🌡️ TempMon

Lightweight System Temperature Monitor for Arch Linux

A native, lightweight system tray application for monitoring CPU/GPU temperatures, power consumption, and fan speeds.

Similar to CoreTemp or iStat Menus, but built specifically for Linux with minimal resource usage.

Features • Installation • Usage • Project Structure • GitHub Setup • Troubleshooting

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✨ Features

📊 Monitoring Capabilities 🌡️ Temperature Monitoring CPU core temperatures GPU temperatures Motherboard sensors Disk/NVMe sensors (when exposed via hwmon) Other hardware sensors ⚡ Power Consumption CPU package power (watts) GPU power draw 🌀 Fan Speed Monitoring All system fans (RPM) 📈 System Stats CPU frequency (MHz) Network throughput (Rx/Tx)

🚀 Performance & Features 🪶 Lightweight ~5MB RAM usage Minimal CPU overhead 🎯 Native Implementation Pure C++17 GTK3 + libappindicator 📊 Auto-Discovery Automatically finds all sensors No manual configuration needed 🔄 Real-time Updates 2-second refresh rate Live system tray display ⚙️ CoreTemp-like Tray Icon Multiple icon styles (compact, rounded, square) Optional temperature delay for the tray icon Settings window for quick customization

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📸 Screenshots

System Tray	Dropdown Menu

The app displays current CPU temperature in the tray and all sensors in a dropdown menu

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📋 Requirements

📦 System Requirements

Component	Requirement
OS	Arch Linux (or Arch-based distro)
Compiler	GCC with C++17 support
Libraries	GTK3, libappindicator-gtk3
Build Tools	make, pkg-config
Kernel	Linux kernel with hwmon support

🔧 Dependencies

sudo pacman -S base-devel gtk3 libappindicator-gtk3

Optional: GPU-specific drivers

For NVIDIA GPUs

sudo pacman -S nvidia-utils

For AMD GPUs

The amdgpu kernel driver should already expose temperature sensors.

For Better Sensor Detection

sudo pacman -S lm_sensors
sudo sensors-detect

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🚀 Installation

Method 1: Quick Install Script (Recommended)

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/tempmon.git
cd tempmon
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

The script will:

• ✅ Check and install dependencies
• ✅ Compile the application
• ✅ Optionally install to /usr/local/bin
• ✅ Optionally add to autostart
• ✅ Check for sensor kernel modules

Method 2: Manual Installation

sudo pacman -S base-devel gtk3 libappindicator-gtk3
make
sudo make install
tempmon

Method 3: Build Arch Package

makepkg -si

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🎮 Usage

Starting TempMon

tempmon

The application will:

1. 🔍 Auto-discover all available hardware sensors
2. 📊 Display the highest CPU temperature in the system tray
3. 📋 Show all sensors in a dropdown menu when clicked
4. 🔄 Update readings every 2 seconds
5. ⚙️ Provide a Settings window for icon style, delay, and sensor selection

Stopping TempMon

• Click the tray icon and select Quit
• Or use: killall tempmon

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⚙️ Autostart Configuration

systemd User Service (Recommended)

# Install systemd user unit and enable autostart
sudo make install
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now tempmon.service

Disable it later with:

systemctl --user disable --now tempmon.service

For Desktop Environments (GNOME, KDE, Xfce, MATE)

mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart
cp tempmon.desktop ~/.config/autostart/

Or create the file manually:

cat > ~/.config/autostart/tempmon.desktop << 'EOF'
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=TempMon
Comment=Temperature Monitor
Exec=tempmon
Terminal=false
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
EOF

For Window Managers (i3, Sway, bspwm)

i3 WM

Add to ~/.config/i3/config:

exec --no-startup-id tempmon

Sway

Add to ~/.config/sway/config:

exec tempmon

bspwm

Add to ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc:

tempmon &

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🔧 How It Works

``` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Linux Kernel (hwmon interface) │ │ /sys/class/hwmon/hwmon* │ └──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┘ │ ┌──────────────────┼──────────────────┐ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ ▼ temp*_input power*_input fan*_input │ │ │ Temperature (°C) Power (Watts) Fan Speed (RPM) │ │ │ └──────────────────┼──────────────────┘ │ ▼ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ TempMon Application │ │ • Auto-discovers sensors │ │ • Reads values every 2 seconds │ │ • Updates GTK tray indicator │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ ```

📊 Supported Sensor Types

Sensor Type	Interface	Example Hardware
🌡️ Temperature	hwmon/temp*_input	CPU cores, GPU, chipset
⚡ Power	hwmon/power*_input	CPU package, GPU power
🌀 Fan Speed	hwmon/fan*_input	Case fans, CPU cooler

🖥️ Compatible Hardware

Intel Systems CPU: coretemp driver Core temperatures Package power GPU: i915 driver (integrated)	AMD Systems CPU: k10temp driver Tctl/Tdie temperatures Package power GPU: amdgpu driver Junction/edge temps GPU power
NVIDIA GPUs GPU: nvidia driver GPU temperature Power draw Fan speed

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📁 Project Structure

tempmon/
├── 📄 .gitignore             # Git ignore rules
├── 📄 LICENSE                # MIT License
├── 📄 README.md              # This file
├──src/                       
   └── 💻 tempmon.cpp         # Main C++ source (~300 lines)
├── 🔨 Makefile               # Build configuration
├── 🚀 install.sh             # Automated installer
├── 🖥️ tempmon.desktop        # Desktop entry for autostart
├── 🧰 tempmon.service        # systemd user service (autostart)
├── 📦 PKGBUILD               # Arch package build script
├── 📚 ENHANCEMENTS.md        # Customization guide
└── 🖼️ images/                # Screenshots (optional)
    ├── how-it-works.png
    ├── tray-icon.png
    └── dropdown-menu.png

What Files Do I Need?

Quick Start (Just Use It):

tempmon.cpp + Makefile + install.sh

Manual Installation:

tempmon.cpp + Makefile

Build Arch Package:

tempmon.cpp + Makefile + tempmon.desktop + PKGBUILD

Total repository size: ~50-300 KB (extremely lightweight!)

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🐙 GitHub Setup

Initial Repository Setup

cd tempmon
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit: TempMon system monitor"
git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/tempmon.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Repository Configuration

Topics (Tags):

arch-linux, temperature-monitor, system-tray, gtk3, cpp, linux, hardware-monitoring, sensors, lightweight

Description:

Lightweight system tray monitor for CPU/GPU temps, power, and fans

Creating First Release

git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Initial release of TempMon"
git push origin v1.0.0

On GitHub: Releases → Create a new release → Tag: v1.0.0

.gitignore File

# Compiled binary
tempmon

# Build artifacts
*.o
*.so
*.a
*.out

# Editor files
*.swp
*.swo
*~
.vscode/
.idea/
*.sublime-*

# OS files
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db
desktop.ini

# Backup files
*.bak
*.backup

# Package files
*.tar.gz
*.tar.xz
*.pkg.tar.zst
pkg/
src/

# Debug files
*.log
core

# IDE specific
.clangd/
compile_commands.json

Optional: GitHub Actions CI/CD

Create .github/workflows/build.yml:

name: Build

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: |
        sudo apt-get update
        sudo apt-get install -y build-essential libgtk-3-dev libappindicator3-dev
    
    - name: Build
      run: make
    
    - name: Upload binary
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
      with:
        name: tempmon
        path: tempmon

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🎨 Customization

Changing Update Interval

Edit tempmon.cpp line ~270:

// Change from 2000ms (2 seconds) to desired value
timer_id = g_timeout_add(2000, updateCallback, this);

Settings Window (Recommended)

Open Settings from the tray menu to configure:

• Temperature source (auto or a specific sensor)
