A node-hid (USB HID device access library) wrapper for nodered

Credit goes to node-hid.

You can look up either git to find information on setup, Prerequisites and Platforms to get the node working: https://github.com/node-hid/node-hid

• Node.js v0.8 - v4.x+
• Mac OS X 10.8, Linux (kernel 2.6+), and Windows XP+
• libudev-dev, libusb-1.0-0-dev (if Linux, see Compile below)
• git

node-hid uses node-pre-gyp to store pre-built binary bundles, so usually no compiler is needed to install.

Platforms we pre-build binaries for:

• Mac OS X x64: v0.10, v0.12, v4.2.x
• Windows x64 & x86: v0.10, v0.12, v4.2.x
• Linux Debian/Ubuntu x64: v4.2.x
• Raspberry Pi arm: v4.2.x

This package works natively with Windows.

Manual installation is the current way to get the node. It will be added to the pallette manager in the future.

From github: Navigate to the your home directory on linux and windows it is typically ~/.node-red/node-modules

git clone https://github.com/somebuddy87/node-red-contrib-usbhid

cd node-red-contrib-usbhid
npm install

Install libraries for Linux

sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev libudev-dev

The Pd-extended [hid] object allows you to access Human Interface Devices such as mice, keyboards, and joysticks. However, in most Linux distributions, these devices are setup to where they cannot be read/written directly by Pd unless you run it as root.

Running a non-system process as root is considered a security risk, so an alternative is to change the permissions of the input devices so that pd can read/write them.

sudo mkdir -p /etc/udev/rules.d
sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/85-pure-data.rules

Now add the following rules to /etc/udev/rules.d/85-pure-data.rules making sure to updated KERNEL to your hidraw device*:

SUBSYSTEM=="input", GROUP="input", MODE="0777"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", MODE:="777", GROUP="input"
KERNEL=="hidraw0", MODE="0777", GROUP="input"

Make sure no existing rules compete. I found existing file on Raspberry pi that needed updating. I added above code instead of creating a new file

Then create an "input" group and add yourself to it:

sudo groupadd -f input
sudo gpasswd -a $USER input

Reloads rules:

udevadm control --reload-rules

Reboot your machine for the rules to take effect. Your nodejs / nodered has now FULL ACCESS !! to you usb devides. Feel free to adjust the permissions to fit your needs.

Leverage this Flow to get started.