  |
Version History |
Newest items are listed first.
Release 4.93 (Build 101216)
- Added support for the new (Late 2010) MacBook Air computers.
- Support for the temperature sensors at the locations “Hard Drive Proximity”
and “Graphics Processor 1 Analog Sensor” had to be withdrawn, because those
sensors don't work as expected with specific portable and iMac computers.
- Corrected a problem where an incorrect date of production was shown for
specific portable computers released in 2010.
Release 4.92 (Build 100908)
- Added support for new (Mid-2010) iMac computers.
- Added support for computers with Intel "Westmere class" processors, including
the new (Mid-2010) Mac Pro systems.
- Added support for many additional sensors found in Intel-based Macintosh
computers.
- Added the display of known sensor limits for locations in certain
older Intel-based Macintosh computers.
- Added option to the command-line version of Hardware Monitor to append
quantity descriptions to each sensor label. This is helpful to identify sensors
more easily on Macintosh models which measure several quantities at the same
sensor location.
- The new version shows a production location for computers refurbished at
the European Apple Online Store.
- The window to display extreme values no longer uses a misleading value
of 0 when selecting a time period where no readings have been collected yet.
- When displaying long-term history graphs of remote computers, network traffic
has been greatly reduced.
- By user request, a menu item has been added to the Lite version to let
the application automatically launch at login time. It is no longer necessary
to use the System Preferences application for defining the login item.
- Resolved a problem where sensor entries referring to remote computers might
have been lost in customized history windows when restarting the application.
- Resolved a problem where the values for data transfer rates of network
interface probes could overflow, showing negative readings for very fast
networks (Hardware Monitor only).
Release 4.9 (Build 100419)
- Added support for the new Intel Mobile Core i7-600, i5-500, i5-400, i3-300
processor series ("Arrandale").
- Added support for the new MacBook Pro (2010) computers.
- Added new feature to detect if a processor supports Intel Turbo Boost technology.
The list of supported overclocking frequencies can be displayed in the "Processor
> More Info" sheet of the System Information window.
- By user request, the splash window being displayed while the application
is starting up can now be suppressed.
- By user request, the sensor window will no longer resize itself to show
all configured sensor values when it is being opened. It will keep the
previous size preferred by the user until it is being reconfigured.
- The command line version of the program will now use the special output
value "-" to indicate a sensor which has been detected but cannot retrieve
any values at the moment.
Release 4.85 (Build 100208)
- Added support for the iMac 27".
- Added new feature to support configurable output on graphical liquid crystal
displays found on Logitech products, for example the G15 keyboard (Hardware
Monitor only).
- Added new feature to import and export definitions of artificial sensors
(probes) using files (Hardware Monitor only).
- Added a feature to detect defective device drivers on non-Apple systems
which might send invalid readings to the application.
- The new version contains a workaround for the problem that Mac OS X Snow
Leopard may record a warning message in the system log regarding the sensor
driver for Intel CPUs when shutting the operating system down.
- Added new sections to the chapter Frequently Asked Questions of the reference
manual regarding Intel Core i series processors.
- Corrected a problem where the date of manufacture of specific Apple computers
was displayed incorrectly when launching the program after January 1, 2010.
Release 4.8 (Build 090918)
- Support for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther has been removed. The required minimum
OS version is now Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.
- Added a feature to reset different aspects of display preferences for all
sensors back to recommended default values. This new feature supersedes the
former features to reset sensor display colors, data acquisition settings
and customized labels.
- Added a feature to display 32/64 bit capabilities of the processor and
the current mode of the kernel.
- Added a feature to display the unique identifier (UUID) of a computer.
- Added a feature to monitor the size of swap space memory which is actually
in use.
- Added a feature to let the user define individual sets of remotely monitored
computers in a network. It is now possible to connect to whole groups of
monitored systems in one step.
- Added a new driver for monitoring of the internal thermal sensors of Intel
processors which is also capable of supporting the 64 bit kernel version
of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
- On PowerPC hardware, support for S.M.A.R.T. hard drive sensors accessed
via SATA interfaces has been enhanced. The application will now accept the
temperature sensors of unknown SATA drive models. (This has always been the
standard on Intel-based computers.)
