AlienFX ideas and API

It would be quite useful to have some of the following usages for the keyboard lighting, I am a developer so might knock some of these features up into a little tray icon myself. But is there an API I can use to manipulate the individual lights on the keyboard.

Some Ideas...
1) One row of the keyboard could be set to show current CPU usage like a progress bar from left to right.
2) Another row of the keyboard could show CPU temperature
3) Another Available RAM
4) Perhaps Network usage, current/average
5) Or even better, I would allow it take any input from any of the windows performance counters and display these on any line in the keyboard.

I dont know whether this would be just annoying or really interesting. But I would like to throw something together if someone can give me an idea how to programatically interact with the lighting.

I run a lot of database and data manipulations for example, and glancing at the keyboard for CPU/RAM/Overall Progress would be great.

Any of you got any other ideas aswell???

 

afaik the lights in each zone are on the same circuit, sorry.

 

intriguing idea, i'm not sure about individual rows being programmable. prolly best to contact Ingrater or Wattos since they have worked with alien fx already.

 

It would be dissapointing if they cant be accessed programmatically. Hopefully it is just the command center software that poses this restriction?

 

I honestly doubt they would have taken the time to wire each LED individually and didn't utilize that in their software.

They are probably all just clumped together into zones.

 

Still that should not prevent the job from being done. Instead of using row you can use each zone for each task with color changing indicates the workload.

 

Also the four keyboard zones could use coloring to make a "bar" move across as whatever you were montitoring goes up (memory usage etc). Say it was all green at 0% and all red at 100%, then you could use the colors red-orange-yellow moving across the keyboard so it slowly changes from green to all red and gives an indication of whatever it is you are monitoring.

Probably wouldn't work good for CPU usage or anything fast changing like that, unless it was a 5 second average or something like that.

 

I'd like to see an app that runs like Razer's new starcraft line of products - the colors change according to the APM (actions per minute).

Razer™ | APM Lighting System | For Gamers by Gamers™ read more about it here.

 

I recently wrote an application that will change the colors on your keyboard based on your APM. I don't own an Alienware, a friend does, so I can't really do any hardcore debugging. Still, if anyone wants to give it a try.

Download.

Extract where ever you please, run. (Creates a sys-tray icon, can configure max APM for the red color - double click sys tray icon, etc, etc) Requires .NET - if it doesn't work, download latest .NET - otherwise don't worry about it.

 

Hi, Is it possible for you to upload it elsewhere? Very slow downloads.
Edit: Downloaded, get the error below.
Model is M11x R1

 

M11x has one zone for keys, where other models have multiple zones for keys, you will need m11x specific files for your fx. 14x, 15x, 17x all have four and their fx files are different from m11x.

 

I don't own an Alienware PC so I can't really debug. Try swapping the DLL's I provided in the zip with the ones from your alienware directory.