Framework 16 LED Matrix System Monitoring Application

This software is intended for use on a Framework 16 laptop with LED Matrix Panels installed. It's a clone of the LED System Monitor project, with certain modifications and extensions applied.

Original Capabilities

Display system performance characteristics in real-time

Top Left: CPU utilization
Bottom Left: Battery charge level and plug status + memory utilization
Top Right: Disk Input/Output rates
Bottom Right: Network Upload/Download rates

Enhanced Capabilities

Pre-defined applications can be displayed on any quadrant
- Top or bottom of left or right panel
- Specified via program arguments
Additional system performance applications
- Temperature sensor values (average of sensors on each of up to eight devices)
- Fan speeds (max 2 supported)
Keyboard shortcut identifies apps running in each quadrant by displaying abbeviated name
Plugin framework supports simplified development of addiitonal LED Panel applications
Automatic detection of left and right LED panels

Installation

Install PyEnv
Any other python virtual environment package may be used. Commands below work with PyEnv.

cd led-matrix
pyenv install 3.11
pyenv virtualenv 3.11 3.11
pyenv activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Run

cd led-matrix
python led-sysyem-monitor.py [--help] [--top-left {cpu,net,disk,mem-bat,none,temp,fan}] [--bottom-left {cpu,net,disk,mem-bat,none,temp,fan}] [--top-right {cpu,net,disk,mem-bat,none,temp,fan}]
                             [--bottom-right {cpu,net,disk,mem-bat,none,temp,fan}] [--no-key-listener] [--disable-plugins]
python led-sysyem-monitor.py --help #For more verbose help info

Run as a Linux service

cd led-matrix
./install_as_service.sh [...args] #program args to be applied when starting or restarting the service
sudo systemctl start|stop|restart|status fwledmonitor

Keyboard Shortcut

Alt+I: displays app names in each quadrant while keys are pressed
Disable key listener with --no-key-listener program arg
To use the key listener, the app must have read permission on the keyboard device (e.g /dev/input/event7). The service runs as root, and therefore has the required access. If you want toi use the key listener while running the app directly, you need to add your user account to the input group and ensure there is a group read permission on the keyboard device. NB: Consider the implications of this. Any program running as a user in the input group will be able to capture your keystrokes.

Plugin Development

Add a file in the plugins dir with a name that matches the blob pattern *_plugin.py
See temp_fan_plugin.py for an implementation example

Notes

To list your input devices, use the following python code after installing Python-evdev

>>> import evdev

>>> devices = [evdev.InputDevice(path) for path in evdev.list_devices()]
>>> for device in devices:
>>>     print(device.path, device.name, device.phys)
/dev/input/event1    Dell Dell USB Keyboard   usb-0000:00:12.1-2/input0
/dev/input/event0    Dell USB Optical Mouse   usb-0000:00:12.0-2/input0

The baseline reference for calculating the ratio used to display temperature and fan speed readings were arbitarily defined. See TEMP_REF and MAX_FAN_SPEED in temp_fan_plugin.py.
To examine system performance measures manually and in detail, run python ps-util-sensors.py
To use a different key combination for identifying the running apps, see KEY_I and MODIFIER_KEYS in led_system_monitor.py

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