SteelSeries OLED

Omarchy plugin that puts the official OMARCHY wordmark on the OLED of a SteelSeries Apex keyboard.

A keyboard icon in the bar shows whether the GIF is looping. Click it for status and a one-time udev install (polkit prompt). The service keeps streaming after you unplug and replug.

The Apex OLED has no onboard animation storage — frames are streamed over HID — so the onboard OLED menus will lose the fight while the service is running. Turning Display off (or apply.py --release) blanks the panel.

Supported keyboards

Same 128×40 legacy OLED protocol:

• Apex 7 and Apex 7 TKL (1038:1612, 1038:1618)
• Apex Pro and Apex Pro TKL (1038:1610, 1038:1614)
• Apex 5 (1038:161c)

Install

omarchy plugin add https://github.com/Auxxed/omarchy-steelseries-oled.git --enable

The widget lands on the right of the bar. Move it with:

omarchy bar move io.github.auxxed.steelseries-oled --section center

Runtime is python3 (stdlib) for HID. Importing a custom GIF or still needs ImageMagick (magick), which Omarchy already ships.

Keyboard access

The OLED is /dev/hidraw* on USB vendor 1038, interface 1. A one-time udev rule lets the seated session write it without root. The panel can install that rule through a polkit prompt (fixed bytes, not a copy of the plugin tree). By hand:

sudo ~/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.auxxed.steelseries-oled/install-udev.sh

The rule is named 71-steelseries-apex-oled.rules so TAG+="uaccess" is applied before systemd seat ACLs. It sets MODE=0660 plus uaccess for the listed Apex PIDs. It does not run any program. Unplug and replug if the ACL does not land immediately.

Usage

• Left click the bar icon: open the panel
• Display (or right-click the icon): turn the loop on or off. Off blanks the panel.
• Invert: flip black and white
• Speed: frame delay
• Contrast: 1-bit threshold for a custom image
• Cycle walks bundled art: typewriter loop → still wordmark → 3D spin
• Choose image imports a GIF or still (png/jpg/webp/bmp), resized to 128×40 1-bit. Use last image brings a custom import back.
• Allow access appears only when the keyboard is present but not writable
• omarchy-shell io.github.auxxed.steelseries-oled power

Remove

omarchy plugin remove io.github.auxxed.steelseries-oled

If the plugin directory is already gone, delete the rule by hand:

sudo rm -f /etc/udev/rules.d/71-steelseries-apex-oled.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

Removal does not factory-reset the OLED. Unplug the keyboard (or open its onboard menu) to leave the firmware logo showing again. The udev rule, if you installed it, stays until you remove that file yourself.

Manual apply

# Loop the GIF in the foreground (Ctrl-C blanks the panel)
python3 ~/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.auxxed.steelseries-oled/apply.py

# Still wordmark only
python3 ~/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.auxxed.steelseries-oled/apply.py --once
python3 ~/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.auxxed.steelseries-oled/apply.py --invert

# Blank the panel
python3 ~/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.auxxed.steelseries-oled/apply.py --release

assets/omarchy-oled-128x40.gif is the looping idle animation. Regenerate it from the still wordmark with python3 make_gif.py (needs ImageMagick). The .png is the same still, sized for SteelSeries GG if you ever set a static idle screen from Windows.

Plugin files: manifest.json, Service.qml, OledBarWidget.qml, OledPanel.qml, apply.py, udev/71-steelseries-apex-oled.rules.

How it works

A headless service starts apply.py --watch. That process finds USB vendor 1038 on HID interface 1, then streams 642-byte feature reports (0x61 + 640 packed pixels) at 10 fps — the same payload Linux Apex 7 tools have used for years. JSON status lines drive the bar widget.

The idle image lives in keyboard RAM. Firmware restores its own logo after a power cycle unless this service is running.

Marketplace

Category Hardware. Tags: bar, quickshell, system.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

The wordmark is the official Omarchy mark from logo.svg (MIT), rasterized to the Apex OLED's 128×40 1-bit panel. Omarchy and SteelSeries names are used to describe the hardware and desktop this plugin talks to.