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Welcome to Mark Baggett - In Depth Defense

I am the course Author of SANS SEC573 Automating Information Security with Python. Check back frequently for updated tools and articles related to course material.




Awesome Keyboard Tricks - Clevo/Sager Backlight control from Powershell

I'm back on Windows.   After 8 years on a Macintosh I just couldn't go another day with ONLY 16GB of RAM.   I priced it out and for the cost of a top of the line MacBook I could get a tricked out PC with 32GB of ram and 2.5 TB or hard drive space (1.5 of it being SSD).   So I made the switch.  To get a top performing laptop I ended up buying a gaming machine from xoticpc.com.   The model is Sager NP9752 (Clevo P750ZM).    I have to say I like it quite a bit.    One of the features I was curious about was the "Programmable backlit keyboard".   With it you can set your keyboard backlight to various colors and light movement patterns.    Now, when I hear "programmable" I think APIs.   I was a little disappointed to find out there weren't any documented APIs that I could use to control the keyboard.    Your only choice is to use their built in tool to configure the lights on the keyboard.   That stinks.  I want to be able to change key colors automatically from the command line and from within my own programs.  So through a little code analysis and examination of open source Linux versions of drivers I was able to put together the following Powershell Script.

https://code.google.com/p/baggett-scripts/source/browse/trunk/set-kbled.ps1

Updated link:  https://github.com/MarkBaggett/MarkBaggett/blob/master/set-kbled.ps1

After downloading and storing the script on your local hard drive you import the module into Powershell like this:

C:\PS>import-module .\set-kbled.ps1

Then you can run various options and set your keyboard lights:

C:\PS>SET-KBLED -LeftColor RED -CenterColor WHITE -RightColor Blue

Or turn the lights off

C:\PS>SET-KBLED -Off

Or turn the lights back on:

C:\PS>SET-KBLED -On

Or try some of the various blinking patterns:

C:\PS>SET-KBLED -Pattern Blink

Now I can have my keyboard lights react to specific events on my event log.  I can set my laptop so that the keyboard turns BLOOD RED when I launch Metasploit or it Blinks frantically if a virus is detected.   I can have it turn blue when I play some easy listening music.  The possibilities are endless.   Do you have a Sager or Clevo compatible laptop?   Try it.  Make sure your Powershell Window is running as an administrator, import the module and try some of the commands above.   GET-HELP SET-KBLED -Full for a complete list of options.   How you enjoy it.   Now on to some real work.

Mark

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