Is Ubuntu's fancontrol possible to install??

  • I have LibreElec with some dual boots (mint 20 and RetroPie) running on a x86_64 system and i have to say it runs very smooth!

    The only thing i miss is some fancontrol. The minimal rpm for my PSU fan in the BIOS is still too loud. The only add-on i could find was speedfan for windows..

    Can i install a module like in Linux? (nct6791) And how can i install fancontrol? It seems the system mount is read only.. so i can't manually copy the files i need.

    Is there someone who already has this working or maybe can help me with this?

  • under linux the lm_sensors package handles stuff like that.

    commands are

    * sensors-detect

    (seems unavailable under LE, though) what let detect hardware monitor chips and on some distro's (?) create a initial config file under /etc

    * sensor

    displays the values

    the LE addon "System-tools" has the lm_sensors packages

    I guess under linux all (?) tools regarding sensor stuff depend on lm_sensors ...

    ===

    - a bios update available for your box ?

    I've seen boxes with outdated bios what left the fan on top speed

    - or some settings in bios to influence power control . e.g. CPU, what subseq. changes the fan speeds ?

  • I already have installed the extra system tools (what also gave me Midnight Commander, something i tried to install before without success, so kudo's for that!).. I indeed have sensors, but not the sensor-detect tool. So it won't detect/add the nct6791 module. And because of the read only file system mount i can't add it manually. I'm not yet completely familiar with the file structure of this distro and how the overlay works.. can i add my own files somewhere in the /storage mount and will the system see them as system files?

    My bios is up to date.

    As i said before, on the lowest rpm (it does go lower) it is still too loud for a mediapc in a livingroom! My opinion is that fancontrol is a crusial piece of software for such a system.

  • You probably need to enable CONFIG_SENSORS_NCT6775=m in the Generic kernel defconfig before lm_sensors will be able to see data. You cannot add kernel modules etc. to a running LE system as there is no package-management, but for those with a tinker mindset it's fairly simple to build a custom LE image with the changes needed. See https://wiki.libreelec.tv/development-1/build-basics .. and if adding the module works, read https://wiki.libreelec.tv/development-1/git-tutorial and send us a pull-request to enable it in the main image.

  • Sensors does output some data.. like coretemp cpu values and i believe acpitz, but not the fans, that's the nct6791 chipset.

    But where can i enable that CONFIG_SENSORS setting?

    Building a new images sounds nice, but i don't like the installer that wipes the complete disk! So i have to start all over again with the other distro's! I like the way all is running now, only in kodi/LE do i need fancontrol.

  • I found this ~/.config/modules-load.d folder. Can i start a module this way?

    Edit:

    I made a file called nct6775.config with modulename in it and put it in that folder, but after a reboot nothing. Not even a mentioning in the logs if it could start/find it or not.

    Also when i search for the module i can't seem to find it. So i have no clue of the config file did nothing, or it is because of a missing module?

    It should be in: /usr/lib/kernel-overlays/base/lib/modules/5.10.76/kernel/drivers/hwmon i guess

    If that's the equivalent for linux /lib/modules/5.13.0-25-generic/kernel/drivers/hwmon

    Can i copy the nct6775.ko file to that directory and if so how, because it is read only?

    Edit2:

    I found /storage/.cache/kernel-overlays so i made the same directory structure and placed the module in there, but that gave me also zero result.

    (~/.cache/kernel-overlays/base/lib/modules/5.10.76/kernel/drivers/hwmon/nct6775.ko)

    When i enter modprobe nct6775 on the prompt it says modprobe: FATAL: Module nct6775 not found in directory /lib/modules/5.10.76

    If i copy it to that folder or any of the sub folders it still nags that it can't find it...

    Edited 3 times, last by RemonK (July 30, 2022 at 2:50 PM).

  • There are techniques for inserting local modules in LE, but since the modules you need MUST be compiled for the exact major.minor kernel version that we are using the chances of you being able to grab something from another distro are low. It will be easier to compile your own image with the right options set.

  • Yes i would have done that already if the installer didn't suck so much that it deletes the complete drive! I have other distro's running in dual boot on the same drive. And i wasn't planning on doing it all over again! I guess running a light distro with only kodi seems more interesting at the moment...

  • No need to reinstall everything, just build the image, copy the tar file from the targets folder to the update directory/share of your LE installation and reboot - this will do a normal update.

    so long,

    Hias

  • But where can i enable that CONFIG_SENSORS setting?

    "CONFIG_SENSORS_NCT6775" is a kernel config option when compiling a or your own kernel.

    When i enter modprobe nct6775 on the prompt it says modprobe: FATAL: Module nct6775 not found in directory /lib/modules/5.10.76

    AFAIK, that couldn't work out, cause during the kernel build a file is or some files are generated which mention what modules were compiled, where to find and what dependencies exits

    Edited 2 times, last by GDPR-7 (July 30, 2022 at 8:34 PM).

  • Ok thanks. Didn't know about the update option. I cloned the git, but building this is relative new to me. I added the CONFIG_SENSORS_NCT6775=m to the linux_x86_64.conf file. Btw what's the difference between m and y?

    And how do i add fancontrol to the filesystem?


    When downloading the packages i get a lot of these messages:

    --2022-07-31 09:29:28-- http://sources.libreelec.tv/mirror/libvdpa…pau-1.4.tar.bz2

    Resolving sources.libreelec.tv (sources.libreelec.tv)... 138.68.75.163

    Connecting to sources.libreelec.tv (sources.libreelec.tv)|138.68.75.163|:80... connected.

    HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 301 Moved Permanently

    Location: https://sources.libreelec.tv/mirror/libvdpa…pau-1.4.tar.bz2 [following]

    --2022-07-31 09:29:28-- https://sources.libreelec.tv/mirror/libvdpa…pau-1.4.tar.bz2

    Connecting to sources.libreelec.tv (sources.libreelec.tv)|138.68.75.163|:443... connected.

    HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found

    2022-07-31 09:29:29 ERROR 404: Not Found.

    Edited 2 times, last by RemonK: Merged a post created by RemonK into this post. (July 31, 2022 at 8:32 AM).

  • I notice that https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/vdpau/libvdpau/ is timing out (for me too.)

  • "m" means the driver is built as a module (which will be loaded on demand, if the device is present) whereas "y" means it's baked into the kernel so the driver code will occupy RAM on all machines, even those that don't have the device and don't need it.

    so long,

    Hias

  • Thanks HiassoFt, but i gave up on LibreElec. After a few hours of testing and trying to get it to work, i deleted the partition and installed Mint XFCE with Kodi 19.4 and it works great! And.. i can do with MY system what i want! In my opinion LibreElec hyacked my system..maybe good for a Pi, but not on a x86 system.

    Thanks for the help so far and good luck with the project!