1 = Psensor Frequently Asked Questions
4 The last version of this FAQ is available at http://wpitchoune.net/gitweb/?p=psensor.git;a=blob_plain;f=doc/faq.html;hb=HEAD.
7 No sensors or only cpu usage is displayed
8 -----------------------------------------
10 Psensor is relying on few libraries or softwares for retrieving the
11 information about the computer:
13 - motherboard and CPUs sensors: the information is retrieved
14 from the lm-sensors library, it requires that
15 +sensors-detect+ has been run and the kernel module
16 correctly installed. +sensors+ can be used for checking.
18 - GPUs: it depends on which driver you are using:
20 * Opensource drivers (nouveau for Nvidia GPUs or
21 radeon/ati for ATI GPUs) is used and support sensor
22 monitoring for your GPU, the information is using
23 lm-sensors, same steps than above.
25 * proprietary driver Nvidia: run +nvidia-settings+ to
26 check that it supports sensors monitoring.
28 * proprietary driver Catalyst/fglx: use +aticonfig+ to
29 check that it supports sensors monitoring. Important
30 note: it requires that you are using a Psensor
31 binary compiled with the ATI support.
33 For hard disk drives, psensor can use:
35 - udisks2: added since 1.1.2 release. It is the default and
38 - hddtemp: verify that it is correctly reporting temperature by
39 using the command: +sudo hddtemp /dev/sda+. It is the default
40 provider until 1.1.2 release.
42 - atasmart library: before the 1.1.2 release it can be enabled
43 by using the command line option +--use-libatasmart+.
45 If the underlying software is reporting sensors which are not
46 displayed by Psensor, it is probably a bug in Psensor, so please
47 report it. Otherwise, the issue is on the underlying software itself
48 and you should contact the corresponding development team or refer to
51 Since the release 1.1.2, the providers can be enabled or disabled directly
52 from the user interface (+Preferences>Provider+).
55 How to monitor an ATI card using the Catalyst driver?
56 -----------------------------------------------------
58 For monitoring ATI card using the proprietary Catalyst driver, Psensor
59 must be compiled with a proprietary library which is not packaged in
60 any Linux distribution.
62 Unfortunely, due to the license of this library, I cannot provide a
63 compiled version of Psensor, even in a Ubuntu PPA or Ubuntu/Debian
64 standard repositories. You have to compile Psensor sensor. You can
65 find the instructions in the section +ATI/AMD GPU Support+ of the
66 README file available in the Psensor source archives.
68 If you are using the ATI OpenSource driver, it is not needed to
69 compile Psensor with this proprietary library.
71 [[S_WrongTemperature]]
72 The reported temperature is obviously wrong
73 -------------------------------------------
75 If the reported temperature is obviously wrong (never change, lower
76 than the ambiant temperature, negative, higher than the sun
79 - most of the time it is not a bug in Psensor nor in the
80 underlying monitoring libraries:
82 * if the temperature does not change, it might be due
83 to an existent sensor not wired by the hardware
86 * the goal of the sensor is to allow the system to
87 detect critical temperature and NOT to report an
88 exact temperature. Most sensors report a relative
89 temperature. The more it differs from the critical
90 temperature , the more it is wrong.
92 - It is only a bug in Psensor if the underlying libraries
93 report a different information than Psensor (use the
94 appropriate command or software: +sensors+, +aticonfig+ or
95 +hddtemp+ to check). In this case, please report a bug.
98 What is the sensors XXXX?
99 -------------------------
101 Since Psensor v0.7.0.4, open the preferences of the sensor (click on
102 its name in the main window and select the menu item Preferences), and
103 look at the Chip field.
105 For older Psensor releases, look at the Id field, if the string is
108 - +lmsensor coretemp+: Intel CPU.
109 - +lmsensor k10temp+, +lmsensor k8temp+, +lmsensor fam15h_power+: AMD CPU.
110 - +nvidia+ or +lmsensor nouveau+: NVIDIA GPU.
111 - +hdd+: hard disk drive.
113 - +lmsensor C B+: C is the name of the chip, B the name of the adapter.
115 For more information about lmsensor devices, see
116 http://lm-sensors.org/wiki/Devices.
122 Please use https://bugs.launchpad.net/psensor/+filebug to report bugs
123 even if it can only reproduced with a non-Ubuntu distribution or a
124 release not available in the standard Ubuntu repositories.
127 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/psensor/+filebug if the bug
128 can be reproduced with a package from the standard Ubuntu
131 If you don’t want to use the launchpad, you can send the report by
134 - psensor-users@googlegroups.com
135 - or jeanfi@gmail.com.
