🧊 Better ThinkTemp

A clean, production-grade ThinkPad fan controller TUI for Linux. This project is a hard fork of the ThinkTemp project by Aextor84.

ThinkTemp provides live temperature monitoring and manual fan control directly from your terminal — safely, cleanly, and with kernel-level safeguards.

Install Specific Version

git clone https://gitlab.blackruby.hu/blackruby/thinktemp.git cd ThinkTemp git checkout v1.2.0

🧊 ThinkTemp

Terminal fan controller & temperature monitor for ThinkPad laptops on Linux

A clean, production-grade ThinkPad fan controller TUI with live temperature monitoring and manual fan control — built for clarity, safety, and performance.

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📌 Table of Contents

1. ✨ Features
2. ⚠️ Requirements
3. 📦 Installation
4. 📦 Dependencies
5. 🔧 ThinkPad Fan Control Setup
6. 🎮 Controls
7. 🛠 Troubleshooting
8. ⚠️ Known Issues
9. 🚀 Roadmap
10. 🛡 Safety
11. 📜 License

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🎯 Why ThinkTemp?

There are other ThinkPad fan control utilities available, but ThinkTemp focuses on:

• 🧭 Clean, centered terminal UI
• ⚡ Instant manual control (0–7)
• 🛡 Built-in safety fallbacks
• 🔥 Overheat protection
• 🎛 Simple preset modes (Silent / Balanced / Performance)
• 📦 Easy installation as a system utility

ThinkTemp aims to feel lightweight, modern, and production-ready — not experimental.

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🏷 Project Overview

ThinkTemp directly interfaces with the Linux thinkpad_acpi kernel module to provide safe, manual fan control on supported ThinkPad hardware.

It is designed for users who:

• Want precise thermal control
• Prefer terminal-based tools
• Need a lightweight alternative to background daemons
• Value safety mechanisms while overriding automatic fan curves

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✨ Features

• 🌡 Live CPU temperature display
• 🌀 Live fan RPM monitoring
• 🎛 Manual fan levels (0–7)
• ❄ Fan OFF mode
• 🤖 Auto mode
• 🔇 Silent / ⚖ Balanced / 🚀 Performance presets
• 🔥 Overheat auto-fallback protection
• 🛡 Kernel watchdog safety
• 🧭 Clean centered TUI layout
• 📦 Installable system utility

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⚠️ Requirements

• ThinkPad laptop
• Linux
• thinkpad_acpi with fan_control=1
• lm-sensors
• python-rich
• Root privileges

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📦 Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://gitlab.blackruby.hu/blackruby/thinktemp.git
cd ThinkTemp

Run installer:

./install.sh

Launch:

sudo thinktemp

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📦 Dependencies

🐍 Python

• Python 3.10+

Check your version:

python3 --version

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🎨 python-rich

Used for rendering the terminal UI.

Arch / CachyOS

sudo pacman -S python-rich

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt install python3-rich

Fedora

sudo dnf install python3-rich

Or via pip:

pip install rich

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🌡 lm-sensors

Required for CPU temperature monitoring.

Arch

sudo pacman -S lm_sensors

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt install lm-sensors

Fedora

sudo dnf install lm_sensors

Detect sensors:

sudo sensors-detect
sensors

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🔧 ThinkPad Fan Control (Required for Manual Mode)

ThinkTemp depends on the thinkpad_acpi kernel module with manual fan control enabled.

Check support:

cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

You must see:

commands: level <0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed>

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🧪 Enable Temporarily (Until Reboot)

sudo modprobe -r thinkpad_acpi
sudo modprobe thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1

Verify:

cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

Expected output:

status: enabled

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💾 Enable Permanently (Fedora)

Create the configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/thinkpad_acpi.conf

Add:

options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1

Rebuild initramfs (Fedora uses dracut):

sudo dracut --force

Reboot:

sudo reboot

After reboot:

cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

You should see:

status: enabled

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🔐 Root Privileges

ThinkTemp must be run with elevated privileges:

sudo thinktemp

This is required because it writes to:

/proc/acpi/ibm/fan

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🎮 Controls

Key	Action
0	Fan OFF
1–7	Manual fan levels
a	Auto mode
s	Silent preset
b	Balanced preset
p	Performance preset
q	Quit & restore auto

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🛠 Troubleshooting

ThinkTemp does not start

Run with root:

sudo thinktemp

Verify shebang:

head -1 /usr/local/bin/thinktemp

Must be:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

Reinstall if needed:

./install.sh

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Manual fan control not available

cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

If missing commands:

sudo modprobe -r thinkpad_acpi
sudo modprobe thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1

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Temperatures not showing

Ensure sensors works:

sensors

If empty, run:

sudo sensors-detect

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Command not found: thinktemp

Check installation:

ls /usr/local/bin/thinktemp

Reinstall if missing:

./install.sh

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⚠️ Known Issues

• Requires root privileges
• Only compatible with ThinkPad systems supporting thinkpad_acpi
• Some terminals may flicker in alternate screen mode
• RPM may briefly show 0 during transitions
• No non-ThinkPad support (yet)

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🚀 Roadmap

v1.1

• Config file support (~/.config/thinktemp/)
• Custom temperature threshold flag
• Version display in header
• Improved dependency detection
• Optional daemon mode
• Temperature history graph
• Improved terminal resize handling

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Future Ideas

• Universal Linux fan backend
• Profile saving
• AUR package
• systemd service mode
• JSON metrics export
• Lightweight monitor mode

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🛡 Safety

ThinkTemp includes:

• Temperature fallback (default 90°C)
• Kernel watchdog timeout
• Automatic restore on exit or crash

Manual fan control overrides automatic thermal management. Use responsibly.

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📜 License

MIT License