Keyboards and peripherals

Some devices can do more on bromigOS than type. A keyboard’s macro keys can open VECTOR and the holograms, its dial can change VECTOR’s voice, and its lighting can take his colour. Each device’s extras come in a peripheral module, which is off until you turn it on.

bromigOS has a module for Razer keyboards, and one for Xbox Wireless Controllers. You can write one for a similar keyboard.

Turn a module on

1. Connect the device.
2. Open Settings › Peripherals, and turn the module on. Or open the menu and choose SETUP › Peripherals.

The first run also asks, when a device with a module is connected.

From a terminal:

bromigos peripheral                         # the modules, and whether your device is connected
bromigos peripheral enable razer-keyboard   # turn one on
bromigos peripheral status                  # what each key does now
bromigos peripheral disable razer-keyboard  # turn it off again

A Razer keyboard

This module works with the Razer keyboards that openrazer supports, such as the BlackWidow, Huntsman and Ornata.

Turning it on:

• installs openrazer, the driver the macro keys and the lighting need;
• adds you to the openrazer group, so log out and back in once;
• sets up the keys, the dial and the lighting.

A new driver loads after you restart the computer.

These keys only work on this keyboard, so other keyboards never set them off. A keyboard without some of these keys simply doesn’t have them. Without VECTOR, his keys do nothing.

The lighting

The keyboard lights up in the colour of the voice VECTOR is using:

• amber when he’s concerned;
• red and pulsing when he’s alarmed;
• brighter while he listens or speaks;
• your theme’s main colour, dimmed, when he isn’t running.

To use your theme’s colour all the time, set Lighting follows to the theme in Settings › Peripherals, or set rgb_follow = "theme" in the file below.

An Xbox controller

The xbox-controller module installs xpadneo, the full driver for Xbox Wireless Controllers over Bluetooth. It adds rumble, the battery and the button layout games expect. Pair the controller first: Bluetooth has the steps. Then:

bromigos peripheral enable xbox-controller

It installs xpadneo-dkms and the headers of each kernel you have installed, so the driver builds for every one of them. Switch the controller off and on again afterwards. The module has no keys and nothing to set.

Change what a key does

Your choices are in ~/.config/bromigos/peripherals.toml:

[razer-keyboard]
enabled = true
rgb = "all"            # all: the keyboard and a Razer mouse; device: the keyboard only; off
rgb_follow = "theme"   # the theme's colour; "vector" (the default) follows his voice
dial = true            # false: leave the dial alone

[razer-keyboard.keys]
side1 = "bromigos-live timeline"   # any command
m5 = ""                            # nothing

After you save it, run bromigos peripheral refresh. If you made a typo, bromigos peripheral status tells you.

Another keyboard

A keyboard that can send the keys F13 to F24, as many programmable keyboards can, works with a module of your own: a folder in ~/.config/bromigos/peripherals/ with one file that describes its keys. The lighting needs openrazer, so for now it works on Razer devices only.

The format is in the developer docs: peripherals.md.

Playing games

On a BlackWidow V4 Pro with the Razer module enabled, Fn+F10 toggles game mode. Its gaming LED follows the mode. Ctrl+Shift+F12 leaves it, even if the keyboard has disabled Super. This needs the module’s existing OpenRazer and input-device permissions. You can always enter with Super+Ctrl+G or bromigos game on.