whyLIAN

Lian Li device control for Linux — HydroShift II AdvanceMode fork of lian-li-linux

GitHub · Product context · Roadmap · Changelog

Current release: v1.0.4 · AUR: whylian / whylian-git (Arch package names are lowercase)

About

whyLIAN keeps HydroShift II LCD-S/C AdvanceMode setups working on Linux without L-Connect 3: radiator fan PWM, pump control, wireless RGB, USB LCD streaming, and coolant-based fan curves — with sensible defaults on first discovery.

Fork of lian-li-linux (MIT). Upstream credit and submodule licenses: NOTICE.

Read this before installing

whyLIAN controls fans, pumps, and cooling hardware via reverse-engineered protocols. It is not official Lian Li software. You are responsible for temperatures, hardware safety, and legal compliance — not the authors or packagers.

By installing or running whyLIAN you accept DISCLAIMER.md in full, including no warranty and no liability for hardware damage, overheating, or data loss.

Summary: keep the daemon running on headless systems (loginctl enable-linger), monitor coolant/CPU temps after config changes, never run L-Connect 3 and whyLIAN on the same RF dongle at once.

Documentation

Doc	Purpose
PRODUCT_CONTEXT.md	Problem, architecture, scope
ROADMAP.md	Done / planned / research items
CHANGELOG.md	Fork release notes
RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md	Pre-tag verification steps
CONTRIBUTING.md	Dev setup, PR guidelines
DISCLAIMER.md	Required reading — liability, cooling risk, acceptance
SECURITY.md	Vulnerability reporting
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md	Community standards

Fork highlights

Feature	whyLIAN	Upstream default
TLV2 radiator pairing (WaterBlock2 fan_count=0)	Auto	Manual TLV2 fan group
Coolant fan/pump curve	Auto Coolant curve	Constant ~50% PWM
AdvanceMode wireless theme	Index 4	0
HydroShift II USB LCD	Auto + cooler template	Manual lcds entry
Resume	Wireless recover + restart	Restart only

Implementation: crates/lianli-devices/src/wireless/pairing.rs, crates/lianli-shared/src/hydroshift.rs.

Not implemented (Windows USB RE required): LCD surround ring RGB, USB-mode fan/pump, firmware updates. Wireless pump-head RGB (24 LEDs) works via the existing RGB controller.

Install (Arch / CachyOS)

Development (recommended):

git clone --recursive https://github.com/byrdltd/whyLIAN.git
cd whyLIAN
./scripts/dev-setup.sh
./scripts/install-dev.sh --enable-linger   # ~/.local/bin + udev + user systemd unit
systemctl --user enable --now lianli-daemon

Production:

yay -S whylian

AUR: yay -S whylian (release tag) or yay -S whylian-git (main branch) — see packaging/aur/.

Dependencies: libusb, ffmpeg, and libraries listed in the PKGBUILD. Replaces lianli-linux, lianli-linux-git, and whylian-git if previously installed.

---

Supported Devices

HID

Device	Fan Control	RGB	LCD	Pump	Tested
UNI FAN SL / AL / SL Infinity / SL V2 / AL V2	4 groups	Yes	-	-	Yes
UNI FAN TL Controller	4 ports	Yes	-	-	Yes
UNI FAN TL LCD	4 ports	Yes	400x400	-	Yes
Galahad II Trinity AIO	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	Yes
HydroShift LCD AIO	Yes	Yes	480x480	Yes	Yes
Galahad II LCD / Vision AIO	Yes	Yes	480x480	Yes	Yes

* Galahad II LCD / Vision uses the same driver as HydroShift LCD AIO.

Wireless (via TX/RX dongle)

Device	Fan Control	RGB	LCD	Pump	Tested
UNI FAN TL V2 (LCD / LED)	Yes	Yes	400x400	-	Yes
UNI FAN SL V3 (LCD / LED)	Yes	Yes	400x400	-	Yes
UNI FAN SL-INF	Yes	Yes	-	-	Yes
UNI FAN CL / RL120	Yes	Yes	-	-	-
HydroShift II LCD-C (Wireless)	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	Yes
HydroShift II LCD-S (Wireless)	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	Yes
Strimer Plus Wireless	-	Yes	-	-	Yes
Lancool 217 Wireless	-	Yes	-	-	-
Lancool V150 Wireless	Yes	Yes	-	-	-
Universal Screen 8.8" Wireless	-	Yes	-	-	-

Both V1 (VID 0x0416) and V2 (VID 0x1A86) wireless dongles are supported. Binding devices is supported through the GUI.

HydroShift II AdvanceMode (WaterBlock2 + external TLV2 radiator cluster) is tested on one workstation configuration. Other wireless AIO / radiator combinations are not guaranteed.

Note: Wireless devices with LCDs still need to be plugged in via USB to control the LCD. LCD cannot be controlled through wireless dongle alone.

