linuxSmartie

Alphanumeric LCD controller software for Linux (kind of LCDSmartie for Windows but no GUI, no config file, no plugins, no Windows).

Big ol rewrite in C, like God intended because GOOD LORD C++ IS A MESS.

Hardcoded to work with 4x40 character display because that's what I have and I don't plan on using anything else. Uses Matrix Orbital protocol over serial. Should work with most other display sizes by modifying src/LCDDisplay.cpp. Best of luck if you try to make it work with anything else.

Vaguely inspired by suckless software philosophy, as in:

The config is the source code

Same as plugins. Just write in more features scrub, learn some C, damn

TODOs (real)

  • idk some formatting? we had a lot of that on c++ ver, might be buggy
  • halts to wait for sensors p long on boot, ig its a minor detail but still

TODOs

  • Extra screens support perhaps? just halt sensors monitoring thread and print another struct on display if needed, have a semaphore or sth
  • Maybe not even screens, keep the 1st line and change lines 2-4
  • Media playback screen (use mpris, get playback info with mpris)
  • In the LCDDisplay lib, reimplement all the features I have in picoSmartie + maybe finally add keypad support for both so I can toggle backlight (?) or change screens if I want any
  • Screens could be automatic tbh, like if it detects media playing it switches to media screen, if in media screen and GPU power > 80W it switches to main (hwmon) screen
  • FUCK C++, HUGE REWRITE FROM SCRATCH IN C LIKE GOD ALWAYS INTENDED but fuuuuck display thread would be so painful without std::string. And I really would need to start a whole ass project from a clean slate since I made it a point to use a lot of C++ features which now bite me in the ass.

LCD layout

It looks something like this

****************************************
0.4      0    ||09:30:36|         124fps
53/40/35C 4.53GB          544MB   32/40C
26W  424R      65.9W    0R   7/244W  11W
1,200V 1186MHz  3150       2/9MHz 0,112V
****************************************

(on LCDSmartie)

Ok but what does it all mean

In general left side is CPU/system stuff, right side is GPU stuff

{act core cnt} {whea} {time} {bar/1cpu%}{bar/AllCPU%}{TIME}{gpu%} {xbat} {fps}

{dieAvg}/{cache}/{iod}C {ram}GB  {vram}GB  {edge}/{junction}C

{cpuPpt}W {cpufan}R {wallPow}W {gpufan}R {gpuPpt}/{cap}W {gpuBoard}W

{cpuV}V {avgCpuFreq}MHz {gpuCoreClkCap} {gpuCoreClk}/{gpuMemClk}MHz {gpuV}V

Not all of this will be possible ofc but it's a start

Raw LCD Smartie lines below:

Text01="$dll(hwinfo,1,Average Active Core Count,1)$Fill(9)$dll(hwinfo,1,Total Errors,0)$Fill(14)$dll(tinybar2,8,$dll(hwinfo,1,Max CPU/Thread Usage,),1)$Fill(5)$dll(tinybar2,7,$dll(hwinfo,1,Total CPU Usage,),1)$Time(hh:mm:ss)$dll(tinybar2,6,$dll(hwinfo,1,GPU Utilization,),1)$dll(xbat,1,i,1)$Fill(33)$Right($dll(hwinfo,1,Framerate (Presented),0),$4%)fps"
Text02="$dll(hwinfo,1,1|CPU Die (average),0|a)/$dll(hwinfo,1,1|L3 Cache (CCD1),0)/$dll(hwinfo,1,1|CPU IOD Hotspot,0)$Chr(176)$Fill(10)$dll(format,2,$dll(hwinfo,1,1|8|4,0),0##B)B$Fill(24)$Right($dll(format,2,$dll(hwinfo,1,GPU D3D Memory Dedicated,0),0##B),$6%)B$Fill(34)$Right($dll(hwinfo,1,GPU|1|1,)/$dll(hwinfo,1,GPU|1|4,)$Chr(176),$7%)"
Text03="$dll(hwinfo,1,5|1,0)W$Fill(5)$dll(hwinfo,1,3|2,)R$Fill(14)$Right($dll(tasmopwr,1,tasmota-plug-pc.lan,)W,$6%)$Fill(21)$Right($dll(hwinfo,1,GPU|3|1,)R,$5%)$Fill(27)$Right($dll(hwinfo,1,GPU|5|9,0)/$dll(hwinfo,1,GPU|5|10,0)W,$8%)$Fill(36)$Right($dll(hwinfo,1,GPU|5|7,0)W,$4%)"
Text04="$dll(hwinfo,1,Vcore,3)V $Right($dll(hwinfo,1,Average Effective Clock,a)MHz,$7%)$Fill(16)$dll(hwinfo,1,GPU Shader Clock Frequency Limit,)$Fill(21)$Right($dll(hwinfo,1,GPU|6|2,)/$dll(hwinfo,1,GPU|6|4,)MHz,$12%)$Fill(34)$dll(hwinfo,1,GPU|2|1,3)V$CustomChar(1,16,6,9,8,8,9,6,0)"

So what's still missing

  • Per-core CPU load, doable but annoying
  • FPS counter, maybe possible?
  • Active core count, probably impossible but loadAvg is better?
  • GPU board power, probably impossible, it was estimated on windows anyway
  • CPU cache/iod, likely impossible, zenpower doesnt show it
  • GPU clock limit, probably impossible, gpu_metrics doesnt show it?

Shit needed to compile on Debian 13

sudo apt install build-essential cmake libwebsockets-dev nlohmann-json3-dev
make configure
make build

You're probably on some meme immutable distro so use Debian 13 on distrobox. Ubuntu 24.04 should also work. Might set up a distrobox container file, with distrobox-assemble (?)

Additional notes

  • To read motherboard sensors on ASUS ROG STRIX B550-A GAMING, as of Linux 6.16 (and up) you need to boot with kernel parameter of acpi_enforce_resources=lax and load the nct6775 module.
    • On Fedora Workstation it can be added by appending it to /etc/kernel/cmdline.
    • On atomic desktops (Silverblue/Kinoite), rpm-ostree kargs --append-if-missing=acpi_enforce_resources=lax
  • You need to be able to read RAPL as user. Create in /etc/tmpfiles.d/intelrapl.conf with content z- /sys/class/powercap/intel-rapl:0/energy_uj 0440 root uucp - -. Adjust uucp to whatever group applicable, like dialout.
  • compile_commands.json is so clang understands this project, so we can edit it with helix/neovim. Generated with bear -- make, make sure to run make clean beforehand.
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