Show temperature via keyboard lights!

Templien is a program I made to display the current temperature of the CPU, GPU and battery percentage via the lighting system on Alienware systems. In theory it should work with most Alienware systems that support the AlienSDK.

Current Version: 0.2

Installation instructions
Download and install HWMonitor.
Download Templien, put it in the same folder as HWMonitor.exe.
Right click on the Command Center icon then "Enable 3rd Party AlienFX Access".
Run Templien with Admin rights (this is needed to write to Program Files).

Links
HWMonitor
Templien V2
Source
AlienFX UDF

Screenshot



Changelog
0.2
Added ability to simulate temperatures/percentages, click on the labels at the top.
Added LightFX x64.dll.
Added Hide HWMonitor option to tray menu.
Added error handling.
Improved memory usage.
Changed tray icon click behaviour, left click hides/opens Templien window, right click opens options menu.

0.1
Ability to change temperature ranges.
Ability to change which light is activated.
Ability to change colours.
Changed core detection algorithm.
Added far too many arrays.

 

Yeah, the i7 should show 2 cores and four threads in all of the programs as far as I know. I would be willing to test it for you, considering that I usually am fiddling with stuff and temp is something I am Always watching.

 

Here is a link to the exe.
Here is a link to the source code.

This is a very rough alpha build, will post an updated version much later today.
Let me know your wants and needs before then =].

As we all know, safety is very important on the internet, as such here is a online virus scan of the uploaded .exe. If that isn't good enough, you can also compile the source code yourself using AutoIt.

As always, enjoy!

 

Hmmmm, this could be very helpful to me. I'll test it out and give back the results, I'll run Crysis on very high to get the temps up.

EDIT: Oh snap! I got dial up because I passed my 40gb cap and the download keeps interrupted, screw you telecom!!!

RESULTS: Doesn't work on Win64, says Windows. It is only compatible with Win32. I think I'm doing something wrong.

EDIT: I think it didn't download correctly, someone else should try.

 

Yeah its gonna have to be x64 as 99.9% of Alienware users will be x64.
Will try tonight.

 

Any chance you can make it so it just changes the grill lights?

 

Wooow works amazing. First download templien and exec. Shows an error because I dont have hwmonitor installed. I Install hwminitor and exec templien again and then show me a dialog with an on button. Now, my keyboard lights are blue because HW Monitor reports 38°C temperature. Works really nice. Thank for made this.

PD. Sorry for my bad english.

BTW, is running on Win7 Home Prem X64

QUESTION: Do i need to keep templien and hwmonitor running to work properly??

 

Very cool idea, may test this when I get home.

 

Hy! Great idea! I am having some trouble running it. Im on a R2 i7. if downloaded hwmonitor and run it, then run your program - it shows the temps in hwmon, but not in your proggy. It turns everything on blue and only shows Core 1 and Core 2 and the on/off button. Temps were at about 73.

 

=o you have dial up?? i thought people stopped using that 10 years ago.
and if i were you id switch ISP's because you really shouldnt have a limit on your usage.

 

My guess is the country he lives in has caps on your internet services... his first 40gb is normal highspeed, then after he hits that cap it drops his speed down to that of a very slow connection.

I think the aussies have this in their country.

 

that may be true. id be mad if it was like that where i live.
im too spoiled with my 100mbps connection speed, anyway id give the software a try and see how it works.

 

NICE it works!!

Suggestions.
Minimize to the system tray
Select what zone you want to display the temp. e.g. Alienware text or front grills

Very nice though, well done!

 

i7 here and exactly the same problem..

 

This sounds great, I´m gonna try it when I go home later....

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Below is a screenshot of the next version, it'll take me a while to get everything working perfectly, so hang in there. In the meantime let your creative juices flow! Let's hear those ideas!

Just so you know, HWMonitor.exe is actually compressed inside Templien.exe, it should auto extract on first run. If it doesn't then put simply put Templien.exe inside the same folder as HWMonitor.exe, phew.

This was developed on a i5 R2, shame it doesn't work for i7's right of the bat.
Can anyone with an i7 upload a screen shot of HWMonitor? For extra points and a gold star have the graphics card running before you open it!


Yummy.

 

Could you/someone upload the file to a different site please?! Because I don't really want to wait until the 24th of June to get my 40MB download speed back .

 

@BitByteBit: The HWmonitor.exe that you compressed inside Templein.exe didn't work - it only showed my HDD temperature, I had to download HWmonitor again from there website and install it before it started to show my CPU Temps too. My keyboard still never changed from blue though.

Before I downloaded HWmonitor:


After I downloaded HWmonitor:


After I downloaded HWmonitor with GPU on:


Edit: Crap, didn't think the images were going to be so small if you want me to re-upload higher resolution ones just say. Or any other info.

 

That update looks spot on!! Was going to suggest custom temp zones and an extra color. I'd rather have red from 75C upwards and you've done it anyway!

Really looking forward to this! Would rep+ more but it wont let me.

Also if you could minimize the running program to the tray that would be spot on. If you could show the temp as one the logo in the tray that would be even better!

 

Looks great, nice job.

 

Can you make this same program work for battery life instead of temperature? I would love to know how much juice my M11x has left when gaming on the battery.

 

Any updates?

