i8kctl(1)

NAME

I8kctl, i8kfan - Utility to access SMM BIOS on Dell Inspiron laptops

SYNTAX

i8kctl [<command> [<args>]]
i8kfan [<left> [<right>]]

DESCRIPTION

The i8kctl utility provides a command-line interface to the i8k kernel driver for Dell Inspiron laptops. When invoked without arguments the program reports the same information which can be read from the /proc/i8k file:

    1. i8k format version
    2. bios version
    3. machine id
    4. cpu temperature
    5. left fan status
    6. right fan status
    7. left fan speed
    8. right fan speed
    9. ac power status
    10. fn buttons status

The optional command argument can be used to select only one of the above items. Command can be: version, bios, id, temp, fan, speed, ac and fn. Examples:

    $ i8kctl
    1.0 A17 B5W123K 52 2 1 8040 6420 1 2

    $ i8kctl temp
    52

    $ i8kctl fan
    2 1

The fan command can accept two optional parameters which specify the new fan state for left and right fans. The state parameter can be:

    0 turn the fan off
    1 set low speed
    2 set high speed
    - don't change the state of this fan

For example the command:

    $ i8kctl fan - 2

sets the right fan to high speed and leaves the left unchanged. It should be noted that if the i8kmon(1) daemon is used to control the fans, setting the speed with i8kfan is pointless since the daemon will override the speed with its own value.

Invoking i8kctl as i8kfan is the same as invoking the program with the fan option:

    $ i8kctl fan 1 2
    1 2

    $ i8kfan 1 2
    1 2

FILES

/proc/i8k

AUTHORS

Massimo Dal Zotto <dz@debian.org>

COPYRIGHT

i8kctl and all the i8kutils programs , scripts and other files are distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). On Debian GNU/Linux systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License can be found in `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL'.

SEE ALSO

i8kmon(1), i8kbuttons(1)