gaming: drop arctis-sound-manager, ANC via direct HID script

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

flake.lock

@@ -1,27 +1,5 @@
 {
   "nodes": {
-    "arctis-sound-manager": {
-      "inputs": {
-        "nixpkgs": [
-          "nixpkgs"
-        ]
-      },
-      "locked": {
-        "dir": "nix",
-        "lastModified": 1785229953,
-        "narHash": "sha256-5oezrSj8OxNeMUN0IxjdKh4t2D9jn1BOainmBRNeXgE=",
-        "owner": "loteran",
-        "repo": "Arctis-Sound-Manager",
-        "rev": "aaa05fd62b7ac037d59802ce9c46b69c5bc84a33",
-        "type": "github"
-      },
-      "original": {
-        "dir": "nix",
-        "owner": "loteran",
-        "repo": "Arctis-Sound-Manager",
-        "type": "github"
-      }
-    },
     "base16": {
       "inputs": {
         "fromYaml": "fromYaml"
@@ -394,7 +372,6 @@
     },
     "root": {
       "inputs": {
-        "arctis-sound-manager": "arctis-sound-manager",
         "home-manager": "home-manager",
         "nix-cachyos-kernel": "nix-cachyos-kernel",
         "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs_2",

flake.nix

@@ -20,11 +20,6 @@
 
     proton-cachyos-nix.url = "github:powerofthe69/proton-cachyos-nix";
 
-    arctis-sound-manager = {
-      url = "github:loteran/Arctis-Sound-Manager?dir=nix";
-      inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
-    };
-
     stylix.url = "github:nix-community/stylix/release-26.05";
   };
   outputs =
@@ -54,7 +49,7 @@
     in
     {
       nixosConfigurations = {
-        FredOS-Gaming      = mkHost "FredOS-Gaming"      [ inputs.arctis-sound-manager.nixosModules.default ];
+        FredOS-Gaming      = mkHost "FredOS-Gaming"      [];
         FredOS-Mediaserver = mkHost "FredOS-Mediaserver"  [];
         FredOS-Macbook     = mkHost "FredOS-Macbook"      [];
       };

hosts/FredOS-Gaming.nix

@@ -24,9 +24,14 @@
 
     programs.geary.enable = true;
 
-    # SteelSeries Nova Pro control (ANC switching via quickshell talks to its
+    # Nova Pro Wireless base station: open up its vendor HID interface so
-    # asm-daemon over D-Bus)
+    # quickshell's ANC switcher can write to it directly (nova-anc script in
-    services.arctis-sound-manager.enable = true;
+    # settings/quickshell.nix). Single-user desktop, 0666 is fine.
+    services.udev.extraRules = ''
+      KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1038", ATTRS{idProduct}=="12e0", MODE="0666"
+      KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1038", ATTRS{idProduct}=="12e5", MODE="0666"
+      KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1038", ATTRS{idProduct}=="225d", MODE="0666"
+    '';
 
     # Force heavy builds off the gaming PC onto the media server so nix updates
     # never compete with games for CPU/RAM. Pairs with the distributed build

settings/quickshell.nix

@@ -120,6 +120,58 @@ in
         '';
         # 7-day forecast JSON from Open-Meteo (no API key). Location is
         # auto-detected by IP via ipinfo.io, falling back to London.
+        # Nova Pro Wireless ANC, no daemon: talk straight to the base station's
+        # vendor HID interface (iface 4). Report id 0x06 leads every 64-byte
+        # packet; opcode 0xbd sets ANC (0 off / 1 transparent / 2 on), 0xb0
+        # requests full status (anc @ 0x0a, power @ 0x0f, 0x08 = on-head).
+        # Protocol lifted from Arctis-Sound-Manager's nova_pro_wireless.yaml.
+        novaAncScript = pkgs.writeScript "nova-anc" ''
+          #!${pkgs.python3}/bin/python3
+          """nova-anc [off|transparent|on] — no arg prints current mode."""
+          import glob, os, select, sys, time
+
+          MODES = {"off": 0, "transparent": 1, "on": 2}
+          NAMES = {0: "off", 1: "transparent", 2: "on"}
+          PIDS = {0x12e0, 0x12e5, 0x225d}
+
+          def dongle():
+              for h in glob.glob("/sys/class/hidraw/hidraw*"):
+                  try:
+                      uevent = open(h + "/device/uevent").read()
+                      iface = open(h + "/device/../bInterfaceNumber").read().strip()
+                  except OSError:
+                      continue
+                  for line in uevent.splitlines():
+                      if line.startswith("HID_ID="):
+                          _, vid, pid = line.split("=")[1].split(":")
+                          if int(vid, 16) == 0x1038 and int(pid, 16) in PIDS and iface == "04":
+                              return "/dev/" + os.path.basename(h)
+              return None
+
+          dev = dongle()
+          if not dev:
+              sys.exit(1)
+          fd = os.open(dev, os.O_RDWR)
+
+          if len(sys.argv) > 1:
+              os.write(fd, bytes([0x06, 0xbd, MODES[sys.argv[1]]]).ljust(64, b"\0"))
+              print(sys.argv[1])
+              sys.exit(0)
+
+          os.write(fd, bytes([0x06, 0xb0]).ljust(64, b"\0"))
+          deadline = time.time() + 1.0
+          while (left := deadline - time.time()) > 0:
+              if not select.select([fd], [], [], left)[0]:
+                  break
+              pkt = os.read(fd, 64)
+              # Skip unsolicited 0x07xx event packets until the status reply
+              if len(pkt) > 0x0f and pkt[0] == 0x06 and pkt[1] == 0xb0:
+                  if pkt[0x0f] != 0x08:
+                      break  # headset off / in cradle -> report nothing
+                  print(NAMES.get(pkt[0x0a], "off"))
+                  sys.exit(0)
+          sys.exit(1)
+        '';
         weatherFetchScript = pkgs.writeShellScript "weather-fetch" ''
           loc=$(${pkgs.curl}/bin/curl -sf --max-time 5 https://ipinfo.io/loc 2>/dev/null || true)
           case "$loc" in
@@ -418,7 +470,7 @@ in
                 readonly property string systemctl: "${pkgs.systemd}/bin/systemctl"
                 readonly property string weatherFetch: "${weatherFetchScript}"
                 readonly property string ssh: "${pkgs.openssh}/bin/ssh"
-                readonly property string gdbus: "${pkgs.glib}/bin/gdbus"
+                readonly property string novaAnc: "${novaAncScript}"
                 // Unprivileged ping works via ICMP dgram sockets — NixOS sets
                 // net.ipv4.ping_group_range for everyone (no wrapper exists).
                 readonly property string ping: "${pkgs.iputils}/bin/ping"
@@ -2934,51 +2986,36 @@ in
                         }
 
