Coruscate

coruscate verb

cor - us - cate | ˈkȯr-ə-ˌskāt

1. to give off or reflect light in bright beams or flashes
2. to be brilliant or showy in technique or style

“Coruscate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster. Accessed 16 Jan. 2021.

Description

Coruscate is a NodeJs library for controlling the LED case lighting on an Asus ROG Strix GA15DH Desktop.

This module also provides a command-line utility to control the lighting.

Warning

This software is made available under the terms of the MIT License.

No guarantees. This library uses reverse-engineered protocols to communicate with an external USB device (the case lighting controller). As a result, the functionality of some values is unknown. While unlikely, damage to hardware may be possible. The developers of this software make no guarantees.

That said, the initial developer is using this successfully to control the lighting on an Asus ROG Strix GA15.

Installation

Install locally (library only):

npm install coruscate

Installing globally also installs the coruscate command-line utility.

npm install -g coruscate

Library Usage

Primary Usage

Steps:

• A new Coruscate object is created by calling the constructor with a configuration object. The constructor first searches for supported USB devices. If one is found, the connection is opened, but no data is written to the device.
• The Update() method is used to write the configuration to the device.
• The Close() method is called to close connection to the device.

const Coruscate = require('coruscate');

// Create a new Corescate object the the specified config.
let lights = Coruscate.Coruscate({
    mode: "Static",         // Static mode is solid-on
    color1: "#ff0000"       // Set the primary color to red
});

lights.Update();    // Update the device with the new mode
lights.Close();     // Close the connection to the device

Configuration Object

The configuration object takes the following parameters:

• mode - string: The mode/function of the lighting. The following modes are supported (case-sensative).
  • Static
  • Breathe
  • ColorCycle
  • Rainbow
  • Strobe
  • Comet
  • FlashNDash
  • Irradiation
• color1 - string: The primary color to use for the mode. This string can be any value supported by the color library. Examples include '#00ff00' and 'rgb(0, 0, 255)'.
• color2 - string: The secondary color to use for the mode (currently only supported for the Breathe mode).
• speed - number or string: A number between 225 and 255. Alternatively, the following strings can be used (case-sensative):
  • Slow
  • Medium
  • Fast
• direction - string: The direction for the mode (currently only supported by the Rainbow mode).
• zone - number: The zone to configure. (The GA15DH only supports zone 0).

Constructor Method

let lights = Coruscate.Coruscate(config);

The Coruscate constructor can be called with a config structure documented above, or empty. If no config structure provided, the internal values are initialized to Static mode with black colors (off).

Parameters:

• config - object, optional. A configuration object documented above.

Update Method

   lights.Update(config);

The Update method writes the configuration to the device. A new/updated configuration object can be provided. If no configuration object is proivded, the Update method writes the last used configuration to the device.

Parameters:

• config - object, optional. A configuration object documented above.

Off Method

   lights.Off();

The Off method turns off the case lights by setting them to Static mode and color #000000. The internal configuration is left untouched.

On Method

   lights.On();

The On method turns the lights back on to the previously used configuration.

Close Method

   lights.Close();

The Close method is used to close communications with the device. After this method is called no additional updates can be made.

SetBrightness

   lights.SetBrightness(level);

The SetBrightness method immediately changes the brightness of the device. The GA15DH only supports 0 and 1.

Parameters:

• level - number, required: The level of brightness (0, or 1) to set the device.

Note: The On and Off methods are simply aliases of SetBrightness.

SetMode Method

   lights.SetMode(mode);

The SetMode method changes the mode of the device. If a connection is open, this method takes affect immediately.

Parameters:

• mode - string, required: The new mode (documented above) to which to set the device.

SetColor Method

   lights.SetColor(color1, color2);

The SetColor method changes the color of the current mode. If a connection is open, this method takes affect immediately.

Parameters:

• color1 - string, required: A color string (see above) specifying the primary color for the mode.
• color2 - string, optional: A color string (see above) specifying the secondary color for the mode.

Supported Modes:

• color1 is supported by Static, Breathe, Strobe, Comet, and FlashNDash modes.
• color2 is supported by the Breathe mode.

SetSpeed Method

   lights.SetSpeed(speed);

The SetSpeed method changes the speed of the current mode (if supported). If a connection is open, this method takes affect immediately.

Parameters:

• speed - number or string, required:
  • As a number between 225 and 255 specifying the speed of the effect.
  • As a string Slow, Medium, or Fast.

Supported Modes:

• speed is supported by Breathe, ColorCycle and Rainbow modes.

SetDirection Method

   lights.SetDirection(direction);

The SetDirection method changes the direction of the current mode (if supported). If a connection is open, this method takes affect immediately.

Parameters:

• direction - string, required: The direction for the mode. Can be either Left or Right.

Supported Modes:

• direction is supported by the Rainbow mode.

SetZone

   lights.SetZone(zone);

The SetZone method changes the zone for the following operations. No changes take effect immediately. (The GA15DH only supports zone 0.)

Parameters:

• zone - number, required: The zone to begin operating on.

Direct Mode Library Usage

Coruscate also supports direct mode. Direct mode allows each LED to be set to a unique color.

Basic Usage

const Coruscate = require('coruscate');

let lights = Coruscate.Coruscate();

lights.InitDirect();    // Initialize direct-mode communication & Clear the LEDs

let red = 12;

// Set the LEDS to an increasing brightness of red
for(let x = 0; x < 21; x++) {
    lights.SetLed(x, `rgb( ${red}, 0, 0 )`);
    red += 12;
}

lights.UpdateDirect();  // Send the LEDs to the device

lights.Close();

Direct Mode Methods

lights.SetLed(index, color); // Index 0 - 20
lights.FillLeds(color, start, end = null); // start and end indices; Will fill to the end if not provided
lights.ClearLed(index);
lights.ClearAllLeds();

Examples

There are a few examples in examples/direct/. To run the examples:

$ node example/RunDirect.js <example>

Where is one of SingleLed, RedBlueDart, ColorCycle, or Kitt.

LEDs on the GA15DH

The GA15DH has 21 LEDs:

• Front has 20 LEDs with indices of 0 (top) to 19 (bottom).
• Vertical, inside, has 20 LEDs which reverse-mirror the front with indices 0 (bottom) to 19 (top).
• Top, inside, has 6 LEDs, which are all controlled with index 20.

Command Line Usage

The provided coruscate command-line utility (if installed) can be used to control the case lights.

The command-line utility can only be used to set one of the pre-defined modes. It does not support direct control.

Note: The user running the command must have write priviledges to the appropriate USB HID device. Sudo privileges may be required.

To control the case lights:

$ coruscate [options]

or, to turn off the lights:

$ coruscate off

or, to turn on the lights:

$ coruscate on

Options

The following options can be used. Descriptions of these parameters match the configuration structure documented above.

• -m <mode>, --mode <mode> - Specifies the mode to use.
• -c1 <color>, --color1 <color> - Specifies the primary color.
• -c2 <color>, --color2 <color> - Specifies the secondary color.
• -s <speed>, --speed <speed> - Specifies the speed.
• -d <direction>, --direction <direction> - Specifies the direction.
• -z <zone>, --zone <zone - Specifies the zone on which to operate.

Supported Platforms

Currently, this library has only been tested on Linux. Support for Windows is currently unknown.