 

Making great progress thanks, have sussed out how to control individual lights and how to read the current colours, working on morphing now.

Also managed to read GPU temperature, but for now the graphics card must be enabled before you open HWMonitor.

An lastly I've hopefully sorted out i7 support ^_^.

In all honesty I'm fine tuning everything, bit of a perfectionist. If I'm really honest I want to start from scratch.
This version should be finished in a day or two day.

 

Leak...


Latest version.
Source.
Obligatory virus scan.

Changelog:
Ability to change temperature ranges.
Ability to change which light is activated.
Ability to change colours.
Changed core detection algorithm.
Added far too many arrays.

Can anyone with an i7 verify this as working? Should be working on all i5s.
Battery and GPU support are my next priority. Much more to come ^_______^!

 

I would have more interest in this as well. There is a freeware program called BatteryCare that does all the stuff that the paid registered version of BatteryBar does. Granted you can name your own price (by the $1 increment) for BatteryBar, but either one might be an option to use for data. Temps in the R1 at least are never an issue.

Although on battery I usually turn off the lights. Having only the alien head change color would be ideal, or maybe the Alienware logo, whatever works and uses least power.

In any case, thanks a bunch. Great idea and great app.

 

I have an i7; the program is working great! Thanks, this is really a cool idea.

 

Can you make it turn the backlighting off when the lid is closed for those of us with the lid sensor set to "do nothing?"

 

Can't get this to integrate with other parts of the lighting scheme. Will give it a miss for now... I also think the battery integration could be cool too.

 

I said over a year ago that there should be a power status event for AlienFX sou you could change between, say, a red theme on battery power and a blue theme on AC power. The AlienFX Lite program that someone made here worked but it would often leave a light or two the wrong color and it was never really usable because of that. If someone could integrate all of these things into one program, it's have a pretty good reason to exist!

 

Kinda fun, trying to get it working on my r3 without any success yet.

 

I found a Windows API that allows me to query battery life, but thanks for the advice. For the record I could've used BatteryBar or BatteryCare as a source of information, the latter being considerably trickier, how ever using the API means users aren't required to have either software present
I'm working on a prototype that works with only the battery now.

Next version will preserve all light settings present on startup.

What exactly is the problem?
Does Templien show the core temperatures? If so then you need open Command Centre, right click on the tray icon and click "Enable 3rd Party Access".

 

This sounds really interesting and I got it working. Props to the idea and the progress!

Is it possible to integrate the gpu temperatures also? Maybe to choose which parts of the laptop to light up for the gpu and the cpu. I know we can use an OSD program for that but maybe something to consider. That would be wicked!!

 

Does anyone other than me think it would be cool to have this work alongside a desktop background slideshow? In the manner that you could have five or so backgrounds that were mainly, say, blue, green, orange, red, and white in color, and the lights would change at the same time as the background does to create a sort of 'entire theme' adjustment every half hour (or however long you have the slideshow delay set for)
what do you think?
also, the heat/light idea is really great, big props!

 

That a wonderful idea! Definitely gonna be part of my standard programs. Sorry, I just jumped on the bandwagon.

 

m11x r2 i7

It works! and its awesome! Thank you!

 

This is an amazing bit of software.

Very impressed.

Had a few issues getting it started. Solved via manually opening hwmonitor.

 

After running HWmonitor and then running Templien, it gives me a runtime error and terminates itself after. I have a R1 if you're wondering.

 

i have the Alienware M11X R1, and it does not work. HW Monitor is on, Templien is on, i configuratet it, Enable 3rd Party AlienFX Access is on, but nothing is changing.

or should i click something on? dont see it

P.S. Ok if i click on the Zones, AlienFx activates it, but there is no color changing

 

What error message do you get? Can you upload a screenshot of HWMonitor?

 

You won't get much information from a screenshot, usual temps are 48c and the SU7300 has 2 cores. The error is a runtime error that tells the program to terminate in an unusual way. So basically, runtime error.

 

runs very well on my R1, +rep

 

i dont understand how to use it. i start it, chaging the temp and the color, but it doesnt work

can somebody please expain. thank you

 

In the picture above, if the temperature is between 0-60 then the all the keyboard lights, if it is between 60-70 then it will be blue.
In the version I posted to same logic applies.

If you're not seeing the temperature within the program or AlienFX is disabled then it ain't gonna work for you in it's current state.

Update.
Working on a prototype for battery only.
Created another small program to turn off keyboard lights when the lid is closed ^__^.

 

Awesome! Where do I get the KB light kill when closed app? Thanks!

 

Have you considered working with Uncle Web to support Throttle Stops' temp monitoring? I dont know if that would require a lot of rework but many people run that anyway, cool program, didn't seem to extract hwmonitor as you mentioned.. playing with it more now

 

i dont even get the temp showing in the program

what is wrong?




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Sounds pretty cool, i'll download it for when i get my new laptop

 

Wow works great on my R2! props to you sir!

 

I downloaded it and i get an error saying "not a valid Win32 Application", uhh what? Plz help!

 

Ok, now its works fine.

Gave the Templien and HWMonitor Admin rights and turned on the Compability Mode. But after that it didn't worked, cause i checked the checkboxes. After new restart of the prog, the check boxes are checking and decheckig from alone from the program.

so now everything work fine. Thank you very much!