“Modern QMK” in the sense that KBFirmware is based on a version of QMK from 2017, and I had to make changes to the source files (config.h, kb.h and kb.c)from my KBFirmware .zip in order for a fresh setup of QMK to be able to compile a hex from those. Sorry, I’m new to this stuff so some of my terminology might be wrong. There were a handfull of changes I had to make aside from the one that the QMK Hand Wire guide mentions. Luckily QMK has very helpful error messages that tell you which line in which file is causing the problem. Like the change from “KEYMAP” to “LAYOUT” in the kb.h file, adding “#pragma once” at the top of one of the files, etc. Making one change at a time and then attempting to compile and addressing whichever error came up next. The documention was helpful, as well as just looking at other peoples sources in QMK repos and modifying mine accordingly. I only used VIA long enough to make sure my firmware worked before porting to Vial, so I can’t say much about it but it seems to work well. VIA, from what I understand, doesn’t have all the QMK features that Vial does. And Vial, at the expense of a larger firmware size, stores the .json keymap on the board so you don’t have to sideload it each time you want to make changes. This is the thread I learned about Vial on, VIAL Configuration Software . Its nice being able to make changes without re-compiling and flashing each time and I’ve been able to play around with TapDance, which I’m still trying to understand the code aspect of but the Vial gui makes implementing really beginner friendly. And I know what you mean about not wanting to break your QMK environment, I have mine set up on a raspberry pi so its safe from my bumbling about.
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