- The support for hard drive sensors controlled via proprietary drivers of
Sonnet and FirmTek has been enhanced.
- By user request, a feature to suppress access to S.M.A.R.T. hard drive
sensors has been added to the command-line version of the program.
- The output channel "Screen Display" will no longer try to keep its screen
position if the user changes a multi-monitor configuration while the program
is not running. This makes sure the Screen Display cannot become invisible
when its target monitor has been removed.
- The default number of displayed digits behind the decimal point is now
automatically set to zero in cases where it is known that the sensor
hardware does not provide more significant digits.
- When exporting readings, it is now possible to also use history windows
in overlay mode as sources to get combined tables of readings for different
physical quantities.
- If the application loses the network connection to a remotely monitored
computer, related warnings will now be suppressed automatically when a change
of the network configuration on the monitoring computer itself is the main
reason for the disconnect. This is useful when a mobile computer monitoring
a network leaves the WiFi area, for example.
- When remote-monitoring multiple computers with repaired logic boards that
have invalid or erased hardware serial numbers, the application will now
better keep track of the individual identifications of the affected systems.
- If the application is set to automatically reconnect to a set of remotely
monitored computers on startup, the reconnect will now be performed less
aggressively, one by one. This avoids temporary network overload when monitoring
a large number of computers.
- When quitting the application, shutdown of attached alphanumeric LCD boxes
has been enhanced.
- The numbering of labels for user-created sensors monitoring battery units
will now also start with 1 instead of beginning with 0.
- Corrected a problem where the temperature values displayed for the cores
of the Intel P7350 processor have been shifted by 15 degrees Celsius.
- Corrected a problem where no spaces between values have been displayed
in the menu-bar when the display of sensor labels has been switched off.
Release 4.7 (Build 090324)
- Added full support for the new Mac Pro series (March 2009). This includes
support for processors using Intel® Core™
i7 technology and simultaneous multi-threading.
- Completed support for the new iMac and Mac mini series (March 2009).
- The labels for several battery sensors have been changed to be more consistent
with the labels of other sensors. Numbering will now begin with 1 instead
of 0. Users of previous application versions can update their preferred labels
by either browsing through all sensors via Preferences > Sensors and
editing names manually, or by selecting the menu item Monitor > Reset
Customized Names for All Sensors for automatic replacement of all
labels.
- The detail information windows for G5 processors, x86 processors, battery
units and Xserve disk units have been modified to begin numbering of objects
with 1 instead of 0.
Release 4.6 (Build 090127)
- Added new feature to display the current operating temperature of battery
units and the voltages of each individual cell in a battery pack (Hardware
Monitor only). This feature is only available for portable computers having
battery units compliant with the Smart Battery Standard, running Mac OS X
10.4.9 or later. When a smart battery is available, Hardware Monitor will
use a completely redesigned battery information panel.
- Added new feature to display product details of connected screen displays
(Hardware Monitor only). This includes plug-and-play identification data
and manufacturing date / model year. Users of most portable Apple computers
can use this data to find out the true manufacturer of the system's display
panel.
- Added new feature to control the CPU performance needed to coordinate access
to the Apple System Management Controller.
- Added support for the MacBook (Late 2008), MacBook Air (Late 2008) and
MacBook Pro 15-inch (Late 2008).
- Added preliminary support for the future MacBook White (Early 2009) and
the future MacBook Pro 17-inch (Early 2009).
- Added preliminary support for future models of the iMac and the Mac mini
based on Nvidia chipset technology, expected to be announced in 2009.
- Added support for "per-core" Digital Thermal Sensors on specific
Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo processors in 45 nm technology. If supported, these
sensors replace the synthetic "Core Hot" sensors displayed by version
4.5x of Hardware Monitor.
- Enhanced compatibility with Intel processors expected to be used in future
Apple computers.
- Corrected a problem where the application could consume more
memory than usual when monitoring characteristics of network interfaces via
customized artificial sensors (Hardware Monitor only).
- Corrected a problem where the management list of jumpers and switches on
the main logic board was only displayed as a single left parenthesis.
- Many internal enhancements.
- Many additions to the reference manual.
