Knight Rider lights in Linux? Really? How to?

With wackyd program.

What is wackyd?

wackyd (pronounced wacky-dee) is a daemon that controls the LED lights on your extended keyboard. By default it sets the lights in motion in a Knight Rider pattern. Knight Rider was a very stupid American television show. Its only redeeming social value was, of course, the blinking lights. To wackyd that pattern looks like this: xoo,oxo,oox,oxo

wackyd implements the WACKY protocol which allows it to serve as a notification system. It listens for instructions on a remote port. You’ve got mail? Change the keyboard pattern. You want to let a co-worker know that the boss is coming? Change HIS keyboard pattern. The possibilites are endless…

libwacky is a C library which supports the WACKY protocol. Bundled with the library is another program, wackyp, which allows one to send commands to a wackyd. libwacky and wackyp were designed to allow wacky users an easy means to communicate with a wackyd. Use the library to automate notification processes. Or to bug your friends, family and co-workers.

WACKY/1.0 protocol is the basis for the implementation of keyboard notification. The protocol is similar to HTTP. The client establishes a TCP connection and issues a series of commands followed by two returns which notifiy the server of the end of its instructions. The server reads those commands, parses the light blinking pattern, logs any messages and closes the connection.

Enough talk, let's go to installation.

Open a terminal and type:

$ sudo apt-get install make
$ wget http://download.joedog.org/wackyd/wackyd-latest.tar.gz
$ tar -zxvf wackyd-latest.tar.gz
$ cd wackyd-2.03/
$ ./configure
$ make
$ su
# make install
# exit
$ wackyd <-- Run the program

Check your LED lights on the keyboard! Awesome!

$ wackyd -k <-- Kill or stop the program

Wackyd remember me tleds and xtleds programs. Below there are some videos of tleds running:

CREATING LAUNCHERS IN MATE DESKTOP:

Right click on MATE Desktop Panel and select "Add to panel".

Type: Application
Name: Knight Rider Lights ON
Command: wackyd
Comment: Knight Rider Lights ON

Example:

Type: Application
Name: Knight Rider Lights OFF
Command: wackyd -k
Comment: Knight Rider Lights OFF

Example:

That's all.

Tuxkernel...