OpenWheel

OpenWheel turns the ASUS Dial (and similar I2C/USB HID rotary devices) into a system-wide control dial on Linux. Rotate to adjust volume, brightness, or compositor zoom; double-click the button to switch functions. A floating overlay widget shows the current value in real time.

How It Works

ASUS Dial HID (/dev/hidraw*)
  → openwheel-daemon  (C, reads HID packets)
  → D-Bus signals     (org.asus.dial: Rotate, Press)
  → openwheel-gadget  (C++20/Qt 6, executes actions + shows overlay)

openwheel-daemon reads raw HID events and broadcasts rotation/button signals over the session D-Bus.

openwheel-gadget listens on D-Bus, maps rotation to per-application actions, and displays a 3D dial overlay widget at the bottom of the screen.

Features

• Wayland-native — volume via PipeWire (wpctl), brightness via KDE PowerDevil, fullscreen zoom via KWin compositor (no X11 required)
• Per-application profiles — auto-switches dial functions based on the active window (Blender, Krita, or custom JSON profiles)
• 3D overlay widget — two concentric circles with segmented gauge ring, Kirigami theme integration, spring/pulse animations
• Double-click to cycle — button double-click switches between Volume, Brightness, Zoom, and Scroll
• X11 fallback — XTest input simulation when running under X11

Prerequisites

• CMake 3.16+
• Qt 6 (Core, Gui, Widgets, Qml, Quick, QuickControls2, DBus)
• KDE Frameworks 6 (optional — enables window tracking for auto profile switching)
• D-Bus (libdbus-1)
• X11 + XTest (optional — for X11 input simulation fallback)

Build & Install

git clone https://github.com/fredaime/openwheel.git
cd openwheel

cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build

# Run tests
cd build && ctest --output-on-failure && cd ..

# Install (default prefix: /usr/local)
sudo cmake --install build

Build options: -DBUILD_DAEMON=ON, -DBUILD_GADGET=ON, -DBUILD_TESTS=ON

Running

The daemon needs read access to the HID device. Either run as root, or set up a udev rule:

# Option 1: temporary permission
sudo chmod a+r /dev/hidraw*

# Option 2: udev rule (persistent)
echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0b05", MODE="0644"' | \
  sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-openwheel.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

Start both processes:

# Start the daemon (reads HID events, broadcasts D-Bus signals)
asus_wheel &

# Start the gadget (listens for signals, shows overlay)
openwheel-gadget

Rotate the dial to adjust the current function. Double-click the button to cycle through functions (Volume → Brightness → Zoom → Scroll).

Profiles

JSON profiles in $XDG_DATA_DIRS/openwheel/profiles/ define per-application dial functions. Included profiles:

Profile	Functions
System (default)	Volume, Brightness, Zoom, Scroll
Blender	Viewport zoom, Timeline scrub, Undo/Redo
Krita	Brush size, Brush opacity, Canvas rotation, Zoom

Profiles match the active window by process name, window class regex, or window title regex.

Profile format

{
  "id": "my-app",
  "displayName": "My App",
  "processNames": ["myapp"],
  "functions": [
    {
      "id": "volume",
      "label": "Volume",
      "iconName": "audio-volume-high",
      "type": "continuous",
      "minValue": 0, "maxValue": 100, "unit": "%",
      "clockwiseAction": { "type": "keyboard", "keys": "XF86AudioRaiseVolume", "rotationThreshold": 5 },
      "counterClockwiseAction": { "type": "keyboard", "keys": "XF86AudioLowerVolume", "rotationThreshold": 5 }
    }
  ],
  "defaultMenuLayout": ["volume"]
}

Action types: keyboard, mouseScroll, dbus, command.

Compatibility

Tested with:

• ASUS Dial (I2C HID, ASUS2020 device identifier)
• KDE Plasma 6 on Wayland
• PipeWire audio

The daemon detects devices by scanning /sys/class/hidraw/ for ASUS2020 in either device/product (USB) or device/uevent (I2C).

License

GPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE.