Plug-and-Play System Monitor for Rasp Pi and Others
System Control
© Lead Image © donatas1205, 123RF.com
A tiny screen plugged into a USB port displays current performance data for your Raspberry Pi, as well as most other machines that can run a Python script.
Every operating system comes with its own set of tools for evaluating and displaying resource consumption. Web applications or one of the large monitoring systems can help in headless setups. However, there is a simple alternative for home use: a plug-in monitor that automatically displays the data.
If you use a Raspberry Pi as a server, you will probably already have a wry smile on your face. With its pin header, the machine natively supports small displays; this is perfect for displaying CPU load or disk usage. But if the Raspberry Pi is in a rack or the pin header is blocked by another hat, this approach won't work.
The idea for my system monitor is to assign responsibilities. The computer, whether a Raspberry Pi or a Linux or Windows system, acquires the information and forwards the goodies to a second system that fields, processes, and displays the information. The second system is backed up by a microcontroller with a suitable display (Figure 1). I will look at the options for this later. The data is transferred from the computer to the MCU via USB, and this connection also powers the smaller system.
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