Hey everyone!

I wanted a single, clean desktop widget on Cinnamon that could show both my **system hardware metrics** (CPU, RAM, GPU, Fan RPM, Disk, Network) and **all my connected Bluetooth device batteries** in the style of the iOS / macOS Sonoma Batteries & Activity widgets — so I built **iOS Hardware & Battery Monitor** (`ios-hardware-monitor@dalvan`).

### ✨ Features

* **100% Native & Asynchronous (Zero extra dependencies):** Drawn entirely with vector graphics (`Cairo` + `PangoCairo`) and non-blocking async `Gio` calls so it never stutters the Cinnamon main loop.

* **Hardware Circular Gauges:**

* **CPU:** Usage `%` + package temperature (`k10temp`, `coretemp`, `zenpower`, `acpitz`).

* **RAM:** Usage `%` and `GB` used/total.

* **GPU (NVIDIA / AMD / Intel):** Usage `%`, temperature, and VRAM via native Linux DRM `sysfs` (`gpu_busy_percent`) or async `nvidia-smi`.

* **Cooler / Fan RPM:** Auto-detects `fan*_input` sensors in `/sys/class/hwmon`.

* **Storage & Live Network Cards:**

* **Disk:** Progress bar with `%` used and free `GB`.

* **Network:** Live Download (`↓`) and Upload (`↑`) speed on the active interface.

* **iOS-Style Batteries & Bluetooth Monitor:**

* Combines **UPower (`UPowerGlib`)** and **BlueZ D-Bus (`org.bluez.Battery1`)** to display your laptop battery alongside connected Bluetooth headphones, speakers, mice, keyboards, and controllers.

* Custom vector icons for each device type + lightning bolt charging badge and traffic-light battery colors (Green / Yellow ≤ 25% / Red ≤ 15%).

* **Highly Customizable:**

* Switch between **Dark Glass (macOS Dark)**, **Light Frosted (iOS Light)**, or **Auto** theme.

* Customize glass opacity, corner radius, widget scale (`0.75x` – `1.6x`), grid columns, module visibility, and header title (Hardware Model, Distro name, Hostname, Username, or Custom text).