• Update interval and icon display delay
• Icon style (compact, rounded, square)
• Theme (dark, light, accent)
• Decimal precision and degree symbol

Settings are stored in ~/.config/tempmon/config.ini.

Changing Tray Display

Edit the computeAutoTemperature() function to show GPU temp instead:

// Search for GPU temperature instead of CPU
if (sensor.type == "temp" && sensor.name.find("GPU") != std::string::npos) {
    // Show GPU temp in tray
}

Adding Temperature Alerts

See ENHANCEMENTS.md for examples of adding:

• 🔔 Desktop notifications for high temps
• 🎨 Color-coded temperature warnings
• 📈 Temperature history and graphs
• ⚙️ Configuration file support

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🐛 Troubleshooting

❌ No sensors detected

Solution 1: Load kernel modules

# For Intel CPUs
sudo modprobe coretemp

# For AMD CPUs  
sudo modprobe k10temp

# For AMD GPUs
sudo modprobe amdgpu

# Make permanent
echo "coretemp" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules-load.d/sensors.conf

Solution 2: Run sensors-detect

sudo pacman -S lm_sensors
sudo sensors-detect
# Answer YES to save configuration
sudo reboot

Solution 3: Verify sensors exist

# List available hardware monitors
ls -la /sys/class/hwmon/

# Check what sensors are detected
sensors

# Check specific device
cat /sys/class/hwmon/hwmon0/name
cat /sys/class/hwmon/hwmon0/temp1_input

🚫 App doesn't appear in system tray

GNOME:

sudo pacman -S gnome-shell-extension-appindicator
gnome-extensions enable appindicatorsupport@rgcjonas.gmail.com

KDE Plasma: Should work out of the box. Check System Settings → System Tray.

i3/Sway: Make sure you're running a status bar that supports tray icons (i3bar, polybar, waybar).

Xfce: Panel should support indicators by default. Right-click panel → Add Items → Notification Area.

⚠️ Build errors

Error: gtk/gtk.h: No such file or directory

sudo pacman -S gtk3 libappindicator-gtk3 pkg-config

Error: undefined reference to 'app_indicator_new'

sudo pacman -S libappindicator-gtk3

Check pkg-config:

pkg-config --modversion gtk+-3.0
pkg-config --modversion appindicator3-0.1

🔥 Temperatures seem wrong

Compare with other tools:

sudo pacman -S lm_sensors
sensors
watch -n 1 sensors

# For NVIDIA
nvidia-smi

Note about AMD Tctl vs Tdie:

AMD reports two temperatures:

• Tctl: Control temperature (with offset)
• Tdie: Die temperature (actual)

TempMon shows both if available.

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🗑️ Uninstallation

# Remove binary
sudo make uninstall

# Remove autostart entry
rm -f ~/.config/autostart/tempmon.desktop

# Remove source directory
cd .. && rm -rf tempmon

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here are some ideas:

🎯 Feature Ideas Configuration file support Temperature alert notifications Historical graphs Disk temperature monitoring Network statistics CPU frequency display

🐛 Improvements Multi-language support GUI preferences window Custom color themes Export data to CSV Wayland native support Plugin system

How to Contribute

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

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📊 Comparison with Other Tools

Feature	TempMon	conky	psensor	i3status	htop
System Tray	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
Lightweight	✅	⚠️	⚠️	✅	✅
Auto-discovery	✅	❌	✅	❌	N/A
Power Monitoring	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
No Config Needed	✅	❌	✅	❌	✅
RAM Usage	~5MB	~20MB	~15MB	~2MB	~10MB

Why TempMon?

• ✅ vs CoreTemp: Native Linux, monitors all hardware types
• ✅ vs iStat Menus: Open source, free, customizable
• ✅ vs conky: System tray integration, zero configuration
• ✅ vs psensor: Lighter weight, cleaner interface, includes power monitoring

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📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Copyright (c) 2025 [Your Name]

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.

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📞 Support

• 🐛 Bug Reports: Open an issue
• 💡 Feature Requests: Start a discussion
• 📖 Documentation: Check ENHANCEMENTS.md for customization examples

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• GTK Project - UI toolkit
• libappindicator - System tray support
• Linux kernel - hwmon interface
• Arch Linux - The inspiration for lightweight tools

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Made with ❤️ for the Arch Linux community