137 If the bug is concerning Debian or Ubuntu derivatives distribution,
138 please add in its description the output of the command: +apt-cache
141 If it is related to the Psensor source compilation, please add the
142 full output of the +configure+ command.
145 How to send ideas, questions or comments?
146 -----------------------------------------
148 Check the FAQ or the TODO pages.
150 If you don’t find the information, you can send an email to the public
151 mailing-list psensor-users@googlegroups.com or directly to me:
159 See http://wpitchoune.net/blog/psensor/how-to-contribute/.
162 How to install Psensor on Ubuntu?
163 ---------------------------------
165 Psensor is in the official repository, search +psensor+ in the
166 software center and install it. More information at:
167 http://wpitchoune.net/blog/psensor/ubuntu-integration/.
170 How to install Psensor on Debian?
171 ---------------------------------
173 Psensor is in the official repository since Debian 7.0. You can get
174 the last packaged version from the sid repository. More information
175 at: http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/psensor.html.
178 What is the difference between the 3 Ubuntu PPAs?
179 -------------------------------------------------
181 - +ppa:jfi/ppa+: last stable version.
183 - +ppa:jfi/psensor-unstable+: last development version, no
184 major bug is expected.
186 - +ppa:jfi/psensor-daily-trunk+: build each day directly from
187 the GIT source repository. It may contain major bugs or
188 incomplete features. Useful for contributors or testing
189 whether a bug is fixed.
191 [[S_ArchLinuxInstall]]
192 How to install Psensor on ArchLinux?
193 ------------------------------------
195 See http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=37807.
198 How to install Psensor on my Linux distribution?
199 ------------------------------------------------
201 Psensor packages are available in the standard repositories of Ubuntu
202 (since Oneiric) and Debian (since v7) distributions.
204 For other distributions, you will find the compilation and
205 installation instructions in the section +Installation from source
206 archive+ in the README file of the source archive. Psensor should
207 compile in any modern distribution.
210 How to log sensors temperatures?
211 --------------------------------
213 The best way is probably to use sensord or a custom script based on
214 the output of the different commands like +sensors+.
216 Anyway, as I received several requests about such feature, since the
217 0.7.0.4 release it is implemented in both psensor ( menu preferences >
218 sensors > enable log of measures) and psensor-server
219 (+--sensor-log-file+ option). For psensor the log file is
220 +$HOME/.psensor/sensors.log+.
222 [[S_NO_GRAPH_DISPLAYED]]
224 No graphs are displayed, but the table of the main window is displaying sensors
225 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
227 In the sensors table of the main window, switch on the checkbox of the last
228 column (named +Enabled+ or +Graph+ depending on the Psensor version).
231 Launch Psensor automaticaly on session startup
232 ----------------------------------------------
234 Since the version 1.0.1, Psensor is no more started automaticaly by default.
236 Open the +Preferences+ window, select the +Startup+ tab and switch on
237 the option +Launch on session startup+.
239 This feature is requiring that the Desktop Environment supports the
240 http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html[XDG
244 How to monitor the temperature of a disk with +hddtemp+?
245 --------------------------------------------------------
247 Until the release 1.1.2, Psensor is using +hddtemp+ by default to
248 retrieve the temperature of the disks.
250 If +hddtemp+ is installed but no disk temperature is reported, check
251 that the daemon is running by using for example the command +ps
253 It should output something like:
255 ---------------------
256 root 1433 1 0 May28 ? 00:00:21 /usr/sbin/hddtemp -d -l 127.0.0.1 -p 7634 -s | /dev/sdb
257 ---------------------
259 Depending on the Linux distribution, the installation of the +hddtemp+
260 package does not enable the hddtemp daemon automaticaly.
262 In this case, edit the file +/etc/default/hddtemp+ and set
263 +RUN_DAEMON+ to +"true"+. After edition, it should contain the
270 For Debian/Ubuntu, you can use at root:
272 dpkg-reconfigure hddtemp
275 and reply +yes+ when asked whether hddtemp daemon must be
276 run during the startup.
279 Is there any other similar softwares?
280 -------------------------------------
282 Here is a list of few well-known sensors monitoring softwares:
284 - for X11: http://freecode.com/projects/xsensors
286 - for GNOME2: http://sensors-applet.sourceforge.net/
288 - for Ubuntu Unity: https://launchpad.net/indicator-sensors
290 - more general, but can be configured to display sensors
291 information: http://conky.sourceforge.net/
294 Is it possible to hide sensors in the main window?
295 --------------------------------------------------
297 Before v1.1.1, the sensors retrieved from the lm-sensor library can be
298 ignored directly in the lm-sensor configuration. See the manpage
301 Since v1.1.1, it is possible to hide a sensor, uncheck the setting
302 'Display sensor in the list of sensors' in the sensor preferences.