AlienFX Lite (Linux + Windows AlienFX tool)

Wattos, thank you for share your application with us and thank you for share the source code.

I'm an expert java swing programmer and I would like create another better gui, because I think that current GUI is very poor.

I'm not very good designer, so I'll try to make the interface look like the official application. When the application is complete, I'll post in this thread, with the sources.

Actually, your app can load and manage .ath AlienFX themes? If not, I'll create a module to read and write this kind of files.

Sorry for my english, I'm Spanish.

 

knock yourself out. And no, My app cannot read .ath files. Lemme just zip up the latest version for you (which is kind of messy)

 

here we go, latest sorce for you to play around

Download jAlienFX.zip from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

 

I tried recreating and updating my Rainbow theme from AlienFX using this program. Got the keyboard, alienware logo, alien head, and right/left speaker rainbow synced and working like I wanted... However once I tried adding additional morphs to the other areas of the template lights started flickering, the syncing started to lag and fall apart.

Is there a limit to how many actions can be applied somewhere? I know AlienFX limits the amount of actions you can set, I was hoping this would overcome it (which it does, but problems ensue). Is there just a hardware limit to how many actions the AlienFX controller can handle?

 

i havent designed the alienfx control chip, so I dont know the gory details about it. What I do know is that you need to save the commands to the alienfx controllers internal memory. There are internal hardware limitations. It seems you might have just found them. Can you tell me after how many commands the stuff starts to break down?

 

I had it setup with 8 morphs for each keyboard, speaker, Alienware logo, and Alien head (about 64 actions) before things started going wrong. Past this point some actions wouldn't apply and others would start breaking down as I described.

I don't blame you for it not working! I was just wondering if you knew what the limit was, and what was causing it to be in existence at all in the first place.

 

well, its good that you figured the size out. Now I can make a limit on total commands so this doesnt happen to anyone else.

Also, as said, the reason is most likely the internal memory of the alienfx controller.

 

Yea, the Command Center only allows 60 total actions, including the single ones for the Alien Head/Power Button, Media Pad, Touch Pad, etc... I have 54 (9x6 zones) for my current AlienFX Rainbow, plus the single ones for the areas mentioned earlier which brings me to 58. Tried adding more to see when it would stop me and it only let me add two more so you're probably right with the memory limitation on the AlienFX controller itself.

 

So this app works in Windows, but not on Linux.

"Error occured while trying to communicate with the AlienFX device: Data length should be 9 but was -4."

If any other info is needed, I can provide.

 

do you have libusb installed? Did you run as super user?

 

Great app, just wondering how you get it to load on startup. I've put it in startup folder but it defaults to command center settings until I open alienfx lite. I have it so it start's up in tray.

 

I've got libusb-1.0.6-i486-1 installed (Slackware 13.1) and I was running as root.

 

Super app, but the powerbutton and the eyes do not come on at boot, which means I have to set the profile once I get to the desktop. Anyone else have the same problem?

 

yeah, I know of that issue and will have to fix it sometime .

Can you tell me which command centre you had last installed? The issue seems to depend on that

 

Righto.

Next time I boot into Windows, I will try to remember to make a note of it.

 

using 0.4b under windows, and depending on what i've set this is the situation as well. for instance if i morph the keyboard around 4x each section and have different coloured eyes, along with flashing speakers, the eyes won't work after a full shutdown + start up. sometimes the touchpad won't either.

is there a limit on what can be saved on the chip or something?

 

yes there is a limit, but I think its about 60 commands. It might just be an incompatibility with the new firmware. The problem is, the alienfx protocol is undocumented and it seems that they keep doing slight changes to it, breaking this app

 

Quick question: is there a way to make this AlienFX Lite minimize on startup?

