1 Psensor Frequently Asked Questions
2 ==================================
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 information about the computer:
12 - motherboard and CPUs sensors: the information is retrieved
13 from the lm-sensors library, it requires that
14 +sensors-detect+ has been run and the kernel module
15 correctly installed. +sensors+ can be used for checking.
17 - GPUs: it depends on which driver you are using:
19 * Opensource drivers (nouveau for Nvidia GPUs or
20 radeon/ati for ATI GPUs) is used and support sensor
21 monitoring for your GPU, the information is using
22 lm-sensors, same steps than above.
24 * proprietary driver Nvidia: run +nvidia-settings+ to
25 check that it supports sensors monitoring.
27 * proprietary driver Catalyst/fglx: use +aticonfig+ to
28 check that it supports sensors monitoring. Important
29 note: it requires that you are using a Psensor
30 binary compiled with the ATI support.
32 - HDDs: it uses the hddtemp daemon. Verify that it is
33 correctly reporting temperature by using the command: +sudo
34 hddtemp /dev/sda+. If hddtemp does not support your disk,
35 you may want to try using the libatasmart support instead
36 (option +--use-libatasmart+).
38 If the underlying software is reporting sensors which are not
39 displayed by Psensor, it is probably a bug in Psensor, so please
40 report it. Otherwise, the issue is on the underlying software itself
41 and you should contact the corresponding development team or refer to
45 How to monitor an ATI card using the Catalyst driver?
46 -----------------------------------------------------
48 For monitoring ATI card using the proprietary Catalyst driver, Psensor
49 must be compiled with a proprietary library which is not packaged in
50 any Linux distribution.
52 Unfortunely, due to the license of this library, I cannot provide a
53 compiled version of Psensor, even in a Ubuntu PPA or Ubuntu/Debian
54 standard repositories. You have to compile Psensor sensor. You can
55 find the instructions in the section +ATI/AMD GPU Support+ of the
56 README file available in the Psensor source archives.
58 If you are using the ATI OpenSource driver, it is not needed to
59 compile Psensor with this proprietary library.
61 [[S_WrongTemperature]]
62 The reported temperature is obviously wrong
63 -------------------------------------------
65 If the reported temperature is obviously wrong (never change, lower
66 than the ambiant temperature, negative, higher than the sun
69 - most of the time it is not a bug in Psensor nor in the
70 underlying monitoring libraries:
72 * if the temperature does not change, it might be due
73 to an existent sensor not wired by the hardware
76 * the goal of the sensor is to allow the system to
77 detect critical temperature and NOT to report an
78 exact temperature. Most sensors report a relative
79 temperature. The more it differs from the critical
80 temperature , the more it is wrong.
82 - It is only a bug in Psensor if the underlying libraries
83 report a different information than Psensor (use the
84 appropriate command or software: +sensors+, +aticonfig+ or
85 +hddtemp+ to check). In this case, please report a bug.
88 What is the sensors XXXX?
89 -------------------------
91 Since Psensor v0.7.0.4, open the preferences of the sensor (click on
92 its name in the main window and select the menu item Preferences), and
93 look at the Chip field.
95 For older Psensor releases, look at the Id field, if the string is
98 - +lmsensor coretemp+: Intel CPU.
99 - +lmsensor k10temp+, +lmsensor k8temp+, +lmsensor fam15h_power+: AMD CPU.
100 - +nvidia+ or +lmsensor nouveau+: NVIDIA GPU.
101 - +hdd+: hard disk drive.
103 - +lmsensor C B+: C is the name of the chip, B the name of the adapter.
105 For more information about lmsensor devices, see
106 http://lm-sensors.org/wiki/Devices.
112 Please use https://bugs.launchpad.net/psensor/+filebug to report bugs
113 even if it can only reproduced with a non-Ubuntu distribution or a
114 release not available in the standard Ubuntu repositories.
117 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/psensor/+filebug if the bug
118 can be reproduced with a package from the standard Ubuntu
121 If you don’t want to use the launchpad, you can send the report by
124 - psensor-users@googlegroups.com
125 - or jeanfi@gmail.com.
127 If the bug is concerning Debian or Ubuntu derivatives distribution,
128 please add in its description the output of the command: +apt-cache
131 If it is related to the Psensor source compilation, please add the
132 full output of the +configure+ command.