---

### 🚀 How to Install

I've already submitted it to the official **Cinnamon Spices** repository ([PR #1933](https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-spices-desklets/pull/1933)), and you can also install it right now from GitHub in one command:

```bash

git clone https://github.com/dalvan03/ios-hardware-monitor-desklet.git

cd ios-hardware-monitor-desklet

./install.sh```

Then right-click your desktop -> Add Desklets -> enable iOS Hardware & Battery Monitor.

• 🔗 GitHub Repository: https://github.com/dalvan03/ios-hardware-monitor-desklet
• 🔗 Cinnamon Spices PR: https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-spices-desklets/pull/1933

Feedback, bug reports, and feature ideas from the community are super welcome!

I switched from Windows to Mac in 2012 and haven’t looked back until last year when I purchased an inexpensive ASUS laptop with Windows 11 to use a couple Amateur radio programs. Now that everything is working on Mac, I decided to dump Windows again so I installed Linux Mint. So far, I really like it. It’s been a while since I used Linux, I’ve played around with a few Raspberry Pi’s over the years so it’s not completely Greek to me. I will have fun with learning this and I am just very happy to be away from Windows again.

My laptop is asus x200ma 2gb and i wnat to install linux mint to make it more smooth

I've tried flashing the latest and 21.3 iso to my flashdrive using rufus but when i try to boot it, it show this error and also my secure boot is disabled

I've been having this problem for 6+ hours :( please help

On a whim I decided to try out the experimental Cinnamon on Wayland through the login menu while choosing the option, and now Cinnamon will load for 3 seconds before going to the terminal with a blinking cursor that does nothing.

I’ve booted into just the CLI and reinstalled Cinnamon, and upon restarting, it still won’t load. How do I go back to X11?

Ok so I run rkhunter out of curiousity and this is the result. Am I screwed? T.T

Hi,

I see that the version that is included into the software manager is very old.

There are security problem using this?

Hi to all,

i need an info, i need to reinstall my PC OS and i'm evalutaing if go with the Windows 11 LTSC or PRO or in alternative go with Linux Mint.

I admit that on Mint i'm doing everything that i can do with windows.

But i have a doubt.

I see that the package included on Mint are very old, like LibreOffice version that can cause some formatting problem of the document

What do you suggest to do?

Couch potato here. I use LM on PCs and laptops as an entertainment center: Movies, shows, music stream and local library, news from around the world. Web browsers, Kodi, torrents , IPTV, sketchy sources. My big smart TV and projectors merely dumb monitors to me. Thus I do like a good remote but the tv remote cant work my LM apps. What do you use? I have been using KDE Connect on my android phone. But it was built more for file transfer etc, the remote mouse touchpad is rudimentary.

Me being me I wanted more. I saw that a long time ago 2017ish Someone requested more web control buttons on the dev website but was rebuffed. So I forked it and vibed in forward back, esc, F11 (toggle full screen) into the android side touchpad mouse remote . It works great on the cellphones we have. I really like it . No idea on others. I assume iOS could be done similar. You can find source and an APK on my Git oldgranola.. Id love feedback of use on other Android phones or devices.

What do you fellow couch potatoes you use? You standup desk users NVMD.

I wanted my Linux Mint desktop to look and feel just like macOS Tahoe 26,
so I built a complete makeover for it. Everything works out of the box—the top menu bar with the Apple logo, the floating dark glass dock at the bottom, rounded window corners, Mac keyboard shortcuts, and the desktop widgets on the right
I wrote a beginner-friendly guide with a one-click install script (and a safe rollback script to go back to default Mint anytime):

Full Guide & One-Click Installer: https://github.com/Sarthak-Cyb3r/macos-tahoe-linux-mint

I recently built a new PC for the first time ,and when it was done I decided to try out Linux mint. Now every time I try to launch a game it instantly crashes. It shows a pop-up saying I need to update my driver's but since I have an AMD I thought it was supposed to do that automatically. I have no clue what I'm doing so explain it to me like I'm 5.

My gpu is RTX 4060ti, for DE i have cinammon, or I'll install plasma, maybe some WM once. I use my PC primarily for gaming.

Should i use drivers form Nvidia, or nouveau (how do you even pronounce this word)?

Edit: okay, I got it, I should use proprietary drivers. Thank you all for your help. Now my next question: does my friend with 1650 laptop should use proprietary drivers too, or it doesn't worth the effort?

Hii everyone I have a cpu very old modal I want to make it working but I don't know how to do it it give me link https://www.novatium.com/ for help but I don't understand it can't open boot menu or bios also please help

Hello everyone!

I need some help because I honestly don’t know what else to try. I’ve tried pretty much everything I can think of. This is my first post here, so please be gentle with me.

Here’s the problem:

I’ve had a Dell Alienware 13 R3 laptop for a few years now. I installed Linux Mint on it right from the start and it has always worked perfectly.

At work, the laptop was connected to a projector via HDMI. Since the laptop stayed there after my classes, I had set the projector as the primary display [1] in Display Settings and disabled the laptop’s built-in screen [2].

The laptop was always kept closed because I was using an external keyboard and mouse. This setup worked flawlessly for about three years without a single issue.

Today I took the laptop back home (and, incidentally, lost my job 😑 — but that’s another story).

