This project provides a simple MQTT-based controller for Kuando HID-based Busylights (Alpha and Omega). It allows controlling colors, blinking, fading effects, rainbow cycling, and ringtones by sending plain text MQTT payloads.

It supports:

• Opening the device by VID/PID, autodetect by VID, or explicit HID device path
• A keep-alive loop to prevent the Busylight from going idle
• Periodic status output to the console
• Optional daemon mode on POSIX systems (Linux)

• Control Kuando Busylights via MQTT.
• Solid colors (color_*)
• Blinking (blink_color_*)
• Fade effect (fade_*, fade_off)
• Rainbow effect (rainbow_on, rainbow_off)
• Ringtones (ring_*, stop_ringtone)
• Raw RGB payloads (raw_color R,G,B)
• Device control (reset_device, device_bootloader)
• Keep-alive thread (configurable interval/timeout)
• Status logging (device/mqtt/effect/last command)
• CLI options for all settings
• Daemon option with pidfile (POSIX only)

• Kuando Busylight UC Omega or Alpha (HID USB device)

USB-IDs include:

• 27bb:3bca (PLENOM/Kuando devices)
• 27bb:3bcf, 27bb:3bcd (other variants)
• Some Alpha devices may use different VID/PID combinations

• Linux/OSX (recommended) or other OS supported by hidapi
• Python 3.x
• Python packages:
  • hid (python-hidapi wrapper)
  • paho-mqtt

Create and activate a virtual environment, then install dependencies:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install hid paho-mqtt

Permissions (Linux / Debian)

If the HID device only opens as root, you likely need a udev rule for /dev/hidraw*.

Example rule for Kuando/Plenom (VID 27bb):

sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-busylight.rules >/dev/null <<'RULE'
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="27bb", MODE="0660", GROUP="plugdev", TAG+="uaccess"
RULE
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger
sudo usermod -aG plugdev "$USER"

Use this to verify VID/PID and to get a usable HID path:

python3 busylight_mqtt_v1.py --list-devices

Print supported MQTT commands:

python3 busylight_mqtt_v1.py --print-commands

Run the controller (example with explicit VID/PID):

python3 busylight_mqtt_v1.py \
 --vendor-id 0x27bb --product-id 0x3bca \
 --mqtt-host mqtt.sixtopia.net --mqtt-port 1883 \
 --mqtt-user mqtt --mqtt-password 'YOUR_PASSWORD'

Run with autodetect (VID only):

If you omit --product-id, the program will pick the first device matching the vendor ID:

python3 busylight_mqtt_v1.py \
 --vendor-id 0x27bb \
 --mqtt-host mqtt.sixtopia.net --mqtt-port 1883 \
 --mqtt-user mqtt --mqtt-password 'YOUR_PASSWORD'

Run by HID path (most deterministic)

python3 busylight_mqtt_v1.py --list-devices

Then copy the PATH=... value and run:

python3 busylight_mqtt_v1.py \
 --device-path "b'...your path bytes...'" \
 --mqtt-host mqtt.sixtopia.net --mqtt-port 1883 \
 --mqtt-user mqtt --mqtt-password 'YOUR_PASSWORD'

Daemon mode (POSIX)
python3 busylight_mqtt_v1.py --daemon --pidfile /run/busylight_mqtt.pid \
 --vendor-id 0x27bb --product-id 0x3bca \
 --mqtt-host mqtt.sixtopia.net --mqtt-port 1883 \
 --mqtt-user mqtt --mqtt-password 'YOUR_PASSWORD'

Default topic:
busylight/control
Override with:
--mqtt-topic <topic>
Payload format
Payload is plain UTF-8 text
One command per message
No JSON required
Example Commands
Solid colors
color_red
color_green
color_blue
color_yellow
color_cyan
color_magenta
color_white
color_orange
color_purple
color_pink
color_brown
Blinking
blink_color_red
blink_color_green
blink_color_blue
blink_color_yellow
blink_color_cyan
blink_color_magenta
blink_color_white
blink_color_orange
blink_color_purple
blink_color_pink
blink_color_brown

Accepted forms:

fade_red, fade_green, fade_blue, ...
fade_color_red, fade_color_green, ...
Stop fade:
fade_off
Fade behavior is controlled by:
--fade-step
--fade-delay

rainbow_on
rainbow_off
Rainbow speed is controlled by:
--rainbow-delay

Format:

raw_color R,G,B

Example:

raw_color 255,0,0

ring_off
ring_open_office
ring_quiet
ring_funky
ring_fairy_tale
ring_kuando_train
ring_telephone_nordic
ring_telephone_original
ring_telephone_pick_me_up
ring_buzz
Stop ringtone:
stop_ringtone
Ringtone volume is controlled by:
--ringtone-volume (0..7)

off — stop effects and turn LEDs off
reset_device — send reset opcode
device_bootloader — switch device into bootloader mode

• The program periodically logs a line like:

• device state (opened or not)

• VID/PID

• mqtt connection state

• current effect (none/rainbow/fade)

• last received command payload

Control the interval with:

--status-interval 5

• HID:

--vendor-id 0x27bb

--product-id 0x3bca

--device-path

--list-devices

• MQTT:

--mqtt-host

--mqtt-port

--mqtt-topic

--mqtt-client-id

--mqtt-user

--mqtt-password

--mqtt-keepalive

• Effects:

--rainbow-delay

--fade-step <1..255>

--fade-delay

--ringtone-volume <0..7>

• Keep-alive:

--ka-timeout <0..15>

--ka-interval

• Logging/status:

--log-level DEBUG|INFO|WARNING|ERROR

--status-interval

• Daemon:

--daemon

--pidfile

• Daemon mode: optional POSIX daemonization with pidfile.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.