idasen-controller

The Idasen is a Linak standing desk sold by Ikea. It can be controlled by a physical switch on the desk or via bluetooth using an phone app. This is a script to control the Idasen via bluetooth from any other device.

Note: This script may work with other Linak desks but it is not guaranteed - see below

Set up

Prerequisites

• Windows / Linux / Mac
• The device should have Python 3 (the script has been tested down to 3.7.3)
• The desk should be paired to the device.

Working Desks

• Ikea Idasen - the only desk I can confidently say works because I have one
• iMovr Lander - reportedly works because it is the same as an Idasen Desk 43
• Linak DPG1C - Sporadic success reported with this device (help from anyone with this appreciated) 32

If you find another desk model that works please make an issue to report it!

Install

Install using pip:

pip3 install idasen-controller

Configuration

Configuration can be provided with a file, or via command line arguments. Use --help to see the command line arguments help. Edit <config_dir>/config.yaml if you prefer your config to be in a file. <config_dir> is normally:

• ~/.config/idasen-controller on Linux
• C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\idasen-controller\idasen-controller on Windows
• ~/Library/Application Support/idasen-controller on MacOS

Config options:

All of these options can be set on the command line, just replace any _ with - e.g. mac_address becomes --mac-address.

Device MAC addresses

• On Linux, device MAC addresses can be found using bluetoothctl and bluetooth adapter names can be found with hcitool dev
• On Windows you can use Bluetooth LE Explorer.
• On MacOS you can pair the device with Bluetility, but you must use the UUID instead of the Mac Address.

Usage

Commands

The script accepts a number of commands:

For example to move to a particular height you can run:

idasen-controller --move-to 800

Or to move to a sitting position via a server you can run:

idasen-controller --forward --sit

Troubleshooting

Connection failed

The initial connection can fail for a variety of reasons, here are some things to try if it happens repeatedly:

• Try ensuring that the desk is paired but not connected before using the script.
• Try increasing the scan-timeout and connection-timeout.

Connection / commands are slow

• Try reducing the connection-timeout. I have found that it can work well set to just 1 second. You may find that a low connection timeout results in failed connections sometimes though.
• Use the server mode. Run the script once with --server which will start a persistent server and maintain a connection to the desk. Then when sending commands (like --stand or --sit) just add the additional argument --forward to forward the command to the server. The server should already have a connection so the desk should respond much quicker.

"abort" on MacOS

On MacOS the process may quit with a vague message like abort. This could be because the application running the process doesn't have access to Bluetooth. To provide access, open System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Bluetooth and drag the application running the process into the list (eg. Terminal or iTerm2). More info at the bleak issue

Scanning returns no devices on MacOS 12 (Monterey)

It seems like it is no longer possible to scan for devices on MacOS 12, see this bleak issue for more info. You should acquire the UUID of your device using Bluetility or similair and avoid using the --scan function.

Recipes

There is a page with a few examples of different ways to use the script: RECIPES

Development

To run the script without installing via pip first install the requirements:

pip3 install -r requirements.txt

Then you can run all the same commands with:

python3 idasen_controller/main.py <command>