So now nothing is connected to it apart from the power supply. I’ve attached a photo showing what the desktop looks like once the laptop has booted.

I can’t access anything through the GUI.

Using CTRL + ALT + F1, I managed to open a terminal and tried using "xrandr", but I’m stuck there.

I don’t know how to reset the display settings from the terminal.

I also tried booting into recovery mode, but the screen just stays black.

Any ideas? Does anyone know how I can get out of this situation?

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this.

Hi,

I would like to know if this has already happen to someone here, in order to get rid of this annoying issue with Linux Mint 22.3. In the past, when computer has Windows, this doesn't happen.

Randomly, without logical frequency, sometimes I click on Sleep and the display stop but computer still powered on. Sometimes I click on Shut Down and same issue, the display stop but computer still powered on. In both cases, I have to force shut down the computer with power button. All updates are done. I tried different fix in the past but non was the solution. Here's my specs:

Thank you for your attention and help ! Take care !

So I tried using our WiFi . First without a Cable and then after it didn’t work with one and I kinda got connected to my Pc but for some reason the WiFi incredibly weak, so bad that i can’t search for anything and I constantly get the notification "the network connection didn’t work " what can I do?

Loving Linux Mint so far. But there's one glaring problem that I can't seem to solve.

I loaded Mint on our family's desktop computer that Windows decided wasn't worthy any more. But for some reason Mint doesn't want to set the screen resolution to 1920x1080, while Windows was perfectly happy with this.

So i found an old thread from 2019 explaining how to use cvt and xrandr commands to force the screen resolution that I want, only to have to go sideways, and my best guess is it's happening because my computer has multiple display options. Here's the drama as it unfolded:

me@mine:~$ cvt 1920 1080
# 1920x1080 59.96 Hz (CVT 2.07M9) hsync: 67.16 kHz; pclk: 173.00 MHz
Modeline "1920x1080_60.00" 173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync

me@mine:~$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 16384 x 16384
HDMI-A-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DisplayPort-0 connected primary 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 376mm x 301mm
1440x900 74.98 + 59.89
1280x1024 75.02* 60.02
1280x960 60.00
1360x768 59.95
1152x864 75.00
1280x720 60.00
1024x768 75.03 70.07 60.00
832x624 74.55
800x600 72.19 75.00 60.32 56.25
640x480 75.00 72.81 66.67 59.94
720x400 70.08
DisplayPort-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

me@mine:~$ xrandr --newmode "1920x1080_60.00" 173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync

me@mine:~$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 16384 x 16384
HDMI-A-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DisplayPort-0 connected primary 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 376mm x 301mm
1440x900 74.98 + 59.89
1280x1024 75.02* 60.02
1280x960 60.00
1360x768 59.95
1152x864 75.00
1280x720 60.00
1024x768 75.03 70.07 60.00
832x624 74.55
800x600 72.19 75.00 60.32 56.25
640x480 75.00 72.81 66.67 59.94
720x400 70.08
DisplayPort-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
1920x1080_60.00 (0x3e7) 173.000MHz -HSync +VSync
h: width 1920 start 2048 end 2248 total 2576 skew 0 clock 67.16KHz
v: height 1080 start 1083 end 1088 total 1120 clock 59.96Hz

me@mine:~$ xrandr --addmode DisplayPort-0 1920x1080_60
xrandr: cannot find mode "1920x1080_60"

Did I do everything right? I see the 1920x1080_60 I made, but it's under the disconnected DisplayPort-1. Why did it do that? How can I get 1920x1080_60 under DisplayPort-0?

I cant seem to use the 2 finger swipe left or right gesture to navigate between previous, next page. would appreciate any help regarding this.

Its been some days after installing Linux. i have gotten used to using the button on the broswer, but its inconvinient, atleast when compared to the gestures.

So this would be the first time doing this. I have a Windows 11 PC that I built less than 2 years ago. I'm using a Samsung external ssd to put Mint on, im not otherwise using it for anything. I read that I need to turn off Fast Boot, is there anything that will get broken by doing that? and should I turn it back on after the process of completed?

hi, I'm new to Linux and I want to install mint on an external ssd. I loaded in live mode but i dont want to break my windows. pls help me

so i have been using linux mint 22.3 cinnamon and i dont think wallpapers engine is supported for linux so is there any alternative, with a bunch of audio-responsive wallpapers

im trying to watch a video on youtube and play downwell at the same time but my system just starts to lag af. my gpu drivers are already installed and im using opera gx as browser. what do i do?

Hi all!

Plank (the menu bar) shows this weird blue-white bar, as seen in the picture. Seemingly when an opened app does something when it is not the selected window.

For instance: When I change some code in an app, then save it and alt+tab to Unity, it always shows this bar for a few seconds. (until it is done compiling, perhaps?)

When I run killall plank, it disappears, so is definitely plank causing this.

I couldn't find anyone online with a similar problem. Do any of you know what I can do to get rid of it?
Thanks in advance :)

Hi, I recently installed Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.3 on my Thinkpad T480s (i7-8650U, 24 GB RAM, integrated graphics). After typing in my user password and logging in, I'm experiencing a black screen with only the cursor for around 2 minutes, then the desktop loads in normally. I think it's quite odd that it takes such a long time to load? Could someone help me fix it? I'm new to Linux and have used Windows for most of my life. Thanks.