Blink1Control2

Blink1Control2 is the desktop application for controlling and hooking events to blink(1). It is the primary user-level application for controlling blink(1). It is an event-based system for triggering blink(1) color patterns. Those events can be on your computer or on the Net.

Features

• Event-driven color patterns — define named color sequences and trigger them from any event source
• Multiple event sources — IFTTT webhooks, email/IMAP monitoring, MQTT, time-based alarms, and custom scripts
• REST API — local HTTP API on port 8934 lets any app, script, or automation tool control the blink(1); curl http://localhost:8934/blink1/red is all it takes
• Multiple blink(1) devices — address each device individually by serial number
• System tray / menu bar — runs quietly in the background; patterns play even when the window is closed
• Cross-platform — Mac, Windows, Linux x86, and Raspberry Pi

Downloads

There are pre-built app downloads for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and Raspberry Pi in the releases area.

• Download for Mac, Windows, Linux x86, and RaspberryPi

Setup steps (for development)

You will need a working C compiler setup for Node projects. You can find details for that here: https://github.com/node-hid/node-hid#compiling-from-source

Start a hot-reloading content server and the application:

npm install
npm run watch &
npm run startdev

Or to emulate a production run:

npm install        # installs all dependencies locally
npm run webpack    # packs app, there will be some warnings, ignore
npm run start      # starts the packaged app
npm run dist:draft # create relocatable app and installer(s), in "dist" dir

Linux:

Install udev rules file in /etc/udev/rules.d/51-blink1.rules with contents:

SUBSYSTEM=="input", GROUP="input", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="27b8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01ed", MODE:="666", GROUP="plugdev"
KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="27b8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01ed", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

And install the rules with:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

Then unplug and replug the blink(1) device.

You may need to install the following pre-requisites, depending on your distro:

sudo apt install pkg-config libgnome-keyring-dev icnsutils xz-utils rpm bsdtar libusb-1.0-0-dev libudev-dev

Raspberry Pi

As above for Linux, with a bit extra:

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends -y ruby-full bsdtar rpm libopenjp2-tools
sudo gem install fpm -v 1.10.1
export USE_SYSTEM_FPM="true"
npm install
npm run dist:raspi

node-blink1-server

The blink(1) device control and REST API layer is factored out into a standalone package called node-blink1-server, which lives in packages/node-blink1-server/ in this repo.

Blink1Control2 uses it internally, but it can also be run on its own — useful for NodeJs-based headless setups (Raspberry Pi, servers) where you want HTTP control of blink(1) without the full desktop app. (For another headless server, check out the C-based blink1-tiny-server that's part of blink1-tool repo)

npx node-blink1-server           # no install required, starts on port 8934
npx node-blink1-server 8080      # custom port

See the node-blink1-server README for full documentation.

Other info

• Publishing.md for info on publishing binaries
• NOTES.md for random behind-the-scenes thoughts