RTSensors-2 Homepage

Last Update: October 15th 2007

FAQ

Welcome to RTsensors-2 home.
This software does not work with current lm-sensors library until I find some time to adapt it.
The new lm-sensors library recognizes chip features automatically so patches won't be needed anymore.
Anyway I may even change the way rtsensors reads and writes from/to the hardware monitor to make it independent from the library.

PWM frequency support for the w83627hf family has been included in 2.6.23 kernel :) See the kernel Changelog
If you are interested in testing the beta version email me

What is RTSensors?

Rtsensors is a LINUX FAN SPEED CONTROL application, useful to reduce fan noise and increase system reliability.
See RTSensors FAQ and Config guide .

How does it work?

RTSensors can be configured by the user as an expert controller: The user can specify the max/min speed of the system fans, the maximum affordable temperature and so on... The controller tries to reduce fan speed to reduce noise while the temperature is in a safe range chosen by the user. So fan speed is modified automatically by the control algorithm, you dont have to use those mechanic or thermal regulators on your fans anymore :) .
Furthermore, RTSensors reduces temperature slopes and avoids thermal stress caused by temperature variation. Therefore, your CPU will live LONGER with RTSensors.

Applications

It reduces the noise by slowing down your fans, but keeping the temperature in a safe range chosen by YOU.
LINUX Ecology Howto
Its very useful to control the temperature variation due to the activation of POWER MANAGEMENT states of AMD processors (K7 Athlon and Celeron):
Athlon PowerSaving Howto
Athcool
Its also useful to control and monitorize hardware status of overclocked machines (though I dont personally recommend you to do that)

Requirements?

THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW REFER TO THE OLD VERSION OF RTSENSORS, WHICH NEEDS PATCHES.

1) To run RTsensors-2, you need lm-sensors drivers and utilities.
Once lm-sensors is installed, run 'sensors' or 'sensors-detect' to find out which hardware monitor is in your motherboard.

2) You also need lm-sensors LIBRARY, called libsensors, find it here.
(To install libsensors from lm-sensors source you will need sysfs, sysfs-dev, flex and bison packages)
Sometimes libsensors do not give full access to all the needed features, thats why you must patch lm-sensors library with the patches shown below.

3) Once lm-sensors and patched libsensors are installed, you will need the following -dev packages or sources to compile RTsensors-2:
- glibc-dev (for pthread headers)
- gtk1.2-dev if you want to compile the X-windows GUI.

Downloads

These downloads used to work with the current version of libsensors and recent kernel releases.
Due to the difficulties about having to patch the kernel and the library to install RTSensors I decided to wait for the new libsensors library, which recognizes chip features automatically.
PATCHES for libsensors:

1) Download latest lm-sensors stable version: lm_sensors-2.10.0
and this patch: lm_sensors-2.10.0.patch

Save both files in a directory and then type:

whatever> tar xzf lm_sensors-2.10.0.tar.gz
whatever> patch -p0 < lm_sensors-2.10.0.patch

    whatever> cd lm_sensors-2.10.0
    whatever/lm_sensors-2.10.0> make user
    whatever/lm_sensors-2.10.0> make user_install

Error codes usually come from missing packages: You will need sysfs, sysfs-dev, flex and bison packages.

This will install latest lm-sensors libraries and utilities.

RTsensors-2.0 SOURCE

2) Download RTSensors source:

rtsensors-2.0pre4.tar.gz ( Next release not ready yet... )
rtsensors-2.0pre3.tar.gz ( Only works with driver patches. Changelog)
rtsensors-2.0pre2.tar.gz ( Removed: Only works with driver patches )
rtsensors-2.0pre1.tar.gz ( broken )

Save the file in a directory and then type:

whatever> tar xzf rtsensors-2.0pre3.tar.gz

    whatever> cd rtsensors-2.0pre3
    whatever/rtsensors-2.0pre3> cd src
    whatever/rtsensors-2.0pre3/src> make
    whatever/rtsensors-2.0pre3/src> make install

Documentation

README
INSTALL
FAQ
Configuration Guide

Configuration samples for RTsensors-2:

.rtsensorsrc Default config file. Tested on a MSI KTV6 and a EPOX 8 KHA+ (Winbond W83697hf). Save it to your /etc dir.

Screenshots

You can monitorize the status of the CONTROL algorithm (speed of fans, temperature, cpu idle %) using one of these beautiful front-ends :)
Console front-end
GTK GUI front-end

Warning:

No liability for the contents of this document or the source code can be accepted. Use the concepts, examples and information at your own risk. There may be errors and inaccuracies, that could be damaging to your system. Proceed with caution, and although this is highly unlikely, the author(s) do not take any responsibility.

All copyrights are held by their respective owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.

Future Work

- Online fan divisor configuration.
- MainBoard table with configuration values of PWM clocks and other config file infos .

Donations

You liked this piece of crap? Well, feel free to donate.

Contact

Feedback is welcome at: carlos dot olalla at urv dot cat