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3rd Party Device Support – Why not?

nicoco007
Level 7
Note: By "3rd party devices", I mean Asus Aura partner devices.

I have to say that I'm a bit confused as to why the SDK doesn't support 3rd party devices yet. The AURA Sync software supports all of them, and both the software and the SDK are written in C++; wouldn't it be simple to (quite literally) copy over the functionality?

Also, wouldn't it make more sense to create an SDK that supports the same hardware as the AURA Sync software, make the software use the SDK, and also publish it so everyone can use it? Couldn't you just find all the hardware-related functions and put them in a DLL, or is this an issue more complex than it seems?

One last thought: it was mentionned in one of the posts in this forum that "it is not decided yet if partners products will be included in our SDK or if partners will release their own SDK". Personally, I think it's a very bad idea to ask other manufacturers to create their own SDK. They're hardware companies that don't really focus on software (which is noticeable when comparing their software to the AURA Sync software), and ASUS already has such a nice ecosystem, so it would essentially be shooting yourself in the foot. If ASUS puts a bit more effort into the SDK and includes 3rd party devices, it'll make everyone's life much, much easier.

Just my two cents on the issue. What do you guys think?
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Korth
Level 14
What 3rd party devices? AURA is exclusively ASUS. It would be a conflict of interest for ASUS to work hard on an SDK which controls RGB LEDs on non-ASUS products.

I would vastly prefer a global unified SDK for all RGB products on all platforms. Wouldn't have to install multiple pieces of runtime software (by ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, Corsair, etc) which trade any performance at all (no matter how small) to run something purely cosmetic.

It won't happen until/unless all the big RGB-pimped hardware OEMs form some sort of "official" group which formally defines and regulates collaborative RGB interface standards. Maybe one day. But for now each approach is proprietary, territorial, and fiercely competitive.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

nicoco007
Level 7
What I mean by 3rd party devices is all the stuff on this page. Currently the SDK only supports ASUS brand motherboards, GPUs, keyboards, and mice, while the ASUS Aura Sync software supports everything on that page. I just think it's really a shame that, as developers, we're not allowed to access these when it looks like it would be quite simple for support to be added.

I also just noticed that on the Aura SDK page, it says "the Aura SDK enables developers to fully exploit the capabilities of a vast eco-system of ASUS Aura Sync-capable PC gear". If I'm interpreting that properly, it's not really true – we can't exploit the capabilities of all Aura Sync capable PC gear, just ASUS's gear.

Korth
Level 14
Ah, I misunderstood your first post, I thought you were asking for AURA SDK to work on non-ASUS motherboards/etc, sorry.

But yeah, a "vast eco-system of ASUS Aura Sync-capable PC gear" encompasses more, lol.

I can understand limitations on older ASUS devices equipped with RGB and marketed as AURA, some of the lower-end and first-gen offerings just lacked enough onboard processing to be versatile. But the AURA SDK should still provide maximum possible control across the maximum possible hardware array for devs and users.

ASUS mobos have embedded mechanisms like the magical "ROG Chip" which can identify (or authenticate?) the board as an ASUS to software. So merely owning the compatible ASUS mobo lets you run ASUS software which would probably work but simply refuses to run on any other machine. A built-in ASUS hardware key for the locks built into ASUS software. Yay!

But ASUS cannot implement their proprietary lockout on a GPU card, a keyboard, a mouse, etc, because these hardwares need compatibility with non-ASUS platforms. Telling people that all the cool AURA RGB bling is going to have limited functionality or support when paired with non-ASUS motherboards would be poorly received. This is why I suspect these parts of the "vast ecosystem" now have and are always going to have limited SDK functions and support. I could be wrong.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

I guess we'll just see what happens, though it'd be nice to have a more definitive answer than just "we're not sure" (and not have blatant lies on the information page).

I'm just really sad right now because the only thing preventing me from properly syncing everything in my PC is the fact that my RAM doesn't work with the SDK right now.

That's really sad, they have a really big range of devices that aren't developed by them, like RAM modules, case lightning, RGB fans, all spotting the Aura Sync label, but not compatible with this SDK, kinda defeats the purpose of having a SDK and "Aura device" label for partners.

Heck, Both TeamGroup's Blitz or the G.Skill controller software are just reskins of the Aura software, I really doubt that their hardware partners are developing custom "Aura" hardware, they are just reusing technology provided by Asus, the Teamgroup memory even shows up as a GSkill RAM on Asus's software.

