1 = Psensor Frequently Asked Questions
5 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.
8 No sensors or only cpu usage is displayed
9 -----------------------------------------
11 Psensor is relying on few libraries or softwares for retrieving the
12 information about the computer:
14 - motherboard and CPUs sensors: the information is retrieved
15 from the lm-sensors library, it requires that
16 +sensors-detect+ has been run and the kernel module
17 correctly installed. +sensors+ can be used for checking.
19 - GPUs: it depends on which driver you are using:
21 * Opensource drivers (nouveau for Nvidia GPUs or
22 radeon/ati for ATI GPUs) is used and support sensor
23 monitoring for your GPU, the information is using
24 lm-sensors, same steps than above.
26 * proprietary driver Nvidia: run +nvidia-settings+ to
27 check that it supports sensors monitoring.
29 * proprietary driver Catalyst/fglx: use +aticonfig+ to
30 check that it supports sensors monitoring. Important
31 note: it requires that you are using a Psensor
32 binary compiled with the ATI support.
34 For hard disk drives, psensor can use:
36 - udisks2: added since 1.1.2 release. It is the default and
39 - hddtemp: verify that it is correctly reporting temperature by
40 using the command: +sudo hddtemp /dev/sda+. It is the default
41 provider until 1.1.2 release.
43 - atasmart library: before the 1.1.2 release it can be enabled
44 by using the command line option +--use-libatasmart+.
46 If the underlying software is reporting sensors which are not
47 displayed by Psensor, it is probably a bug in Psensor, so please
48 report it. Otherwise, the issue is on the underlying software itself
49 and you should contact the corresponding development team or refer to
52 Since the release 1.1.2, the providers can be enabled or disabled directly
53 from the user interface (+Preferences>Provider+).
56 How to monitor an ATI card using the Catalyst driver?
57 -----------------------------------------------------
59 For monitoring ATI card using the proprietary Catalyst driver, Psensor
60 must be compiled with a proprietary library which is not packaged in
61 any Linux distribution.
63 Unfortunely, due to the license of this library, I cannot provide a
64 compiled version of Psensor, even in a Ubuntu PPA or Ubuntu/Debian
65 standard repositories. You have to compile Psensor sensor. You can
66 find the instructions in the section +ATI/AMD GPU Support+ of the
67 README file available in the Psensor source archives.
69 If you are using the ATI OpenSource driver, it is not needed to
70 compile Psensor with this proprietary library.
72 [[S_WrongTemperature]]
73 The reported temperature is obviously wrong
74 -------------------------------------------
76 If the reported temperature is obviously wrong (never change, lower
77 than the ambiant temperature, negative, higher than the sun
80 - most of the time it is not a bug in Psensor nor in the
81 underlying monitoring libraries:
83 * if the temperature does not change, it might be due
84 to an existent sensor not wired by the hardware
87 * the goal of the sensor is to allow the system to
88 detect critical temperature and NOT to report an
89 exact temperature. Most sensors report a relative
90 temperature. The more it differs from the critical
91 temperature , the more it is wrong.
93 - It is only a bug in Psensor if the underlying libraries
94 report a different information than Psensor (use the
95 appropriate command or software: +sensors+, +aticonfig+ or
96 +hddtemp+ to check). In this case, please report a bug.
99 What is the sensors XXXX?
100 -------------------------
102 Since Psensor v0.7.0.4, open the preferences of the sensor (click on
103 its name in the main window and select the menu item Preferences), and
104 look at the Chip field.
106 For older Psensor releases, look at the Id field, if the string is
109 - +lmsensor coretemp+: Intel CPU.
110 - +lmsensor k10temp+, +lmsensor k8temp+, +lmsensor fam15h_power+: AMD CPU.
111 - +nvidia+ or +lmsensor nouveau+: NVIDIA GPU.
112 - +hdd+: hard disk drive.
114 - +lmsensor C B+: C is the name of the chip, B the name of the adapter.
116 For more information about lmsensor devices, see
117 http://lm-sensors.org/wiki/Devices.
123 Please use https://bugs.launchpad.net/psensor/+filebug to report bugs
124 even if it can only reproduced with a non-Ubuntu distribution or a
125 release not available in the standard Ubuntu repositories.
128 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/psensor/+filebug if the bug
129 can be reproduced with a package from the standard Ubuntu
132 If you don’t want to use the launchpad, you can send the report by
135 - psensor-users@googlegroups.com
136 - or jeanfi@gmail.com.
138 If the bug is concerning Debian or Ubuntu derivatives distribution,
139 please add in its description the output of the command: +apt-cache
142 If it is related to the Psensor source compilation, please add the
143 full output of the +configure+ command.