135 How to send ideas, questions or comments?
136 -----------------------------------------
138 Check the FAQ or the TODO pages.
140 If you don’t find the information, you can send an email to the public
141 mailing-list psensor-users@googlegroups.com or directly to me:
149 See http://wpitchoune.net/blog/psensor/how-to-contribute/.
152 How to install Psensor on Ubuntu?
153 ---------------------------------
155 Psensor is in the official repository, search +psensor+ in the
156 software center and install it. More information at:
157 http://wpitchoune.net/blog/psensor/ubuntu-integration/.
160 How to install Psensor on Debian?
161 ---------------------------------
163 Psensor is in the official repository since Debian 7.0. You can get
164 the last packaged version from the sid repository. More information
165 at: http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/psensor.html.
168 What is the difference between the 3 Ubuntu PPAs?
169 -------------------------------------------------
171 - +ppa:jfi/ppa+: last stable version.
173 - +ppa:jfi/psensor-unstable+: last development version, no
174 major bug is expected.
176 - +ppa:jfi/psensor-daily-trunk+: build each day directly from
177 the GIT source repository. It may contain major bugs or
178 incomplete features. Useful for contributors or testing
179 whether a bug is fixed.
181 [[S_ArchLinuxInstall]]
182 How to install Psensor on ArchLinux?
183 ------------------------------------
185 See http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=37807.
188 How to install Psensor on my Linux distribution?
189 ------------------------------------------------
191 Psensor packages are available in the standard repositories of Ubuntu
192 (since Oneiric) and Debian (since v7) distributions.
194 For other distributions, you will find the compilation and
195 installation instructions in the section +Installation from source
196 archive+ in the README file of the source archive. Psensor should
197 compile in any modern distribution.
200 How to log sensors temperatures?
201 --------------------------------
203 The best way is probably to use sensord or a custom script based on
204 the output of the different commands like +sensors+.
206 Anyway, as I received several requests about such feature, since the
207 0.7.0.4 release it is implemented in both psensor ( menu preferences >
208 sensors > enable log of measures) and psensor-server
209 (+--sensor-log-file+ option).
211 [[S_NO_GRAPH_DISPLAYED]]
213 No graphs are displayed, but the table of the main window is displaying sensors
214 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
216 In the sensors table of the main window, switch on the checkbox of the last
217 column (named +Enabled+ or +Graph+ depending on the Psensor version).
220 Launch Psensor automaticaly on session startup
221 ----------------------------------------------
223 Since the version 1.0.1, Psensor is no more started automaticaly by default.
225 Open the +Preferences+ window, select the +Startup+ tab and switch on
226 the option +Launch on session startup+.
228 This feature is requiring that the Desktop Environment supports the
229 http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html[XDG
233 How to monitor the temperature of a disk?
234 -----------------------------------------
236 By default, Psensor is using +hddtemp+ to retrieve the temperature of
239 If +hddtemp+ is installed but no disk temperature is reported, check
240 that the daemon is running by using for example the command +ps
242 It should output something like:
244 ---------------------
245 root 1433 1 0 May28 ? 00:00:21 /usr/sbin/hddtemp -d -l 127.0.0.1 -p 7634 -s | /dev/sdb
246 ---------------------
248 Depending on the Linux distribution, the installation of the +hddtemp+
249 package does not enable the hddtemp daemon automaticaly.
251 In this case, edit the file +/etc/default/hddtemp+ and set
252 +RUN_DAEMON+ to +"true"+ like in the following example:
255 # hddtemp network daemon switch. If set to true, hddtemp will listen
256 # for incoming connections.
260 For Debian/Ubuntu, you can use
262 dpkg-reconfigure hddtemp
265 and reply +yes+ when asked whether hddtemp daemon must be
266 run during the startup.
269 Is there any other similar softwares?
270 -------------------------------------
272 Here is a list of few well-known sensors monitoring softwares:
274 - for X11: http://freecode.com/projects/xsensors
276 - for GNOME2: http://sensors-applet.sourceforge.net/
278 - for Ubuntu Unity: https://launchpad.net/indicator-sensors
280 - more general, but can be configured to display sensors
281 information: http://conky.sourceforge.net/
284 Is it possible to hide sensors in the main window?
285 --------------------------------------------------
287 Before v1.1.1, the sensors retrieved from the lm-sensor library can be
288 ignored directly in the lm-sensor configuration. See the manpage
291 Since v1.1.1, it is possible to hide a sensor, uncheck the setting
292 'Display sensor in the list of sensors' in the sensor preferences.