 

yes, use the "-s" argument to start it silent (e.g.without the window popping up). So start it like jar .... -s

 

yup, add -s
however if you put it into the startup folder it won't work, i ended up adding it to scheduled tasks with a 30 sec delay upon login.

open the task scheduler from
start -> all programs -> accessories -> system tools -> task scheduler

here's some pics for the settings i did.




sorry for steps 9 and 10 they're a little bit off,
the actual command (for my comp was)

9
"C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\javaw.exe"
10
-jar "c:\dell\AlienFXLite.jar" -s

both with the quotes!
in this case wattos app is in c:\dell and is called Alienfxlite.jar

also i changed the box near to step 14 to windows 7 instead of vista.

bleh sorry for all the edits, i've just gotten some bad news and have a lot on my mind.

 

fyi, you r0x my s0x. did you post the same thing over at ubuntu forums?

 

@Wattos ..

I have to say first off, THANKS! This tool is kick a$$ (running on Linux) and is better IMO than the interface on Windows.

I do have a question for you - how can I send signals using the protocol for the LEDs? I want to code up some hooks for my email client and some other apps, so like for example when i get an email I can make an LED turn a certain color.

TIA

 

Ill be working on a new version of this application which will allow for plugins, so that you dont have to deal with the low level protocols but only the important stuff. I should have a first version this month.

Otherwise, you can just check the source code for the protocol

 

Sorry a really poor question here which I'm sure was answered (I did trawl through the thread), but should the key shortcut fn+alienfx actually work? I've tried both that and fn-f11 and it does not seem to work.

Having a physical shortcut to turn on/off the keyboard LED would be great.

On an m11x R2 btw.

Cheers, Paul.

EDIT - xeroxide, followed your instructions regarding setting up a scheduled task however it gives the error "Could not find the main class". Do you not need to call the main java executable somehow?

 

I have lost all the lights

Donno what happened .... I just did "reset alienfx" and all lights were gone

any help please

I have Area-51 M17x

 

yeah i had issues on a friends m17x r2 i was trying to do the same thing and he got that error, we ended up finding a 3rd party program here called Startup Delayer by r2 studios, much easier to setup and it's free.

that's the way i would recommend adding it now. You can just add the .jar file directly and delay it by ~30sec... note you need to change the filter settings from "executables" to "all files" in order to be able to see the jar file.

*edit*
don't forget to add -s in the parameters box so it minimizes to the system tray automatically upon loading.

 

Thanks xeroxide, I'll give that a punt -

On the other query, is there a physical keyboard shortcut to enable/disable the keyboard backlight? fn-alienfx doesn't appear to do anything any more.

Cheers, Paul.

 

and now when I try to run the app, it says that "unable to communicate to device". I am running it as administrator

 

afaik there isn't.
i made a setting where everything is 10/10/10 (because sometimes 0/0/0 didn't change correctly) apart from the media bar (like to be able to see the eject button)... i can change to it with justa right click.

yeah having the fn+f11 key useful again would be sweet.

also i'm not sure how to ask this, but is it possible when launching via a shortcut etc, to be able to switch profiles on the fly? or refresh the current profile? because if a profile has too many animations and i load it via startup, i need to manually load the profile before the animations work correctly.

hope i explained this ok, i'm kinda tired and its 3am :-S

 

Wattos, much thanks for this tool, I added it to the AUR (arch user repository - a collection of packages that contain scripts once executed will download/configure/install applications for the user automatically, and integrates 100% with the arch linux package management system), and updated the arch linux Alienware M11x wiki page with details and links to this thread

keep up the great work

 

nice! Appreciate it.

 

hi can anyone help,

im on ubuntu 64bit and i recieve this error..


Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: AlienFXLite-0/4b/jar
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: AlienFXLite-0.4b.jar
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:217)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:205)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:321)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:294)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:266)
Could not find the main class: AlienFXLite-0.4b.jar. Program will exit.

If i right click the .jar file and open with Java ... i get unable to connect to device...lost at what to do next

 

Nice pieces of code cutting. +rep it all takes time!

