OpenCreative

Control the screen on your DeepCool LCD cooler from Linux: live system readings, images, GIFs, videos, YouTube and music bars. A free, open-source alternative to DeepCool's Windows-only DeepCreative app, with displays from other brands (NZXT, Lian Li, ASUS and more) on the way.

OpenCreative is an independent project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by DeepCool. "DeepCool" and "DeepCreative" are trademarks of their owners.

Install

Download the file for your system from the latest release and open it in your software center, or:

sudo apt install ./opencreative_*_amd64.deb     # Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, Pop!_OS
sudo dnf install ./opencreative-*.x86_64.rpm    # Fedora, openSUSE

Anything else: the .AppImage (make it executable, then open it). ARM: the arm64 / aarch64 files.

Open OpenCreative from your app menu. The cooler is found automatically and its screen keeps running in the background, after restarts too. To update, install the new file the same way.

On the cooler

Lines	HUD	Gauges
Claude usage	Music, rainbow	Music, mirrored
Zen clock	Light screens	Your pictures, GIFs, videos and YouTube playlists, or one color

In the app

A top-bar menu switches modes, looks, brightness, colors and rotation without opening the window.

Optional: YouTube downloads its helper (yt-dlp) the first time you add a link. CPU power readings are off by default (why); turn them on in Settings. Claude Code users can show their usage limits (Settings → Integrations; not affiliated with Anthropic).

Supported coolers

Cooler	USB ID	Screen
DeepCool LM240 / LM360	3633:0026	320 × 240

Displays from NZXT, Lian Li, ASUS and other brands are planned. Have another one? Request support or see adding a device.

Help

• No cooler found: replug its USB cable, or use Settings → Allow access to the cooler.
• Music bars say NO AUDIO: check that sound plays through PipeWire or PulseAudio.
• Anything else: open an issue.

Uninstall: remove OpenCreative in your software center (sudo apt remove opencreative), or for the AppImage use Settings → Uninstall.

Command line

Everything except the music bars is also available as opencreative commands. While the background service runs, commands go to it and are remembered.

opencreative list                      # find connected coolers
opencreative panels                    # live readings in panels (the default screen)
opencreative panels --primary gpu-temp --secondary gpu-load --secondary ram-usage
opencreative panels --skin hud         # neon skin with live charts
opencreative monitor                   # live readings as gauges
opencreative media wallpaper.gif       # images, GIFs, videos
opencreative media a.png b.gif clip.mp4 --seconds 15   # a playlist
opencreative media cat.jpg --zoom 2 --focus 0.3,0.4    # zoom in on a point
opencreative media "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=…"
opencreative solid '#ff8800'
opencreative brightness 60
opencreative zen on                    # calm clock; `zen off` returns
opencreative screen off                # backlight off; `screen on` restores it
opencreative --rotate 180 monitor      # upside-down pump
opencreative sensors                   # which sensors were found
opencreative preview monitor -o out.png   # render to a PNG, no cooler needed
opencreative status                    # what the background service is showing

Settings live in ~/.config/opencreative/config.toml, for example:

rotation = 0
brightness = 60

[scene]
type = "music"          # or "panels", "monitor", "media", "solid"
style = "mirror"        # "bars" or "mirror"
color = "#22d3ee"
rainbow = false
bars = 24

Build from source

You need Rust and a C toolchain:

sudo apt install build-essential          # Debian/Ubuntu
curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh       # if Rust isn't installed
cargo install --path crates/opencreative-cli
cargo install --path crates/opencreative-gui
opencreative-gui

Then, in the app's Settings, turn on Allow access to the cooler and Start with the computer.

The workspace:

crates/
  opencreative-protocol   packet encoding (no I/O), tested against captures
  opencreative-device     USB discovery and transport, a `Display` per model
  opencreative-sensors    system readings
  opencreative-audio      what's playing, as a spectrum (music bars)
  opencreative-render     drawing: skins, images, GIFs, videos, music bars
  opencreative-core       scene playback, reconnecting, the daemon engine
  opencreative-config     TOML settings
  opencreative-ipc        JSON-lines protocol between the daemon and its clients
  opencreative-daemon     the background service
  opencreative-cli        the `opencreative` command
  opencreative-gui        the desktop app (egui)

New coolers implement Display in opencreative-device; nothing else changes.

Roadmap

• Desktop app, background service, Linux packages
• Images, GIFs, videos, YouTube and music bars
• Displays from other brands: NZXT, Lian Li, ASUS and more
• More DeepCool coolers: Mystique, LQ, LP, AK/LS/LD digital series
• RGB lighting, written from scratch in Rust: motherboard, RAM, mic and case fans, synced to music
• Custom screen layouts, fonts and backgrounds
• Windows and macOS (maybe, later)

Credits

• Icons: Lucide (ISC, assets/icons/LICENSE-lucide.txt).
• Device pictures in assets/devices/ are DeepCool's product images, used to identify the hardware; they remain DeepCool's property.
• Protocol captures: daedlock/deepcool-lm (MIT)
• Fonts (SIL OFL 1.1): Rajdhani by Indian Type Foundry and Orbitron by The League of Moveable Type on the cooler screen; Inter, Geist, Manrope and IBM Plex Sans in the app.

License

Dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0, at your option. Bundled fonts are under the SIL Open Font License: Rajdhani and Orbitron (screen); Inter, Geist, Manrope and IBM Plex Sans (app).