPIO pin is needed for the bitbang driver, as only one wire is used for receiving and transmitting data. This pin is referred to as the SOFT_SERIAL_PIN (SSP) in the configuration. A TRS or USB cable provides enough conductors for this driver to function.

Setup

To use the bitbang driver follow these steps to activate it.

  1. Change the SERIAL_DRIVER to bitbang in your keyboards rules.mk file:
SERIAL_DRIVER = bitbang
  1. Configure the GPIO pin of your keyboard via the config.h file:
#define SOFT_SERIAL_PIN D0  // or D1, D2, D3, E6
  1. On ARM platforms you must turn on ChibiOS PAL_USE_CALLBACKS feature:
  • In halconf.h add the line #define PAL_USE_CALLBACKS TRUE.

USART Half-duplex

Targeting ARM boards based on ChibiOS, where communication is offloaded to a USART hardware device that supports Half-duplex operation. The advantages over bitbanging are fast, accurate timings and reduced CPU usage. Therefore it is advised to choose Half-duplex over Bitbang if MCU is capable of utilising Half-duplex, and Full-duplex can't be used instead (e.g. lack of available GPIO pins, or imcompatible PCB design).

Pin configuration

  LEFT                      RIGHT  
+-------+  |           |  +-------+
|       |  R           R  |       |
|       |  |   SERIAL  |  |       |
|    TX |-----------------| TX    |
|       |       VDD       |       |
|       |-----------------|       |
|       |       GND       |       |
|       |-----------------|       |
+-------+                 +-------+

Only one GPIO pin is needed for the Half-duplex driver, as only one wire is used for receiving and transmitting data. This pin is referred to as the SERIAL_USART_TX_PIN in the configuration. Ensure that the pin chosen for split communication can operate as the TX pin of the contoller's USART peripheral. A TRS or USB cable provides enough conductors for this driver to function. As the split connection is configured to operate in open-drain mode, an external pull-up resistor is needed to keep the line high. Resistor values of 1.5kΩ to 8.2kΩ are known to work.

!> Note: A pull-up resistor isn't required for RP2040 controllers configured with PIO subsystem.

Setup

To use the Half-duplex driver follow these steps to activate it. If you target the Raspberry Pi RP2040 PIO implementation, start at step 2.

  1. Change the SERIAL_DRIVER to usart in your keyboards rules.mk file:
SERIAL_DRIVER = usart

Skip to step 3.

  1. (RP2040 + PIO only!) Change the SERIAL_DRIVER to vendor in your keyboards rules.mk file:
SERIAL_DRIVER = vendor
  1. Configure the hardware of your keyboard via the config.h file:
#define SERIAL_USART_TX_PIN B6     // The GPIO pin that is used split communication.

For STM32 MCUs several GPIO configuration options can be changed as well. See the section "Alternate Functions for selected STM32 MCUs".

#define USART1_REMAP               // Remap USART TX and RX pins on STM32F103 MCUs, see table below.
#define SERIAL_USART_TX_PAL_MODE 7 // Pin "alternate function", see the respective datasheet for the appropriate values for your MCU. default: 7
  1. Decide either for SERIAL, SIO, or PIO subsystem. See section "Choosing a driver subsystem".

USART Full-duplex

Targeting ARM boards based on ChibiOS where communication is offloaded to an USART hardware device. The advantages over bitbanging are fast, accurate timings and reduced CPU usage; therefore it is advised to choose this driver over all others where possible. Due to its internal design Full-duplex is slightly more efficient than the Half-duplex driver, but Full-duplex should be primarily chosen if Half-duplex operation is not supported by the controller's USART peripheral.

Pin configuration

  LEFT                      RIGHT
+-------+                 +-------+
|       |      SERIAL     |       |
|    TX |-----------------| RX    |
|       |      SERIAL     |       |
|    RX |-----------------| TX    |
|       |       VDD       |       |
|       |-----------------|       |
|       |       GND       |       |
|       |-----------------|       |
+-------+                 +-------+

Two GPIO pins are needed for the Full-duplex driver, as two distinct wires are used for receiving and transmitting data. The pin transmitting data is the TX pin and refereed to as the SERIAL_USART_TX_PIN, the pin receiving data is the RX pin and refereed to as the SERIAL_USART_RX_PIN in this configuration. Please note that TX pin of the master half has to be connected with the RX pin of the slave half and the RX pin of the master half has to be connected with the TX pin of the slave half! Usually this pin swap has to be done outside of the MCU e.g. with cables or on the PCB. Some MCUs like the STM32F303 used on the Proton-C allow this pin swap directly inside the MCU. A TRRS or USB cable provides enough conductors for this driver to function.

To use this driver the USART peripherals TX and RX pins must be configured with the correct Alternate-functions. If you are using a Proton-C development board everything is already setup, same is true for STM32F103 MCUs. For MCUs which are using a modern flexible GPIO configuration you have to specify these by setting SERIAL_USART_TX_PAL_MODE and SERIAL_USART_RX_PAL_MODE. Refer to the corresponding datasheets of your MCU or find those settings in the section "Alternate Functions for selected STM32 MCUs".

Setup

To use the Full-duplex driver follow these steps to activate it. If you target the Raspberry Pi RP2040 PIO implementation, start at step 2

  1. Change the SERIAL_DRIVER to usart in your keyboards rules.mk file:
SERIAL_DRIVER = usart

Skip to step 3

  1. (RP2040 + PIO only!) Change the SERIAL_DRIVER to vendor in your keyboards rules.mk file:
SERIAL_DRIVER = vendor
  1. Configure the hardware of your keyboard via the config.h file:
#define SERIAL_USART_FULL_DUPLEX   // Enable full duplex operation mode.
#define SERIAL_USART_TX_PIN B6     // USART TX pin
#define SERIAL_USART_RX_PIN B7     // USART RX pin

For STM32 MCUs several GPIO configuration options, including the ability for TX to RX pin swapping, can be changed as well. See the section "Alternate Functions for selected STM32 MCUs".

#define SERIAL_USART_PIN_SWAP      // Swap TX and RX pins if keyboard is master halve. (Only available on some MCUs)
#define USART1_REMAP               // Remap USART TX and RX pins on STM32F103 MCUs, see table below.
#define SERIAL_USART_TX_PAL_MODE 7 // Pin "alternate function", see the respective datasheet for the appropriate values for your MCU. default: 7
  1. Decide either for SERIAL, SIO, or PIO subsystem. See section "Choosing a driver subsystem".

Choosing a driver subsystem

The SERIAL driver

The SERIAL Subsystem is supported for the majority of ChibiOS MCUs and should be used whenever supported. Follow these steps in order to activate it:

  1. In your keyboards halconf.h add:
#define HAL_USE_SERIAL TRUE
  1. In your keyboards mcuconf.h: activate the USART peripheral that is used on your MCU. The shown example is for an STM32 MCU, so this will not work on MCUs by other manufacturers. You can find the correct names in the mcuconf.h files of your MCU that ship with ChibiOS.

Just below #include_next <mcuconf.h> add:

#include_next <mcuconf.h>

#undef STM32_SERIAL_USE_USARTn
#define STM32_SERIAL_USE_USARTn TRUE

Where 'n' matches the peripheral number of your selected USART on the MCU.

  1. In you keyboards config.h: override the default USART SERIAL driver if you use a USART peripheral that does not belong to the default selected SD1 driver. For instance, if you selected STM32_SERIAL_USE_USART3 the matching driver would be SD3.
 #define SERIAL_USART_DRIVER SD3

The SIO driver

The SIO Subsystem was added to ChibiOS with the 21.11 release and is only supported on selected MCUs. It should only be chosen when the SERIAL subsystem is not supported by your MCU.

Follow these steps in order to activate it:

  1. In your keyboards halconf.h add:
#define HAL_USE_SIO TRUE
  1. In your keyboards mcuconf.h: activate the USART peripheral that is used on your MCU. The shown example is for an STM32 MCU, so this will not work on MCUs by other manufacturers. You can find the correct names in the mcuconf.h files of your MCU that ship with ChibiOS.

Just below #include_next <mcuconf.h> add:

#include_next <mcuconf.h>

#undef STM32_SIO_USE_USARTn
#define STM32_SIO_USE_USARTn TRUE

Where 'n' matches the peripheral number of your selected USART on the MCU.

  1. In the keyboard's config.h file: override the default USART SIO driver if you use a USART peripheral that does not belong to the default selected SIOD1 driver. For instance, if you selected STM32_SERIAL_USE_USART3 the matching driver would be SIOD3.
 #define SERIAL_USART_DRIVER SIOD3

The PIO driver

The PIO subsystem is a Raspberry Pi RP2040 specific implementation, using an integrated PIO peripheral and is therefore only available on this MCU. Because of the flexible nature of PIO peripherals, any GPIO pin can be used as a TX or RX pin. Half-duplex and Full-duplex operation modes are fully supported with this driver. Half-duplex uses the built-in pull-ups and GPIO manipulation of the RP2040 to drive the line high by default, thus an external pull-up resistor is not required.

