Imac fan control

6 replies [Last post]
IMan
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Joined: 01/09/2015

Greetings,

I am hoping someone could assist me regarding controlling the fans on my 2008 imac. So far I have been booting into my apple partition loading smc fan control then restarting the mac and booting into Trisquel. Ideally I would like to remove the apple partition and just use TRisquel but without loading smc fan control from the apple partition my mac just gets too hot.

From a brief search I came across https://github.com/dgraziotin/Fan-Control-Daemon which uses the GNU General Public License version 3 so seems ideal. But noted the warning 'Be sure to load the kernel modules applesmc and coretemp'. This is where I seem to be snagged as I have no idea how to do that.

Could anybody point me in the right direction of how to get this setup please, or any other suggestions regarding controlling fan speeds to control temps?

Many Thanks in advance

Iman

Legimet
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Joined: 12/10/2013

To load the required modules:
sudo modprobe applesmc coretemp

To keep the modules permanently enabled across reboots, add them to /etc/modules ("applesmc" and "coretemp" should each be added in a new line)

IMan
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Joined: 01/09/2015

Thank you and apolagies as I should have been more specific. I'm quite new to linux but am very keen to learn. How do i install them? Are they proprietary?
I believe this is one of them, if so it does state gnu gpl v2 so that would be ok http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/hwmon/applesmc.c
No idea about coretemp though

Many thanks in advance

IMan

Magic Banana

I am a member!

I am a translator!

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Joined: 07/24/2010

The modules should already be in the kernel you run. Just not loaded. Try to load them from a terminal with 'modprobe' (like Legimet told you).

To write on separate lines "applesmc" and "coretemp" at the end of /etc/modules, you can use a text editor or fire those two commands in a terminal:
$ echo applesmc | sudo tee -a /etc/modules
$ echo coretemp | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Notice 'sudo' in every command we give you. It allows to gain the superuser's permissions (the one that can do anything, including destroying the system!). You should only use it to administrate your system. When you use it, your password is asked. Nothing is shown while you are typing it. It is normal. Just type it and press Enter. If you reuse 'sudo' within a short period of time (less than five minutes is the default I believe) then the password is not asked again.

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

> Are they proprietary?

All things included in Trisquel are supposed to be free. If you find evidence to the contrary, file a bug and any non-free content will be removed.

IMan
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Joined: 01/09/2015

Many thanks Legimet, Magic Banana and lembas. Ive just installed and run dgraziotin/Fan-Control-Daemon successfully, the fans immediately increased to a reasonable rpm and temps are now at a more stable level.

Thanks again

IMan

Theseus

I am a member!

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Joined: 11/22/2013

Hi Iman,

I've been with the community for over a year now, and just a few months ago I finally fully transitioned to Trisquel for daily work - also switching from Mac. Learning the ins and outs of Free software (plus the command line here and there) has been a gradual and rewarding process. Undoubtedly, it has reinvigorated a fading passion for computers.

I also must say, the members have been extremely supportive...and I'm glad to see another Apple user giving it a shot. Welcome to the forum!