Acer Gaming RGB keyboard backlight and Turbo mode Linux kernel module (Acer Predator, Acer Helios, Acer Nitro)
Inspired by https://github.com/hackbnw/faustus, this project extends current acer-wmi linux kernel module to support Acer gaming functions
Turbo mode should support Acer Helios Predator and Acer Triton Predator series. RGB Keyboard is only tested on Acer (Predator, Helios, Nitro) 300 series ( 4-zone RGB ).
Experimental unofficial Linux platform driver module for Acer Predator Gaming series laptops.
WARNING: Use at your own risk. This driver interacts with low-level WMI methods which haven't been tested on all series.
Will this work on my laptop?
Compablity table:
Product name | Turbo Mode (Implemented) | Turbo Mode (Tested) | RGB (Impelmented) | RGB (Tested) |
---|---|---|---|---|
AN515-45 | - | - | Yes | Yes |
AN515-55 | - | - | Yes | Yes |
AN517-41 | - | - | Yes | Yes |
PH315-52 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
PH315-53 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
PH317-53 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
PH317-54 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
PH517-51 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
PH517-52 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
PH517-61 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
PH717-71 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
PH717-72 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
PT314-51 | No | No | Yes | Yes |
PT315-51 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
PT315-52 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
PT515-51 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
PT515-52 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
PT917-71 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Obviously, I don't have access to all these models, so if it worked(or not) for you, kindly please mention your model on issues so we can ship this to Linux kernel.
You can find your model using this command:
sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name
I think dynamic RGB effects should work only on 4zone RGB keyboards like 300 series but haven't tested other models.
Check the output of this command:
# file /sys/bus/wmi/devices/7A4DDFE7-5B5D-40B4-8595-4408E0CC7F56/
If the directory exists, it may work fine. Otherwise, RGB will not work at all.
Secure boot must be disabled.
Install linux headers using your distro package manager:
Ubuntu (or other Debian baseds distros):
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) gcc make
Arch (I don't use arch anymore btw):
sudo pacman -S linux-headers
git clone https://github.com/JafarAkhondali/acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module
cd "acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module"
chmod +x ./install.sh
sudo ./install.sh
git clone https://github.com/JafarAkhondali/acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module
cd "acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module"
chmod +x ./*.sh
sudo ./install_service.sh
git clone https://github.com/JafarAkhondali/acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module
cd "acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module"
chmod +x ./*.sh
sudo ./install_openrc.sh
Turbo mode should work fine by using the turbo button on keyboard.
For RGB, the module will mount a new character device at /dev/acer-gkbbl-0
to communicate
with kernel space.
To make it easier to interact with this device, a simple python script has been attached.
./facer_rgb.py
or check help for more advanced usage:
./facer_rgb.py --help
usage: facer_rgb.py [-h] [-m MODE] [-z ZONE] [-s SPEED] [-b BRIGHTNESS] [-d DIRECTION] [-cR RED] [-cG GREEN] [-cB BLUE]
Interacts with experimental Acer-wmi kernel module.
-m [mode index]
Effect modes:
0 -> Static [Accepts ZoneID[1,2,3,4] + RGB Color]
1 -> Breath [Accepts RGB color]
2 -> Neon
3 -> Wave
4 -> Shifting [Accepts RGB color]
5 -> Zoom [Accepts RGB color]
-z [ZoneID]
Zone ID(Only in static mode):
Possible values: 1,2,3,4
-s [speed]
Animation Speed:
0 -> No animation speed (static)
1 -> Slowest animation speed
9 -> Fastest animation speed
You can use values between 1-9 to adjust the speed or increase speed even more than 255, but keep in mind
that values higher than 9 were not used in the official PredatorSense application.
-b [brightness]
Keyboard backlight Brightness:
0 -> No backlight (turned off)
100 -> Maximum backlight brightness
-d [direction]
Animation direction:
1 -> Right to Left
2 -> Left to Right
-cR [red value]
Some modes require specific [R]GB color
0 -> Minimum red range
255 -> Maximum red range
-cG [green value]
Some modes require specific R[G]B color
0 -> Minimum green range
255 -> Maximum green range
-cB [blue value]
Some modes require specific RG[B] color
0 -> Minimum blue range
255 -> Maximum blue range
-save [profile name]
Add as last argument to save to a profile
-load [profile name]
Loads the profile if it exists
-list
Lists all the saved profiles in config directory
config directory is "$HOME/.config/predator/saved profiles/"
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-m MODE
-z ZONE
-s SPEED
-b BRIGHTNESS
-d DIRECTION
-cR RED
-cG GREEN
-cB BLUE
-save NAME
-load NAME
-list
Sample usages:
Breath effect with Purple color(speed=4, brightness=100):
./facer_rgb.py -m 1 -s 4 -b 100 -cR 255 -cG 0 -cB 255
Neon effect(speed=3, brightness=100):
./facer_rgb.py -m 2 -s 3 -b 100
Wave effect(speed=5, brightness=100):
./facer_rgb.py -m 3 -s 5 -b 100
Shifting effect with Blue color (speed=5, brightness=100):
./facer_rgb.py -m 4 -s 5 -b 100 -cR 0 -cB 255 -cG 0
Zoom effect with Green color (speed=7, brightness=100):
./facer_rgb.py -m 5 -s 7 -b 100 -cR 0 -cB 0 -cG 255
Static waving (speed=0):
./facer_rgb.py -m 3 -s 0 -b 100
Static mode coloring (zone=1 => most left zone, color=blue):
./facer_rgb.py -m 0 -z 1 -cR 0 -cB 255 -cG 0
Static mode coloring (zone=4 => most right zone, color=purple) and save it as example:
./facer_rgb.py -m 0 -z 4 -cR 255 -cB 255 -cG 0
Load the previously saved profile:
./facer_rgb.py -load example
If installation failed, check this issue If something didn't look right, do a reboot (or boot to windows) and play a little with some Predator Sense app to reset ACPI registers.
Simply run ./uninstall.sh
and (hopefully) everything should be back to normal.
If you have installed it as a service, simply run ./uninstal_service.sh
If this worked or didn't worked for you, kindly make a new issue, and attach the following if possible:
sudo dmidecode | grep "Product Name" -B 2 -A 4
sudo cat /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/DSDT > dsdt.aml
Donations are not required, but shows your ❤️ to open source and encourages me to implement more features for this project. Paypal
BNB: bnb18vseyxgydwq8xs2hmz7chekazz9jmj7uplvapg
Tether(ERC20): 0x11753b26B4d91177B779D429a6a1C1C90f722f1C
BTC: bc1qpd2v5acc8m8gjmpg78lhz5uakjxdclmawq3xdc
Are you a developer?
- Fork it!
- Create your feature branch:
git checkout -b my-new-feature
- Commit your changes:
git commit -am 'Add some feature'
- Push to the branch:
git push origin my-new-feature
- Submit a pull request
- Send patch to kernel mainline (currently only turbo mode for 315-53 is implemented)
- Implement Turbo mode
- Implement RGB Dynamic effects (4-zone)
- Implement RGB Static coloring (4-zone)
- Install as a systemd service (Thanks to Kapitoha)
- Add support for saving\load\list profiles (Thanks to jayrfs)
- Install as openrc service (Thanks to Axtloss)
- GUI (Zehra is working on this, but it's still in beta )
- Custom Fans speed
- Implement RGB Dynamic effects (per key RGB)
- Implement RGB Static coloring (per key RGB)
GNU General Public License v3