GPU Monitor Applet

A comprehensive desktop panel applet that monitors GPU performance with both text and graphical display modes. Available for both MATE and Cinnamon desktop environments.

Features

• GPU Monitoring: Real-time GPU utilization, temperature, and memory usage
• Chart Visualization: Individual mini-charts for each metric with customizable width
• GPU Support: NVIDIA (via nvidia-smi) and AMD (via radeontop, UNTESTED!) GPUs
• Persistent Settings: Preferences saved automatically
• Real-time Updates: Data refreshes every 2 seconds, tunable
• Lightweight: Minimal resource usage

Requirements

MATE Version

• MATE Desktop Environment
• Python 3
• PyGObject (python3-gi)

Cinnamon Version

• Cinnamon Desktop Environment

GPU Support (Both Versions)

• For NVIDIA: nvidia-smi (usually comes with NVIDIA drivers)
• For AMD: radeontop package

Installation

MATE Version install

1. Install dependencies:

   sudo apt install python3-gi mate-panel-dev
   # For AMD support:
   sudo apt install radeontop

2. Run the install script:

   chmod +x install.sh
   ./install.sh

3. Add to panel:

   • Right-click on MATE panel
   • Select "Add to Panel..."
   • Find "GPU Monitor" and add it

Cinnamon Version install

1. Install dependencies:

   # For AMD support:
   sudo apt install radeontop

2. Run the install script:

   cd cinnamon
   chmod +x install-cinnamon.sh
   ./install-cinnamon.sh

3. Add to panel:

   • Right-click on Cinnamon panel
   • Select "Applets"
   • Find "GPU Monitor" in the Installed tab and click the '+' button
   • You may need to restart Cinnamon (Alt+F2, type 'r', press Enter)

Usage

Text Display Mode

The applet shows GPU information as text in the panel: GPU: 45% | 65°C | Mem: 78%

Chart Display Mode

Switch to chart mode for mini real-time graphs in the panel showing trends for each enabled metric.

Preferences

MATE Version: Right-click the applet and select "Preferences"

Cinnamon Version: Right-click the applet and select "Configure..." or use Cinnamon Settings > Applets

Available options:

• Enable/disable individual metrics (GPU load, temperature, memory)
• Switch between text and chart display modes
• Adjust chart width (30-100 pixels)
• Chart transparency and font size settings

Full Chart Window

MATE Version: Right-click the applet and select "Show Charts" to open a detailed chart window with:

• Multi-line graphs for all enabled metrics
• Grid lines and value labels
• Color-coded legend
• 2-minute data history (60 data points)

Note: The Cinnamon version currently displays data in text format only.

Development

MATE Version development

To test the applet without installing:

python3 mate_gpu_applet.py

Cinnamon Version development

To test the applet:

1. Copy the applet to the development location:

   mkdir -p ~/.local/share/cinnamon/applets/gpu-monitor@cinnamon
   cp cinnamon/gpu-monitor@cinnamon/* ~/.local/share/cinnamon/applets/gpu-monitor@cinnamon/

2. Restart Cinnamon (Alt+F2, type 'r', press Enter) and add the applet through the Applets menu

Configuration

MATE Version config

Settings are automatically saved to ~/.config/mate-gpu-applet.json

Cinnamon Version config

Settings are managed through Cinnamon's configuration system and accessed via the applet settings

Both versions include:

• Which metrics to display
• Text vs chart display mode preference
• Chart width, transparency, and font size settings

Files

MATE Version files

• mate_gpu_applet.py - Main applet code
• org.mate.panel.GPUApplet.mate-panel-applet - MATE applet configuration
• org.mate.panel.applet.GPUAppletFactory.service - D-Bus service file
• mate-gpu-applet.desktop - Desktop entry
• setup.py - Python setup script
• install.sh - Installation script

Cinnamon Version files

• cinnamon/gpu-monitor@cinnamon/applet.js - Main applet code (JavaScript)
• cinnamon/gpu-monitor@cinnamon/metadata.json - Applet metadata
• cinnamon/gpu-monitor@cinnamon/settings-schema.json - Settings configuration
• cinnamon/install-cinnamon.sh - Installation script

License

Apache-2.0 License

(C) Sergey Zhumatiy sergzhum@gmail.com 2025