                         ${lib.optionalString (!isMacbook) ''
-                        // Nova Pro noise cancelling — talks to asm-daemon
+                        // Nova Pro noise cancelling — writes straight to the
-                        // (Arctis Sound Manager) over the session bus.
+                        // base station's HID interface via the nova-anc
-                        // SetSetting("noise_cancelling", "0|1|2"), status read
+                        // script (no daemon). Card hides when the dongle or
-                        // back as off/transparent/on. Card hides when the
+                        // headset is gone.
-                        // daemon or headset is gone.
                         Card {
                             id: ancCard
                             visible: ancMode !== ""
                             width: parent.width
                             property string ancMode: ""
 
-                            function setMode(key, value) {
+                            function setMode(key) {
                                 if (key === ancMode) return;
                                 ancMode = key; // optimistic; next poll corrects if the device disagrees
-                                ancSet.mode = value;
+                                ancSet.mode = key;
                                 ancSet.running = true;
                             }
 
                             Process {
                                 id: ancSet
-                                property string mode: "0"
+                                property string mode: "off"
-                                command: [Commands.gdbus, "call", "--session",
+                                command: [Commands.novaAnc, mode]
-                                          "--dest", "name.giacomofurlan.ArctisManager.Next",
-                                          "--object-path", "/name/giacomofurlan/ArctisManager/Next/Settings",
-                                          "--method", "name.giacomofurlan.ArctisManager.Next.Settings.SetSetting",
-                                          "noise_cancelling", mode]
                             }
 
                             Process {
                                 id: ancStatus
-                                command: [Commands.gdbus, "call", "--session",
+                                command: [Commands.novaAnc]
-                                          "--dest", "name.giacomofurlan.ArctisManager.Next",
-                                          "--object-path", "/name/giacomofurlan/ArctisManager/Next/Status",
-                                          "--method", "name.giacomofurlan.ArctisManager.Next.Status.GetStatus"]
                                 stdout: StdioCollector {
                                     onStreamFinished: {
-                                        // gdbus prints a GVariant tuple: ('{"headset": ...}',)
+                                        const m = text.trim();
-                                        const a = text.indexOf("('");
+                                        ancCard.ancMode = (m === "off" || m === "transparent" || m === "on") ? m : "";
-                                        const b = text.lastIndexOf("',");
-                                        if (a < 0 || b <= a) { ancCard.ancMode = ""; return; }
-                                        try {
-                                            const st = JSON.parse(text.slice(a + 2, b));
-                                            const nc = st.headset ? st.headset.noise_cancelling : undefined;
-                                            ancCard.ancMode = (nc && nc.value) ? nc.value : "";
-                                        } catch (e) { ancCard.ancMode = ""; }
                                     }
                                 }
                             }
@@ -3010,9 +3047,9 @@ in
 
                                 Repeater {
                                     model: [
-                                        { key: "off",         label: "Off",         val: "0" },
+                                        { key: "off",         label: "Off" },
-                                        { key: "transparent", label: "Transparent", val: "1" },
+                                        { key: "transparent", label: "Transparent" },
-                                        { key: "on",          label: "ANC",         val: "2" }
+                                        { key: "on",          label: "ANC" }
                                     ]
 
                                     Rectangle {
@@ -3035,7 +3072,7 @@ in
                                         MouseArea {
                                             anchors.fill: parent
                                             cursorShape: Qt.PointingHandCursor
-                                            onClicked: ancCard.setMode(modelData.key, modelData.val)
+                                            onClicked: ancCard.setMode(modelData.key)
                                         }
                                     }
                                 }