146 How to send ideas, questions or comments?
147 -----------------------------------------
149 Check the FAQ or the TODO pages.
151 If you don’t find the information, you can send an email to the public
152 mailing-list psensor-users@googlegroups.com or directly to me:
160 See http://wpitchoune.net/blog/psensor/how-to-contribute/.
163 How to install Psensor on Ubuntu?
164 ---------------------------------
166 Psensor is in the official repository, search +psensor+ in the
167 software center and install it. More information at:
168 http://wpitchoune.net/blog/psensor/ubuntu-integration/.
171 How to install Psensor on Debian?
172 ---------------------------------
174 Psensor is in the official repository since Debian 7.0. You can get
175 the last packaged version from the sid repository. More information
176 at: http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/psensor.html.
179 What is the difference between the 3 Ubuntu PPAs?
180 -------------------------------------------------
182 - +ppa:jfi/ppa+: last stable version.
184 - +ppa:jfi/psensor-unstable+: last development version, no
185 major bug is expected.
187 - +ppa:jfi/psensor-daily-trunk+: build each day directly from
188 the GIT source repository. It may contain major bugs or
189 incomplete features. Useful for contributors or testing
190 whether a bug is fixed.
192 [[S_ArchLinuxInstall]]
193 How to install Psensor on ArchLinux?
194 ------------------------------------
196 See http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=37807.
199 How to install Psensor on my Linux distribution?
200 ------------------------------------------------
202 Psensor packages are available in the standard repositories of Ubuntu
203 (since Oneiric) and Debian (since v7) distributions.
205 For other distributions, you will find the compilation and
206 installation instructions in the section +Installation from source
207 archive+ in the README file of the source archive. Psensor should
208 compile in any modern distribution.
211 How to log sensors temperatures?
212 --------------------------------
214 The best way is probably to use sensord or a custom script based on
215 the output of the different commands like +sensors+.
217 Anyway, as I received several requests about such feature, since the
218 0.7.0.4 release it is implemented in both psensor ( menu preferences >
219 sensors > enable log of measures) and psensor-server
220 (+--sensor-log-file+ option). For psensor the log file is
221 +$HOME/.psensor/sensors.log+.
223 [[S_NO_GRAPH_DISPLAYED]]
225 No graphs are displayed, but the table of the main window is displaying sensors
226 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
228 In the sensors table of the main window, switch on the checkbox of the last
229 column (named +Enabled+ or +Graph+ depending on the Psensor version).
232 Launch Psensor automaticaly on session startup
233 ----------------------------------------------
235 Since the version 1.0.1, Psensor is no more started automaticaly by default.
237 Open the +Preferences+ window, select the +Startup+ tab and switch on
238 the option +Launch on session startup+.
240 This feature is requiring that the Desktop Environment supports the
241 http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html[XDG
245 How to monitor the temperature of a disk with +hddtemp+?
246 --------------------------------------------------------
248 Until the release 1.1.2, Psensor is using +hddtemp+ by default to
249 retrieve the temperature of the disks.
251 If +hddtemp+ is installed but no disk temperature is reported, check
252 that the daemon is running by using for example the command +ps
254 It should output something like:
256 ---------------------
257 root 1433 1 0 May28 ? 00:00:21 /usr/sbin/hddtemp -d -l 127.0.0.1 -p 7634 -s | /dev/sdb
258 ---------------------
260 Depending on the Linux distribution, the installation of the +hddtemp+
261 package does not enable the hddtemp daemon automaticaly.
263 In this case, edit the file +/etc/default/hddtemp+ and set
264 +RUN_DAEMON+ to +"true"+. After edition, it should contain the
271 For Debian/Ubuntu, you can use at root:
273 dpkg-reconfigure hddtemp
276 and reply +yes+ when asked whether hddtemp daemon must be
277 run during the startup.
280 Is there any other similar softwares?
281 -------------------------------------
283 Here is a list of few well-known sensors monitoring softwares:
285 - for X11: http://freecode.com/projects/xsensors
287 - for GNOME2: http://sensors-applet.sourceforge.net/
289 - for Ubuntu Unity: https://launchpad.net/indicator-sensors
291 - more general, but can be configured to display sensors
292 information: http://conky.sourceforge.net/
295 Is it possible to hide sensors in the main window?
296 --------------------------------------------------
298 Before v1.1.1, the sensors retrieved from the lm-sensor library can be
299 ignored directly in the lm-sensor configuration. See the manpage
302 Since v1.1.1, it is possible to hide a sensor, uncheck the setting
303 'Display sensor in the list of sensors' in the sensor preferences.