USB CPU and Memory Monitor

This little device shows you the CPU-load, how much physical and virtual memory is used. It shows this data per 10% on 3 ledbars. To do so it uses a VCP (Virtual COM Port), so that it can be connected to a PC via a USB connection to receive the data. Collecting the data and sending it to the device is done by a Python script.

By building my own onboard UART to USB converter and using SMD, I was able to make a relatively small device.

As always, comments and constructive criticisme are very much appreciated.

To build this device, you will need:

• An attiny2313 (datasheet)
• A FT232RL Uart to USB converter (datasheet)
• A Mini USB B connector
• 3 x Kingbright DC-10EWA Ledbar(datasheet)
• 10 x 150Ohm resistor
• A ferrite bead
• 2 x 100nF capacitor
• A 10nF capacitor
• A 4.7uF capacitor
• A 6pin female header
• Materials to make a PCB or some veroboard
• A Programmer and compiler of your choice

To run the python script on your pc, you will need:

• Python 2.7
• PySerial
• Psutil

As always, you can use thru-hole components instead of smd parts.

The circuit for this project is fairly easy. The USB part of the schematic can be found in the datasheet of the FT232RL as a USB-powered device with a microcontroller.

There are 2 connections from the FT232RL to the attiny2313: RX and TX (actually we need only The TX of the FT2313RL to the RX of attiny but connecting both lines makes debugging the microcontroller a lot easier).

The 3 ledbars are multiplexed. Their cathodes are connected to Port B, PortD.5 and PortD.6. The anodes are connected to Portd.2 - 4.

Miso, Mosi, SCK and Reset are connected to the header for programming together with VCC and GND.

Once everything is soldered together and tested, you can load the actual code.

My code is written in BascomAVR so I added the original .bas-file here for other Bascom users and the code in a .txt-file as reference for C-programmers. I also added a .hex-file so that you can use it immediately.

The code receives the data via the USB and and multiplexes it into the 3 ledbars. The first one is the CPU-load, the second one is the physical memory and the last one is the virtual memory.

'And now for something completely different...'

Indeed, a bit of Python.

I wrote the script in Python 2.7 while using PySerial and Psutil. You´ll need to download those 2 modules (links can be found in Step 1).

The script collects the CPU and Memory data via the Psutil-module and sends them over the virtual COM-port to the device.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

import sys
import serial
import psutil
ser = serial.Serial(2)   #Change this according to your own COM-port. Remeber that the value you should add is one less than the      
                                     number of your COM-port.
while True:

q = psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1)
q = q/10
cpuload = '%.0f'%(q)
cpuload = 'a'+ cpuload
print cpuload
ser.write(cpuload)
q = psutil.phymem_usage()
mem = '%.0f'%(q.percent/10)
mem = 'b'+mem
print mem
ser.write(mem)
q = psutil.virtmem_usage()
virtmem = '%.0f'%(q.percent/10)
virtmem = 'c'+virtmem
print virtmem
ser.write(virtmem)
ser.close