Tag: temperature

Here’s the Raspberry Pi temperature code

Here’s the Raspberry Pi temperature code

Posted on by David

To add temperature to the frame caption, I first do a check to see that it is running on a Raspberry Pi. This function does that.

void SetPiFlag() {
	struct utsname buffer;
	tempFlag = 0;
    if (uname(&buffer) != 0) return;
    if (strcmp(buffer.nodename,"raspberrypi") !=0) return;
	if (strcmp(buffer.machine,"armv7l") != 0) return;
	piFlag=1;
}

Note you have to add this include

#include <sys/utsname.h>

Now you need to call this function to return the temperature as a float.

float ReadPiTemperature() {
    char buffer[10]; 
	char * end; 
	if (!piFlag) return 0.0f;
	if (SDL_GetTicks() - tempCount < 1000) {	
		return lastTemp;
	}
	tempCount = SDL_GetTicks() ;
	FILE * temp = fopen("/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp","rt"); 
	int numread = fread(buffer,10,1,temp); 
	fclose(temp); 
	lastTemp = strtol(buffer,&end,10)/1000.0f;
	return lastTemp;
}

Things to notice.

  1. If it’s not running on a Pi it always returns 0.0C.
  2. No matter how often it’s called, it only reads the temperature once a second.
  3. In between reads it caches the temperature in a variable lastTemp

When I first wrote this, it was reading the temperature on every frame. It actually changes that quickly but that made it hard to read. So once a second is fine.

Asteroids now runs on a Pi 4

Asteroids now runs on a Pi 4

Posted on by David

Asteroids with built in temperature for Raspberry PiI was interested in seeing what frame rate I got out of it and how much it warmed the PI.

The change to get the texture loaded was to split the five image files (four x asteroid + player ship) into two rows each.

I added this code into the DrawPlayerShip function.

    if (Player.dir >= 12) {
	  	spriterect.y = SHIPHEIGHT;
		spriterect.x -= SHIPWIDTH*12;
	}

So for directions 0-11, it uses the top row and 12-23 the 2nd row. There’s similar code in the DrawAsteroids function.

I’m getting about 55 fps, twice the frame rate of the 3B+.  Sustained play over five minutes got the temperature up to 51C, but if I start the game and let asteroids drift about for a while it settles somewhere around 48-50C.

I have a fan fitted plugged into the 3.3V that runs all the time but is almost inaudible. There’s also a 5V setting that can be used for extra cooling but you only need that when temperatures get up to the 80C mark. There’s also 3 copper heat sinks stuck on three chips on the motherboard.

It’s very playable at 55 fps. This isn’t full screen BTW but on a 1024 x 768 playing area. There’s just one last change I’ve added. I combined the uname code to detect if it is running on a Pi and in that case display the temperature  on the Window caption. If you look closely at the image above you’ll see it says 43.82 C. I use a counter and check against so it only reads the temperature once a second and caches the result.

How to read a Raspberry PI temperature in C code

How to read a Raspberry PI temperature in C code

Posted on by David

Raspberry PiReading the temperature of a Raspberry PI can be done in a couple of ways. This command:

vcgencmd measure_temp

Outputs something like temp=32.7’C. My 3B+ PI has heatsinks and a cooling fan so runs cool. Even with asteroids it only peaked at 50.5C. Well below the throtle back temperature of 85C.

Another way (I suspect they are the same) is to do

cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp

Which outputs values like 32705. Just divide by 1000 to get the temperature in Celsius.

But how do we do it in code? Well I’ve tested this code below and it seems to work.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <strings.h>

int main(void) {
  char buffer[10];
  char * end;
  FILE * temp = fopen("/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp","rt");
  int numread = fread(buffer,10,1,temp);
  fclose(temp);
  printf("Temp = %5.2fC\n",strtol(buffer,&end,10)/1000.0);
}

It reads the device as a string then converts to a long using strtol and divides that by 1000 then prints it. Output is something like:

Temp (C) = 34.88C

Now it just needs combined with the code to detect that it’s running on a Pi and you’re good.