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http://www.brodwall.com/johannes/blog/2006/02/20/dell-xps-vanity-lights-blink/ -
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Thanks for pointing this out. The links were dead as I forgot to move the files when I moved my blog to a new site. They work now. :-)
Thanks!
I compiled the exe with cygwin and it seems to require that to run. I will try and see about getting a version that doesn't. If you install just a minimal configuration of cygwin from here, it should work.
Furthermore, you might be interested in the XPS Winamp plugin that I recently stumbled across. Sadly, I have not been able to find the source code for this.
~Johannes
Cheers
M
On my system, the file is in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers. I think it was installed with some of the Dell software that came with the computer. Probably the QuickSet program. Have you got that installed?
~Johannes
Thanks!
M
I have been searching around, but I have not been able to find any similar programs. Sadly, the Winamp plugin is not hooked into the audio output, but into Winamp itself, so it is not usable.
But if you find out how to write a plug-in for a game, soundcard or similar in C, writing the actual XPS LED Light parts is very simple. See the attached C code and just call the setXpsColors(side_color, front_color, top_color, brightness) function.
I have finished the Eclipse plug-in that uses the XPS LEDs to display the results of a JUnit test run. It includes the C code described in this post. See http://code.google.com/p/eclipse-xps/
PS: Johannes, thanks again for relicensing the C source under Apache 2.0.
------------------------------------------
@echo off
echo Police!
:test
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 4
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 4
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 7
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 7
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 7
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 7
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 4
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 4
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 1 -side 10 -top 1 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 4
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 4
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 7
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 7
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 7
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 7
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 4
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 4
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 2
xps_led_control.exe -front 10 -side 1 -top 10 -bright 2
goto test
And if not, do you know a way to control Desktop Vanity Lights ?
- Phixx
I have no idea. If you have a XPS Desktop, why don't you try it out. I am very interested to know if it works. If it doesn't work, but you're up for some hacking, you can use API monitor as per my original blog post to see how the lights are controlled.
Oliver
libsmbios has support for this since 13.03.2007. And don't you say Dell doesn't support Linux ;)
http://linux.dell.com/libsmbios/
The xps_led_control is a command line program. You have to download it to a directory (e.g. c:\) and start up a cmd shell (Start -> Run: cmd). In the command shell, you enter "c:\xps_led_control -all 1", for example. Or "c:\xps_led_control -help" for more instructions.
Hope this helps.
but it is not exactly what I am looking for.
the prog is done realy nice.
i just got one question!
its about WoW (World of Warcraft)
do u think it is possible to accsess the leds through an addoningame?
im justing playing around with the ace2 libs.
just can create easy addons for the game, but dont have the know-how to say its possible or to create/implement the code.
hope u can give me the answer im searching 4 and may help me in my wish of an XPS LED WoW addon!
fLaMeCoRe
I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to get the lights to work from a WoW addon, and I think it sounds like a super-cool idea. However, I would recommend that you look into the official Dell LightFX SDK for this. It is no harder to use than my code, and it comes official from Dell.
Cheers,
~Johannes
Chris
D:\Downloads>xps_led_control /?
usage: xps_led_control [-all color] [-front color] [-top color] [-side color] [-
bright value] [-touchpad 0|1]
Where color is a number from 0-16
and brightness value is a number from 0-7
(C) Copyright Johannes Brodwall , 2006
Some rights reserved: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
D:\Downloads>xps_led_control -touchpad 0
CreateFileA(\\.\APPDRV) failed: 0x2
D:\Downloads>xps_led_control -touchpad 0
CreateFileA(\\.\APPDRV) failed: 0x2
Thank you for your question. This really should be a FAQ entry by now. Probably the most asked question about the tool.
xps_led_control doesn't work without the Dell drivers. It looks like you need the QuickSet tool http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/downl...
Also notice that there after my post, Dell came out with new tools for the XPS. You can find more info at http://www.dell.com/html/global/xps/lightfx/ind....
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the positive feedback. I see no reason that XPS M1210 could be controlled the same way. You probably need the QuickSet tool from Dell (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/downl...). This lets you control the lights directly, and it also installs the drivers needed for my program.
There is actually a WinAmp plugin for XPS lights that does what you want: http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details/146182. Sadly, there is not source code available for it.
i tried your app on a xps720 desktop. it works basically, but has glitches. i tested the modified lightcycle-version of Scott Quibell with 50 cycles and found the following:
-side: will turn back&frontlow OFF, fronttop=static on
-front: will turn back&fronttop OFF, frontlow=static on
-top: will turn frontlow&fronttop OFF, back pluses 50 times
-all: all 3 groups pluse 50 times correctly
does this help you to pinpoint the difference? can you fix things for xps720?
and finally: in the making, did yousee ANY chance that the LED's could be adressed with RGB values os something more precise than the 16 basecolors?
I expect that Dell has a different driver for the XPS 720. As I don't have access to an XPS 720 it is not possible for me to fix this. If you're familiar with C code, you can twiddle around the indices in the buffer and see what happens. If you can find out how to work it, I'll include your modifications in my source code (if we can make a version that works with both the laptop and desktop).
Also, you could look into the Dell official Light FX program, which is roughly equivalent to mine. See http://www.dell.com/html/global/xps/lightfx/ind...
Regarding color choice - this is sadly not possible. My program exposes the full range supported by the XPS laptop at least.
Any help would be appreciated.
The program is a command line program, double clicking will produce exactly the message you see. Please execute the command on the command. If you don't know how to do this, you can try out Daniel's description in these comments.