Optionally, the PIO peripheral utilized for split communication can be changed with the following define in config.h:

#define SERIAL_PIO_USE_PIO1 // Force the usage of PIO1 peripheral, by default the Serial implementation uses the PIO0 peripheral

The Serial PIO program uses 2 state machines, 13 instructions and the complete interrupt handler of the PIO peripheral it is running on.

Advanced Configuration

There are several advanced configuration options that can be defined in your keyboards config.h file:

Baudrate

If you're having issues or need a higher baudrate with serial communication, you can change the baudrate which in turn controls the communication speed for serial. You want to lower the baudrate if you experience failed transactions.

#define SELECT_SOFT_SERIAL_SPEED {#}
Speed Bitbang Half-duplex and Full-duplex
0 189000 baud (experimental) 460800 baud
1 137000 baud (default) 230400 baud (default)
2 75000 baud 115200 baud
3 39000 baud 57600 baud
4 26000 baud 38400 baud
5 20000 baud 19200 baud

Alternatively you can specify the baudrate directly by defining SERIAL_USART_SPEED.

Timeout

This is the default time window in milliseconds in which a successful communication has to complete. Usually you don't want to change this value. But you can do so anyways by defining an alternate one in your keyboards config.h file:

#define SERIAL_USART_TIMEOUT 20    // USART driver timeout. default 20

Troubleshooting

If you're having issues withe serial communication, you can enable debug messages that will give you insights which part of the communication failed. The enable these messages add to your keyboards config.h file:

#define SERIAL_DEBUG

?> The messages will be printed out to the CONSOLE output. For additional information, refer to Debugging/Troubleshooting QMK.

Alternate Functions for selected STM32 MCUs

Pins for USART Peripherals with

STM32F303 / Proton-C Datasheet

Pin Swap available: ✔️

Pin Function Mode
USART1
PA9 TX AF7
PA10 RX AF7
PB6 TX AF7
PB7 RX AF7
PC4 TX AF7
PC5 RX AF7
PE0 TX AF7
PE1 RX AF7
USART2
PA2 TX AF7
PA3 RX AF7
PA14 TX AF7
PA15 RX AF7
PB3 TX AF7
PB4 RX AF7
PD5 TX AF7
PD6 RX AF7
USART3
PB10 TX AF7
PB11 RX AF7
PC10 TX AF7
PC11 RX AF7
PD8 TX AF7
PD9 RX AF7

STM32F072 Datasheet

Pin Swap available: ✔️

Pin Function Mode
USART1
PA9 TX AF1
PA10 RX AF1
PB6 TX AF0
PB7 RX AF0
USART2
PA2 TX AF1
PA3 RX AF1
PA14 TX AF1
PA15 RX AF1
USART3
PB10 TX AF4
PB11 RX AF4
PC4 TX AF1
PC5 RX AF1
PC10 TX AF1
PC11 RX AF1
PD8 TX AF0
PD9 RX AF0
USART4
PA0 TX AF4
PA1 RX AF4

STM32F103 Medium Density (C8-CB) Datasheet

Pin Swap available: N/A

TX Pin is always Alternate Function Push-Pull, RX Pin is always regular input pin for any USART peripheral. For STM32F103 no additional Alternate Function configuration is necessary. QMK is already configured.

Pin remapping:

The pins of USART Peripherals use default Pins that can be remapped to use other pins using the AFIO registers. Default pins are marked bold. Add the appropriate defines to your config.h file.

Pin Function Mode USART_REMAP
USART1
PA9 TX AFPP
PA10 RX IN
PB6 TX AFPP USART1_REMAP
PB7 RX IN USART1_REMAP
USART2
PA2 TX AFPP
PA3 RX IN
PD5 TX AFPP USART2_REMAP
PD6 RX IN USART2_REMAP
USART3
PB10 TX AFPP
PB11 RX IN
PC10 TX AFPP USART3_PARTIALREMAP
PC11 RX IN USART3_PARTIALREMAP
PD8 TX AFPP USART3_FULLREMAP
PD9 RX IN USART3_FULLREMAP