USB (Standalone LCD)

Device	LCD	Tested	Notes
HydroShift II LCD Circle	480x480	Yes
HydroShift II LCD Square	480x480	Yes
Lancool 207 Digital	1472x720	Yes
Universal Screen 8.8"	1920x480	Yes
Universal Screen 8.8" LED Ring	-	Yes	RGB control supported

Devices stuck in desktop/display mode are detected and can be switched back to LCD mode via the GUI.

Display mode switching

HydroShift II, Lancool 207 Digital, and Universal Screen 8.8" can run in LCD mode (custom content via the daemon) or desktop/display mode (Windows-only native monitor). On Linux, whyLIAN detects devices stuck in display mode and switches them back to LCD mode via the GUI. Virtual-monitor desktop mode is not supported — there is no evdi dependency and no modprobe evdi in packaging.

Other

Device	RGB	Tested
Strimer Plus (wired)	Yes	-

If you've tested a device that isn't marked as tested above, please open an issue or PR to update this table.

Architecture

lianli-daemon          User service - fan control loop + LCD streaming
  lianli-devices       HID/USB device drivers
  lianli-transport     USB bulk transport (wireless protocol, display streaming)
  lianli-media         Image/video/GIF encoding, sensor gauge rendering
  lianli-shared        IPC types, config schema, device IDs

lianli-gui             Slint desktop app - connects to daemon via Unix socket

The daemon runs as a user systemd service. USB access is granted via udev rules (no root required). The GUI connects over $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/lianli-daemon.sock.

Installing

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S whylian

Or with any AUR helper (paru, trizen, etc.). Installs binaries, udev rules, systemd user service, desktop entry, and icons. Globally enables lianli-daemon.service for new users.

For headless fan control: sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER.

From Source

1. Clone the repo and submodules:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/byrdltd/whyLIAN.git && cd whyLIAN

If you already cloned without --recurse-submodules, run: git submodule update --init --recursive

2. Install dependencies:

• Rust (stable, 1.75+)
• ffmpeg and ffprobe in PATH (for video/GIF decoding)
• System libraries:

# Arch
sudo pacman -S hidapi libusb ffmpeg fontconfig mesa libxkbcommon wayland libx11 libinput libdrm clang cmake pkg-config nasm rust

3. Build:

cargo build --release

Binaries: target/release/lianli-daemon and target/release/lianli-gui

4. Install udev rules (required for USB access without root):

sudo cp packaging/udev/99-lianli.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

5. Install and start the daemon:

./scripts/install-dev.sh --enable-linger
systemctl --user enable --now lianli-daemon

Or use ./install.sh for a system-wide install to /usr/bin.

A default config is created automatically at ~/.config/lianli/config.json on first run.

6. Install desktop entry and icons:

# Install icons
for size in 32x32 128x128 256x256 scalable; do mkdir -p ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/$size/apps; done
cp assets/icons/32x32.png ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/com.sgtaziz.lianlilinux.png
cp assets/icons/128x128.png ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/com.sgtaziz.lianlilinux.png
cp assets/icons/128x128@2x.png ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/com.sgtaziz.lianlilinux.png
cp assets/icons/icon.svg ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/com.sgtaziz.lianlilinux.svg

# Install desktop entry
cp packaging/desktop/com.sgtaziz.lianlilinux.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/

With Docker

./docker/build.sh

The script builds the image (matching your UID/GID), mounts a cargo cache, and runs cargo build --release. Artifacts land in target/release/ on the host. Then follow steps 4-6 from "From Source" above.

Configuration

The daemon reads ~/.config/lianli/config.json. The GUI edits this file via the daemon's IPC socket.

LCD Streaming

Each LCD entry specifies a target device (by serial), media type, and orientation:

Type	Description
image	Static image (JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF)
video	Video file (decoded frame-by-frame via ffmpeg)
gif	Animated GIF
color	Solid RGB color
sensor	Live sensor gauge (CPU temp, GPU temp, etc.)

Fan Curves

Fan curves map a temperature source (any shell command) to a speed percentage. Points are linearly interpolated; temperatures outside the curve range clamp to the nearest point's speed.

Fan Speed Modes

Mode	Description
0	Off (0% PWM)
"curve-name"	Follow a named fan curve
1-255	Constant PWM duty (1=0.4%, 128=50%, 255=100%)
"__mb_sync__"	Mirror motherboard PWM signal (hardware passthrough)

Troubleshooting

Daemon won't start / no devices found:

# Check udev rules are loaded
sudo udevadm test /sys/bus/usb/devices/<your-device>

# Check daemon logs
journalctl --user -u lianli-daemon -f

GUI says "Daemon offline":

# Verify daemon is running
systemctl --user status lianli-daemon

# Check socket exists
ls -la $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/lianli-daemon.sock

Permission denied on USB device:

# Re-trigger udev after plugging in device
sudo udevadm trigger

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

This project is not affiliated with Lian Li Industrial Co., Ltd. Protocol information was obtained through reverse engineering for interoperability purposes.