Unicorn HAT - System Status

Thought it’d be nice to learn a little about Python so I bought a Unicorn HAT. Here’s my first attempt at doing something with it - a graphical representation of the system status. As coded, it requires the latest version of the psutil python library (https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil) - the one included in Raspbian is a little out of date and lacks certain functionality (thus providing good experience in learning how to install and manage python libraries).

It provides a measure of CPU load (user, system and overall), memory usage (virtual and swap) and disk usage (root and one other). The last row is still a work in progress (it’ll be used for monitoring specific processes) - have removed the code for now.

As I said earlier, I’m new to python and am aware that my coding could improve. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Well, here’s the code (status.py):


#!/usr/bin/env python

import unicornhat as unicorn
import time
import psutil

unicorn.brightness(0.35)

# Set orientation - Legend at bottom
unicorn.rotation(270)

# Function get_rgb(name) - returns tuple containing RGB values
def get_rgb(name):

    # Define colors
    _rgb = {"red": [255,0,0],
	"orange": [255,165,0],
	"yellow": [255,255,0],
	"green": [0,128,0],
	"blue": [0,0,255],
	"indigo": [75,0,130],
	"violet": [238,130,238],
	"white": [255,255,255],
	"black": [0,0,0]
    }

    return _rgb[name]

# Main

# x is (0,7) from left to right
# y is (0,7) from top to bottom

# Set default background colors, row-by-row
default_bg=["black","blue","blue","indigo","indigo","green","green","green"]

while True:
    for y in range(8):
        rgb = get_rgb(default_bg[y])
        for x in range(8):
            unicorn.set_pixel(x,y,rgb[0],rgb[1],rgb[2])

    # Row 7 thro 5: CPU Load (user/system/idle)
    cpu = psutil.cpu_times_percent(1)
    
    for x in range(8):
        if round(cpu.user*8.0/100.0) > x:
            unicorn.set_pixel(x,7,255,0,0)
        else:
            break

    for x in range(8):
	if round(cpu.system*8.0/100.0) > x:
	    unicorn.set_pixel(x,6,255,0,0)
	else:
	    break

    for x in range(8):
	if round((100.0-cpu.idle)*8.0/100.0) > x:
	    unicorn.set_pixel(x,5,255,0,0)
	else:
	    break

    # Row 4: Swap memory
    swap = psutil.swap_memory().percent
    for x in range(8):
        if round(swap*8.0/100.0) > x:
	    unicorn.set_pixel(x,4,255,0,0)
	else:
	    break

    # Row 3: Virtual memory
    virtual = psutil.virtual_memory().percent
    for x in range(8):
        if round(virtual*8.0/100.0) > x:
            unicorn.set_pixel(x,3,255,0,0)
        else:
            break

    # Row 2 & 1: /mnt/public & /
    partitions = psutil.disk_partitions()
    for partition in partitions:
	if partition.mountpoint == "/mnt/public":
	    for x in range(8):
		if round(psutil.disk_usage(partition.mountpoint).percent*8.0/100.0) > x:
		    unicorn.set_pixel(x,2,255,0,0)
		else:
		    break
	elif partition.mountpoint == "/":
	    for x in range(8):
		if round(psutil.disk_usage(partition.mountpoint).percent*8.0/100.0) > x:
		    unicorn.set_pixel(x,1,255,0,0)
		else:
		    break

    unicorn.show()

Thanks for that. I used

sudo pip install psutil

to get psutil and it seems to work great. I’m not exactly sure what I’m looking at though (and maybe my pi is rotated too from yours!).