For Mac mini

Blinkenhub

A stand for your Mac mini with a built-in USB hub and a ribbon of programmable LEDs that paints your desk with light.

A Mac mini sitting on the black Blinkenhub stand, casting a rainbow of light onto a wooden desk

Blinkenhub slips under your Mac mini and gives it three things it didn't have: a little more height, two extra USB ports right where you need them, and a glow you can control from your own software.

The empty Blinkenhub stand with its LEDs lit, showing the open center and rear cooling fins

The stand

Shaped to fit. Built to breathe.

Blinkenhub follows the rounded-square footprint of Mac mini exactly, so the two look like one piece. The center is open so the Mac's intake underneath gets plenty of air, and a comb of fins at the back keeps the exhaust flowing.

The back of a Mac mini on Blinkenhub, with two USB-A ports in the stand below the Mac's own ports

The hub

Two more USB ports, right where you reach.

A built-in High Speed USB 2 hub adds two USB-A ports to the back of the stand, right below the Mac's own. They're good for keyboards, mice, security keys, dongles, and anything else that needs an old-school USB connection. One cable to the Mac powers the hub and the lights.

The underside of Blinkenhub, showing a translucent diffuser with a rainbow of LEDs around the front and sides

The light

Color that spills onto your desk.

A ribbon of individually addressable RGB LEDs runs along the bottom edge, behind a frosted diffuser. Rather than shining at you, it washes soft, animated color across the surface your Mac sits on: a slow rainbow, a gentle breathe, or a solid color to match your setup.

The API

Your Mac, your colors.

Blinkenhub has a Python API that lets software on your Mac set the color of each of its 17 LEDs and run animations right on the hub. Turn the desk red when a build fails, pulse when a message arrives, fade to amber at the end of the day, or show the progress of a long job.

  • Set all 17 LEDs at once in HSV color, with an optional fade
  • Animate hue, saturation, or brightness: up, down, or back and forth, once or forever
  • Spin the pattern clockwise or counterclockwise, or sweep it Cylon-style
  • Finds the hub on its own over USB, with no setup
# Example: pulse red when the build fails
from blinkenhub import *

hub = Blinkenhub()  # finds the hub over USB

if build_failed:
    red = HSV_Color(0, 1, 1)
    hub.send(SetPixels([red] * 17, 0))
    hub.send(ValueAnimation(Animation.ANIMATE_UPDOWN,
                            rate=1, top=1, bottom=0.1,
                            count=-1))
else:
    green = HSV_Color(140, 1, 0.6)
    hub.send(SetPixels([green] * 17, 0.5))

Two ways to get it

Ready to go, or build your own.

Get Blinkenhub finished and ready to use, or get the kit and print the stand yourself.

Assembled

Ready to use

Blinkenhub arrives fully built: stand, hub, and lights, all put together and tested. Set your Mac mini on top, plug in one cable, and you're done.

  • Finished stand included
  • Hub and LEDs installed
  • Nothing to print or assemble
Buy assembled

Kit

Print it yourself

The kit includes all the internal parts. You print the stand on your own 3D printer using the models we supply, then fit the parts inside. Print it in any color you like.

  • USB hub board, LED strip, and screws
  • 3D models for the stand, ready to print
  • Assembly instructions
Buy the kit

At a glance

Fits
Mac mini (November 2024 and later)
USB hub
High Speed USB 2 (480 Mb/s)
Ports
2 × USB-A, rear
Lighting
17 addressable RGB LEDs with diffuser
Control
Python API over USB
Power
Single USB connection to Mac
Available as
Assembled, or as a kit
Kit includes
Hub board, LED strip, screws
Kit stand
Print it yourself from supplied 3D models