Control an iBuddy through Python. Define your effects in the effects.xml or use an existing one and call it through
iBuddyControl <effect name>
The working status is unknown. I just digged up this code from 2008. If you get it working, let me know.
IIRC, you needed root to access the USB device directly using LibUSB. In order to run it in user space, I compiled the python script into an executable to run it with suid.
Back in the naughties, I got my hand on an iBuddy for MSN messenger. Being a linux user and with MSN at the end of its live, I wanted to use it further. Someone else had already reverse engineered the protocol and based upon that, I build this iBuddyControl.
On 2026-06-23, Hackaday posted an article about reviving this messenger. I imediately remembered this project and was surprised it's not on my Github. Turns out that's because I programmed this long before I joined here.
Anyway, here it is. Be creative. I try to get it running again, too, but my time is limited.