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linuxSmartie

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

  • Hardcoded to work with 4x40 character display because that's what I have. Uses Matrix Orbital protocol over serial. Should work with most other display sizes by modifying src/lcd.c. If you're trying to make it work with anything else, good luck.
  • Originally written in C++26, then in C++20, and now finally in C23 because GOD C++ IS A MESS. Used to be vaguely C99 at some point but meson didn't like it and ig writing C23 I'm consistent with esp-idf v6.0.
  • 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

  • GPU power is jumpy, average? Use accumulator instead?
  • 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 lcd 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

LCD layout (on Windows)

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
****************************************

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? Not really on wayland, by design
  • 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

V simple:

sudo apt install build-essential meson libusb-1.0-0-dev pkgconf zlib1g-dev
make -j

You're probably on some meme immutable distro so use Debian 13 on distrobox. Any distro with GCC and cmake should work tbh.

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.
  • ModemManager might steal the port sometimes. Either disable the service or setup an udev rule: SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2e8a", ATTRS{idProduct}=="000a", ENV{ID_MM_DEVICE_IGNORE}="1"
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