blinkt-persistence is a simple command line API, that allows manipulating Pimoroni Blinkt! lights by separate processes (original Python API allows for that only from a single process, since the device itself is write-only, and light states are just stored as global variable).
This API simply uses an internal cache to store the device state and restore it on every script execution. Not much efficient, but does the job. Contributions are welcome.
Using this API, user can write bigger programs, not necessarily in Python, that use Blinkt! LED lights as indicators of something, without digging into Blinkt! details.
API v1 provides 2 simple scripts. The first, set-pixel-rgb.py allows setting a single "pixel" (LED light) into desired color and brightness:
Usage: set-pixel-rgb.py <cache-file> <pixel:0-7> <brightness:0-10> <r:0-255> <g:0-255> <b:0-255>
example:
set-pixel-rgb.py /run/blinkt.json 0 7 0 200 0
parameters:
cache-file- rull path to JSON cache file (created if not exists, putting it inside/rundirectory will prevent surviving Raspberry Pi reboot)pixel- pixel number, from 0 (left side, near power port) to 7 (right side, near USB ports)brightness- either 0 (disabled but still set to given color) or 1-10r,g,b- RGB color components, 0-255
Another script, set-brightness.py, allows adjusting brightness of all lights at the same time:
Usage: set-brightness.py <cache-file> <brightness:0-10>
example:
set-brightness.py /run/blinkt.json 1
Setting brightness to 0 still preserves colors, so lights can be eg. turned off/on for a while (however original brightness is not preserved).
First, you have to install Blinkt! software, by executing this as "pi" user on console:
curl https://get.pimoroni.com/blinkt | bash
You can find more about Pimoroni Blinkt! devices here
After thet, you can use this API.
I've tested Pimoroni Blinkt! devices with:
- Raspberry Pi 3B (rev. 1.2)
- Raspberry Pi 3B+ (rev. 1.3)
- Raspberry Pi 400
- Raspberry Pi Zero
- Raspberry Pi Zero W
on:
- Raspbian Jessie
- Raspbian Stretch
- Raspbian Buster