It's just that the SDK is an afterthought of the afterthought and these functionalities that would be killer aren't that important because the average consumer doesn't even know what a SDK is.
Don't get me wrong, AkaNe@Asus is being really helpful, but this SDK isn't cutting it yet. We might have to wait for a few more versions before it being really useful in any meaningful way.

brianostorm wrote:
That's really sad, they have a really big range of devices that aren't developed by them, like RAM modules, case lightning, RGB fans, all spotting the Aura Sync label, but not compatible with this SDK, kinda defeats the purpose of having a SDK and "Aura device" label for partners.


Exactly! And what I find even more ridiculous is that they most likely already have all the code necessary to make a proper SDK in the existing AURA software.

Let me be clear though – I think it's great that ASUS at least had the initiative to create an SDK; it's a a great step in the right way. However, what I really think they should do is create a fully-featured SDK that the AURA Sync software can also use. If they did this, as of what I know, they would probably end up with code that's better organized, it would be easier to add new devices, and we would get our SDK. I don't have much experience creating and maintaining APIs and SDKs though, so I'm not sure if that would be true.

brianostorm wrote:
It's just that the SDK is an afterthought of the afterthought and these functionalities that would be killer aren't that important because the average consumer doesn't even know what a SDK is.


That's what's really a shame. Some other companies have invested more in their SDKs and they got amazing stuff in return from the community, and they don't even nearly have the same amount of supported devices. Imagine what we could do if the SDK had full support for all AURA certified hardware!

brianostorm wrote:
Don't get me wrong, AkaNe@Asus is being really helpful, but this SDK isn't cutting it yet. We might have to wait for a few more versions before it being really useful in any meaningful way.


At this point, yeah, all we can really do is wait. I just wish we could get updates on what they're working on (or if they're working on it at all). At least something more than Soon™.

Korth
Level 14
RGB DDR4 is made by ADATA, Corsair, G.Skill, GeIL, TeamGroup.
- Not too unreasonable for ASUS to collaborate with these five OEMs. All would benefit from advertising an "AURA Certified" compatibility stamp. (Although Corsair and G.Skill make other RGB devices so they probably prefer their own dev.)

RGB keyboards are made by ASUS, Corsair, Logitech, Razer, SteelSeries.
- Again, not too unreasonable for ASUS to collaborate with the four non-ASUS OEMs. (Again, some like Corsair and SteelSeries would probably prefer their own dev.)

And RGB keyboards are also now made by Cougar, Dell, G.Skill, Patriot, Roccat, Rosewill, Thermaltake, Zalman.
- And again, not impossible to also collaborate with these eight additional OEMs, especially since they (like ASUS) don't like spending time and money on software dev just so people will be able to use their hardware.

And RGB keyboards are also now made by a vast horde of generic or clone brands. Some are obviously cheap garbage. Others are obvious ripoffs of big branded models (most of these are likely "ghost shift" products made in the same factories by the same workers, a few are likely counterfeits).
1STPlayer, Adesso, AGPtek, Aula, AZIO, Bloody A4tech, Corn, e-3lue, Estone, Excelvan, Five Star, Gamdias, Genius, GANSS, Geek Buy, GPCGR, Haoztec, LK002, Langtu, Mechanical, Merdia, OEM Industry, Redragon, Sharkoon, Shen Zhen Luom, ShunYou, Tesoro, Topun, Venyi, ZhenBaoTian ... the list keeps changing as brands are introduced or disappear or reappear almost weekly, even newegg and amazon can't track them all.
- But that's about 30 (or more) additional companies. Some of which might not last long enough (or even intend to last long enough) in this market anyhow. Some of which don't even look legit.

And then there's the same sort of mess with RGB mice, another three or four dozen companies. And RGB anything, everything, everyone is trying to cash in with their own RGB gizmos.

ASUS AURA should support it all? It would be nice, I'd love it, but it just doesn't seem realistic.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

I don't think ASUS should support products from generic/clone brands; it wouldn't make sense for them to develop software for companies that aren't partnered with them in some way or another. They should at least support the ones that are certified "Aura Sync", though. It's just strange to call it the "Aura SDK" and say it supports a "vast ecosystem" when it's only a few specific products of their own.