 

My alienware came without command center, do I need the original command center in order to use alienfx lite?

 

No, just Java Runtime Enviorment.

 

I have a really big problem! I tryed out the Watto tool, it is really cool... It worked perfect till it crashed once.. I thought mhm uhkay like Winamp Plugin... so i canceled the task. Restarted. When i tryed to run it again it werent doing anything at all. After a while a error popped up. Something with "Cannot connect to AlienFX Device". The same thing said the ControlCenter. I deinstalled Java, deleted the tool, reinstalled Control Center... Nothing. Now my Keyboard has no Light at all and I don't know what to do... Help? :,(

 

have you tried powerdrain?

 

im flattered you want to use alienFX lite. You can also download command centre from the dells website under drivers.

 

Well, I did the same thing i.e., killed the task and my lights were out. I literally freaked out, you can find my posts in the thread. Anyways, I did a lot of things, uninstall java, command center, reinstall etc etc. Nothing helped, problem solved when I reinstalled the OS

Try Alienfxtester.exe in alienfx folder in program files. If it can't solve the issue, see if you can reinstall the OS

 

all you really need to do is powerdrain, as the alienfx controller might have hung up.

 

^^ right, happens now and then.
the worst thing you can do is install an old version of the official CC, that will kill the alienfx chip.

but having the alienfx freeze due to a software fault, a power drain fixes it always (at least in my case).

 

wattos, if your stealth app did not require command centre, i would not have it (official AW CC) installed at all.

 

Hello wattos,

Great app you have done there
Would it be possible for you to add support for changing the color of the eyes of the alien head for the M11x ? I think the protocol code for them is 0x004000.

By the way I am a Java/C developer and I'll be glad to help you someday if you need.

 

Hello, I need some help.. when I run AlienFX I have this error message:
"Error occured while trying to communicate with the AlienFX device: Data length should be 9 but was -4."
I use linux in super user! Can you help me please..
Thank you!

 

Hi Wattos

I'm trying to write a library in javascript in order to play with AlienFX lights!
(it is possible thanks to Mozilla JSCtypes library)

And I'm facing the same problem than you on windows:
ReadFile fails by returning false and reading 0 bytes
Did you manage to get rid of that bug ?
And is 0.4b source code available somewhere ?

Thanks again for your hard work on decrypting all AlienFX protocol!!!

 

Hey,

I never looked into it. I have no idea what the problem is. The protocol returns 8 bytes back, but all I got was just 0's which wasnt helpful. This post has the last version for the source. Have fun

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...inux-windows-alienfx-tool-11.html#post6589177

 

Hey guys, I've been getting a nasty barrage of problems with my system lightning.

I'm running windows 7 X64. I can run alienfx lite (using 0.4b) just fine,and the colors change automatically and I can save the profiles as well. However, if I minimize it into the system tray, the next time I try to change the colors, it won't work. The colors don't change automatically, and when I try to confirm the command by pressing the green checkmark button, it returns something similar to "error communicating with board: data length should be 9 but was 0." afterwards, it would only work again if I restarted.

now here's where I get concerned. Today, I was running alienfx lite, went to test it once more, and got the previously mentioned error. disappointed, I kept working and didn't restart my laptop right away. then, all the lights turned off. It's happened to me before, and usually a hard reset does the trick. This time, however, the hard reset did nothing. the lights still don't work, and the power button is blinking on and off (which I assume is an error code of some sort, though I haven't figured out what it could mean), but the computer itself is still running fine.

I'm using an m15x laptop, not the current version, but the previous gray plastic case one.

any suggestions? I'm stumped :/

 

Thanks Wattos, very cool.

Is it posible to increase the speed that the light change at?

Thanks.

 

Hey Wattos, I'm really enjoying your software, I would like to increase the speed of the morphing. Is there any way for me to do that?

 

This is sweet! I like being able to change the colors using Linux.