Arduino GPU monitor

Monitor computer's GPU status from a USB-connected Arduino (with TFT display). I built this for monitoring my GPU temperature and utilization percentage when training AI models.

Operation

A USB-connected Arduino requests GPU status updates from a python service script.

The service script waits for a USB connection and sends updates to Arduino when requested. See the logic below.

Requirements

• The python service script works only in Linux (tested with Ubuntu 20.04).
• Nvidia GPU and CUDA driver
• Arduino Uno and TFT display (480x320)
• Python 3.6+

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Installation

Arduino

Arduino code is in src/arduino/tft-client

Upload to Arduino Uno with Arduino IDE. Install all required libraries for TFT such as Adafruit GFX and MCUFRIEND KBV. See more info here.

Serial port access rules

Serial communications are restricted by default and need sudo privileges. We can set read/write permission for all users to bypass this.

For single time permission (resets after restart).

/dev/ttyACM0 is the Arduino's port (check this).

sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyACM0  

For persisting permission, create a new rule file

sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/arduino-monitor.rules

Add the following

KERNEL=="ttyACM0", MODE="0666"

This sets the world read and write permission to USB device. Active after computer restart.

Script as a service

Install Pyhon virtual env and required packages. cd into project root and:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip3 install --upgrade pip
pip3 install -r requirements.txt

If your Arduino port name is different from /dev/ttyACM0, change it from the src/arduino_gpu_monitor/config.py

Change ExecStart and User in gpumonitor.service to match your paths and username, and copy to /etc/systemd/system/gpumonitor.service

sudo cp ./gpumonitor.service /etc/systemd/system/gpumonitor.service

Start service and enable it on boot.

sudo systemctl start gpumonitor.service
sudo systemctl enable gpumonitor.service

The script starts automatically on boot.