2024 Linux Instructions (node-hid 3.0.0, async TypeScript)

[westwood846]

This project hasn't been updated in five years and didn't work on my Ubuntu 23.10. I was getting some python-related build errors when running npm install. Maybe because Ubuntu uses Python 3 by default, and the old node-hid package versions depend on Python 2.7 for building.

Luckily, this project only has one dependency, https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-hid, and the source-code on here is fairly straight-forward. I was able to start using my Blinkstick Pro again like so:

import { HIDAsync as Device, devicesAsync } from "node-hid"; // node-hid@3.0.0

const run = async () => {
  const devices = await devicesAsync();
  const bsDeviceInfo = devices.find(({ product }) => product === "BlinkStick");

  if (!bsDeviceInfo) throw new Error("No BlinkStick found");
  if (!bsDeviceInfo.path) throw new Error("BlinkStick does not have path");

  const bs = await Device.open(bsDeviceInfo.path);

  // Set LED at index 0 to red
  const red = [255, 0, 0];
  const index = 0;
  await bs.sendFeatureReport(Buffer.from([5, 0, index, ...red]));

  await bs.close();
};

run();

Hope that helps people here to get started!

Some notes from me:

• node-hid is well typed, so it's easy to explore.
• Colors are represented as RGB values with type [number, number, number], where number is from 0-255
• You mainly interact with the BlinkStick through sendFeatureReport
  • A FeatureReport is just a Buffer/Array of numbers
  • The first element seems to be some kind of "command" parameter. 5 is for setting a LED's color.
  • The rest is args for the command
    • The first arg is called channel in this repo, but I couldn't figure out what it's for
    • The second arg is the index of the LED you want to change
    • The last three args are an RGB array for the color
• node-hid also has a synchronous API if you prefer
• I only have the BlinkStick Pro so idk if this works for the other products
• Don't be discouraged to look at @arvydas's code in this repo, it should teach you how to do other things

[antti5]

Many thanks for this! It was a big help for me.

Your code works just fine for BlinkStick Nano as well, with the only difference that you have to check for product "BlinkStick Nano". Or maybe better, use startsWith("BlinkStick").

On my BlinkStick Nano, the RGB value has to be at least 3 for a LED to actually light up.

[wolfgang42]

I only have the BlinkStick Pro so idk if this works for the other products

The OG BlinkStick (and, I think, any other single-LED models) doesn’t seem to understand the 5 command, hence this code:

blinkstick-node/blinkstick.js

Lines 391 to 395 in f9ba968

	if (params.options.channel === 0 && params.options.index === 0) {
	self.setFeatureReport(1, [1, r, g, b], callback);
	} else {
	self.setFeatureReport(5, [5, params.options.channel, params.options.index, r, g, b], callback);
	}

If all you need to do is send a single color, the mod to the above code is easy and I think this should work for any model:

-  await bs.sendFeatureReport(Buffer.from([5, 0, index, ...red]));
+  await bs.sendFeatureReport(Buffer.from([1, ...red]));

[wolfgang42]

Also, I needed to add this to /etc/udev/rules.d/85-blinkstick.rules to make it work without needing root:

SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTRS{idProduct}=="41e5", MODE:="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

(Mostly copied from blinkstick --add-udev-rule, except that defines it for SUBSYSTEM=="usb". Don’t ask me what the difference is, though.)

[Ginden]

@westwood846 @antti5 You may be interested in my fork that uses node-hid@3 by default, and comes with Typescript support.

[antti5]

In case anyone needs a working CLI utility for Node.JS, I published my own tool in NPM: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@antti5/blinkstick-cli

It is extremely minimal, but it covers my needs as I only use these as simple signaling LEDs. It allows you to turn on/off the LEDs with simple commands like blinkstick red, blinkstick off, blinkstick blue --blink.

It supports multiple LEDs and should work with different models. LED brightness is adjustable.

For any more complex needs I would advice using what @Ginden linked to in the previous comment.