How do you launch i8kutils?

[phr33k]

Linux Mint 12, Cinnamon 1.4, everything up to date
Linux kernel version???

I've run i8kutils in Windows for years. It's easy to install in Windows and works right out of the box. As a noob, I find getting stuff like this running in Linux to be a nightmare.

I installed the i8kutils using the Software Manager. Software Manager and Synaptic Package Manager say it's installed. The search box in the Mint menu can't find it. When I open a terminal and type "i8kutils" I get "command not found".

The Software Manager description says "i8kutils requires kernel module i8k.o ... found in Linux kernel 2.4.14 and later..."

Please don't recommend something else as I've installed the following so far:

hddtemp
lm-sensors
fancontrol
libsensors4
psensors

and none of them show me anything but a single temperature, sometimes labeled acpitz or something like that. The sensors Screenlet just calls it temp1. I think it's the single analog CPU temp sensor.

With all this stuff installed, I can't see:

individual CPU temps (old Intel core duo)
fan speed
RAM temp
chipset temp
GPU temp (ATI Mobility Radeon X1300)
fan speed

and I can see all of them using i8kutils in Windows.

I can see individual CPU loads, RAM usage and disk usage with Screenlets in Mint 12. The temps (except for temp1) and fan speed do not appear as choices in the dropdown box in the sensors Screenlet properties window. hddtemp is way too user hostile for ordinary human beings. psensors shows me just one mystery temperature.

My laptop does not get hot when I run Linux Mint 12 and the fan seems to run at low speed. Otherwise I would have uninstalled Mint 12.

I'll deal with the hardware issues in a different post once I can read the sensors in my Dell Inspiron 6400.

So does anyone actually know why I can't launch i8kutils after I've installed it?

[remoulder]

Pretty old but might help http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=842775

[phr33k]

Thanks for the link remoulder. I tried following the instructions but as a noob, I don't understand all the gobbledegook that comes flying back at me in the terminal. There were some errors regarding gnome swallow or some such thing.

The net result after a reboot was that there is one and only more option available in the sensors Screenlet. It's labeled "CPU:" and shows what might be CPU temperature. Unfortunately, it reports a number disheartening similar to what hddtemp shows for my internal HDD and doesn't seem to change. (I figured out that typing "hddtemp /dev/sda1" shows what might be my HDD temp in a terminal, but it's not continuous and isn't in graphic form.)

Subjectively, my laptop is now running warmer but the fan's still going. I'm going to undo what I did because I really can't see what's going on and my laptop always ran nice and cool before I tried the instructions in your suggested link.

With i8kutils in Windows I can see all the stuff I mentioned in my original post. I forgot to mention that in Windows, i8kutils also shows fan speed.

As a noob, I've got to say that it's only about ten trillion times easier to do this in Windows than in Linux.

In addition, I just found an error in the post you link to. In one place it mentions a file named i8mon and in another, i8kmon. I think i8kmon is correct, but I'm still not feeling good about how astoundingly complicated this is in Linux compared to Windows.

[DrHu]

OK, but each OS will have its strengths and weaknesses
--for example, I actually think installing software and even installing the OS(usually quicker with Linux) is easier on Linux.

User familiarity does not tell how much easier an OS is to use, it is only that it is familiar and its idiosyncrasies are well known

• Double-click to open a folder
• Cut and paste hotkeys don't make good sense..

hotkeys, commands..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_k ... _shortcuts

http://www.unixguide.net/linux/linuxshortcuts.shtml