OMEN LINUX

Native Fan Control & Dashboard for HP Victus / Omen Laptops on Linux.

WARNING: This software writes directly to your laptop's Embedded Controller (EC) memory (/dev/mem). Use at your own risk.

HP does not ship fan control for its gaming laptops on Linux, and the BIOS fan curve is often too quiet under load. Omen Linux talks to the Embedded Controller directly, bypassing the ACPI thermal curves, and gives you a dashboard with live temperatures and fan speed.

Features

• Desktop App: Installs as a native application in your system menu.
• Brutalist Dashboard: High-contrast, keyboard-friendly Web UI.
• Direct Memory Access: Bypasses ACPI to talk directly to the EC.
• Modes:
  • AUTO: Hands control back to BIOS default curves.
  • MAX: Forces 100% Fan Speed (~5300 RPM).
  • MANUAL: Granular slider control (0-100%).
• Shows what the EC is really doing: the mode and fan target are read back from the EC registers, not remembered by the UI.
• Thermal safety: if the CPU or GPU reaches 90 °C (OMEN_SAFE_TEMP) while the fan is below full speed, control goes back to the BIOS and the dashboard says so; lower speeds are refused while it is that hot.
• BIOS control is restored whenever the backend stops, and the desktop launcher stops the backend two minutes after the dashboard is closed.
• Simulation mode (OMEN_SIMULATE=1): try the dashboard on any machine against an in-memory EC.

How it works

The EC's registers are memory-mapped at 0xFC7E0000. Omen Linux maps that page from /dev/mem and uses three registers:

Offset	Name	Meaning
0x80F	FNSW	bit 3 set: the OS controls the fan; clear: the BIOS does
0x814	FWPM	fan target written by the OS, 0x00-0x35 (0x35 ≈ 5300 RPM)
0x811	FRPM	current fan speed, in units of 100 RPM

Temperatures come from the kernel's hwmon interface (/sys/class/hwmon), which works for AMD (k10temp, amdgpu) and Intel (coretemp) without lm-sensors. A FastAPI backend (running as root, for /dev/mem) serves the API and the dashboard on http://localhost:8000/ui/.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/JampaniKomal/omen-linux.git
   cd omen-linux

2. Run the Installer:

   sudo ./install.sh

3. Launch: Search for Omen Linux in your application menu. You are asked for your password once (the backend needs root), and the dashboard opens as an app window in Chrome/Chromium, or in your default browser.

Manual Usage (Dev Mode)

If you prefer running from source without installing:

./scripts/start.sh                      # real hardware (asks for sudo)
OMEN_SIMULATE=1 ./scripts/start.sh      # no hardware: an in-memory EC

Then open http://localhost:8000/ui/.

Variable	Default	Effect
OMEN_SAFE_TEMP	90	°C at which control returns to the BIOS
OMEN_IDLE_EXIT	off (launcher: 120)	seconds without dashboard requests before restoring BIOS control and exiting
OMEN_SIMULATE	off	use an in-memory EC (and simulated temperatures)
OMEN_FORCE	off	allow writes on a model that is not confirmed (see below)

Hardware Compatibility

Confirmed working on:

• HP Victus 16 (Ryzen 7 7840HS)

Writes are refused unless the DMI product name is a Victus 16, because another model may keep something else at the same EC addresses. On another Victus or Omen model, check the registers first, then set OMEN_FORCE=1 and report the result. Handing control back to the BIOS (AUTO) is always allowed.

Security

The backend runs as root and writes to the EC, so it accepts requests only from the dashboard on this machine:

• it listens on 127.0.0.1 only;
• it rejects any request whose Host is not localhost or 127.0.0.1, which stops DNS-rebinding attacks (a malicious domain pointed at 127.0.0.1);
• every POST must carry an X-Omen-Linux header. A web page on another site can make your browser send a plain POST to localhost, but cannot add a custom header without a CORS preflight, which this server never approves. Without this, any website you visited while the backend was running could have changed your fan speed.

There is still no login: anything already running on this machine as your user can call the API.

Tests and CI

15 pytest tests run without root or hardware, against an in-memory EC: the register writes for each mode (other bits of the control register are preserved), speed clamping, the model check, hwmon temperature discovery for AMD and Intel, the API's validation, the X-Omen-Linux and Host checks, the thermal watchdog, BIOS control restored on shutdown, and simulation mode. CI runs ruff, the tests, and ShellCheck on the scripts.

Known Limitations

• The EC offsets are confirmed on one model only (see above).
• /dev/mem access to the EC region can be blocked by kernel lockdown (Secure Boot with lockdown enabled) or CONFIG_IO_STRICT_DEVMEM; the dashboard then shows the error.
• The fan register has 54 steps, so the target you set is rounded (50% reads back as 49%).
• The dashboard loads Vue and Tailwind from public CDNs, so it needs an internet connection the first time it opens.

License

MIT License