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Open-source RGB lighting control for keyboards, fans, etc

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Re: Open-source RGB lighting control for keyboards, fans, etc

#21
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I just don't understand it. Because we don't know how to use the feature yet. But you can connect something like a CPU trigger to a led, so use 3 keys with 3 colors for CPU%, RAM%, SWAP%, then one blinking for disk IO, network IO and you get something very useful!! For a full keyboard, you could have predictive input for the other as a typing assistant (ex: after pressing t,y put r in a strong green, e in a lighter…

I also find CPU/RAM monitoring not very useful to me. I used to put conky widgets all over the place, but concluded that it did very little. Most of the time I fire up htop, I'm looking to kill a process anyway. I programmed one of my keyboard to be modal, and use the lighting as an indicator of which mode I'm in. Sort of like vim's status bar. It's pretty handy.

> It's pretty handy.

Exactly this! I don't want to waste screen space or CPU time to fancy widgets, but having a few leds that blink too much when my system does too many things is very handy. It's like in the old days of HDD leds: it didn't intrude, but I quickly knew what was going on if I looked at it. And blinking things have a tendency to catch your attention, so it removes the "monitoring" problem too (because, when do you know it's time to check htop?)

Linux LED triggers are very handy to do just than.

Re: Open-source RGB lighting control for keyboards, fans, etc

#22
post #7
post #2

I built a new PC this year and after a break of 10 years I was shocked to find out that RGB trend, I just don't understand it.

> I just don't understand it. Because we don't know how to use the feature yet. But you can connect something like a CPU trigger to a led, so use 3 keys with 3 colors for CPU%, RAM%, SWAP%, then one blinking for disk IO, network IO and you get something very useful!! For a full keyboard, you could have predictive input for the other as a typing assistant (ex: after pressing t,y put r in a strong green, e in a lighter…

None of that stuff is particularly useful, if I wanted that, I have my screen that shows me metrics.. My desktop is a black box. I dont know why anyone would spend a second of their time looking at a tower, when the only moving part is a fan

Re: Open-source RGB lighting control for keyboards, fans, etc

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have to admit I don't fully get the "bling" thing for PCs Me neither. Today it's hard to find TVs that are just TVs and not smart TVs and similar thing is happening in the PC builders ecosystem. Built a new desktop computer recently, and had to spend more time searching for things that don't have RGB things in them, seems most components nowadays have some sort of RGB lights in them, even when it's completely not n…

> Today it's hard to find TVs that are just TVs and not smart TVs Why would you prefer non-smart TVs?

Yes. Id pay significantly more to have a good panel that is dumb. no apps, no privacy concerns, fast boot. Pioneer years ago used to make the elite panels that were exactly this.

Re: Open-source RGB lighting control for keyboards, fans, etc

#24

If you're in this thread "I built a PC, all my stuff has RGB, it's fine but I don't get it", try setting them all to the same color - you might be surprised how nice it looks. I set everything to white, but my roommate has a nice shade of purple he uses for everything. My real golden rule is absolutely no motion. Can't stand cycling rainbows or whatever.

This is the trick. If you get all of the lights set to the same color, plus maybe one that changes based on CPU temperature or something, and you make sure none of the colors clash, you can get a very nice/clean look.

Re: Open-source RGB lighting control for keyboards, fans, etc

#25
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Today it's hard to find TVs that are just TVs and not smart TVs Why would you prefer non-smart TVs?

yes! I much prefer my Roku, and its super simple remote. I also appreciate how I can just block one domain in my home DNS for roku, and stop telemetry. Also, My Roku is regularly updated, unlike most smart TV's, and I have heard horror stories of TV's no longer working with things like netflix, because they can't be updated anymore.

I'm in this camp also. I upgraded my Roku to one that can control the volume and mute the TV, so now I don't ever need the TV remote. Any "smartness" in my TV is wasted effort on me. A dumb monitor with an HDMI connection and audio out is all I need.

Re: Open-source RGB lighting control for keyboards, fans, etc

#27
post #3

The supported devices list[1] looks pretty good. The support for individually addressable LEDs (WS2812 and friends) also means you could do pretty much any custom setup you wanted. Though I have to admit I don't fully get the "bling" thing for PCs. I'd rather, for example, drive a little OLED matrix screen to display temperatures, etc. [1] https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGB/-/wikis/Supported...

> have to admit I don't fully get the "bling" thing for PCs Me neither. Today it's hard to find TVs that are just TVs and not smart TVs and similar thing is happening in the PC builders ecosystem. Built a new desktop computer recently, and had to spend more time searching for things that don't have RGB things in them, seems most components nowadays have some sort of RGB lights in them, even when it's completely not n…

My LG CX turns on in less than 2s and shows the picture from the HDMI input. The TV can’t access the internet.

I use OpenRGB to disable all lights, or sometimes I’m in the Cyberpunk 2077 mood and make it yellow.

I’m curious that people want to pay more to get less.

Re: Open-source RGB lighting control for keyboards, fans, etc

#28
post #2

I built a new PC this year and after a break of 10 years I was shocked to find out that RGB trend, I just don't understand it.

The idea behind the trend is quite simple. It was already common to find colored lights on PC cases, peripherals, and components. With RGB, you can match colors across those parts more easily.

At least... that's the idea. In practice, it's actually quite cumbersome to configure everything thanks to a lack of hardware/software control standards. As a result, I usually don't bother with RGB. Hopefully this app helps to resolve that issue.

Re: Open-source RGB lighting control for keyboards, fans, etc

#30

If you're in this thread "I built a PC, all my stuff has RGB, it's fine but I don't get it", try setting them all to the same color - you might be surprised how nice it looks. I set everything to white, but my roommate has a nice shade of purple he uses for everything. My real golden rule is absolutely no motion. Can't stand cycling rainbows or whatever.

This is the trick. If you get all of the lights set to the same color, plus maybe one that changes based on CPU temperature or something, and you make sure none of the colors clash, you can get a very nice/clean look.

For an added bonus, on keyboards such as the logitechs you may be able to have different colors for different key types for quick and easy reference
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