Release 4.51 (Build 080623)
This is a maintenance update which reacts to recent developments in Mac OS
X Leopard and fixes minor problems.
- Added a feature to detect a common damage of Leopard installations where
users have intentionally destroyed the system's speech synthesizer to save
storage space.
- The readings of non-working GPU-load sensors provided by some of Apple's
graphics drivers for Leopard are now correctly suppressed by the application.
Instead of displaying a constant zero value, the sensor will be removed entirely.
- Support for monitoring the frequency of Intel processors based on 45
nm technology ("Penryn") has been withdrawn. The sensor might not reflect
the true performance mode under all operating conditions.
- The mechanism to detect ambiguities in machine production dates has been
optimized. Computers built in 2008 are now always displayed with their correct
dates of production.
Release 4.5 (Build 080312)
- Added support for new portable Mac systems with Intel T8000 processors.
- Added temperature sensor support for the standard PATA hard drive of the
MacBook Air.
- Support for on-core temperature sensors of Intel processors based on 45
nm technology ("Penryn") has been modified: As confirmed by Intel, the core
sensors behave no longer linear enough for the display of absolute readings
in low temperature ranges. For this reason, support for core temperature
sensors in 45 nm technology has been removed in Temperature Monitor. Hardware
Monitor will display them as logical sensors showing "Core Hot" status information.
- The application will now detect first generation Intel Core processors
which are affected by a hardware problem that can cause the core temperature
sensors to stop working after the system wakes from sleep mode.
- Enhanced support for CPU clock frequency monitoring, especially on systems
with Xeon 5400 processors and MacBooks running Leopard or running without
a battery unit.
- Added a workaround for a security problem in Mac OS X which affects
systems containing a GPU of the ATI Radeon X1000 series. In those systems,
the GPU driver can crash, causing the screen content to freeze. Hardware
Monitor now tries to avoid situations that could increase the likelihood
for this defect to become noticable. NOTE: It is our policy not to discuss
security holes in third-party products before giving the vendor (Apple) six
months time to fix this problem.
- Corrected a problem with the display of Intel processor model codes when
the model code was greater than 15.
Release 4.4 (Build 080211)
- Added support for new Macintosh systems equipped with Intel Xeon 5400
processors.
- Added support for the MacBook Air.
- Added full support for load sensors of Intel GMA X 3100 and ATI Radeon
X 2000 graphics chips (Hardware Monitor only).
- Added new feature for drives equipped with activity LEDs. To help users
in identifying drives, it is now possible to let drives light up their activity
indicators via the Drive Overview window.
- It is now possible to directly connect to remote computers by double-clicking
entries in the connect panel.
- Sensor labels can now be reset to their initial default designations.
- The FAQ chapter in the reference manual has been revised.
- Many small optimizations in user guidance.
Release 4.3 (Build 071024)
- Added official support for the iMac models published in August 2007.
- Removed support for Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar and other operating systems releases
prior to version 10.3.8.
- Added support for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
- The status of the extreme value drawer, ruler mode, and the display of
curve labels for history windows is now saved to preferences. Each history
window will individually restore these settings when the application is relaunched.
- The markers for showing extreme values in history windows can now also
be selected via keyboard while the history drawer is open.
- The panel for connecting to remotely monitored computers now uses better
support for multi-homed systems.
- The application no longer locks its history features when it detects a
corrupt file for storing long-term history values. In this case the damaged
data will be ignored and be removed automatically.
- The application now correctly suppresses frequency readings of Intel processors
when the battery is removed from portable computers and the system has switched
to restricted frequency control (Hardware Monitor only).
- Corrected a problem where the application did not show the sensor name
in the user's preferred language for the exhaust fan rotation sensor of the
MacBook May 2006 model (Hardware Monitor only).
Release 4.2 (Build 070619)
- Added support for the new MacBook Pro series introduced in June 2007.
- Added support for a variety of internal temperature sensors of new hard
drive models. This affects old Macintosh computers not supporting the AHCI
standard.
- Users can now create a new artificial sensor type which monitors the current
number of running processes (Hardware Monitor only).
- Users can now create several new artificial sensor types to monitor the
network interfaces present in the system. It is possible to monitor the current
number of incoming and outgoing packets, the current number of incoming and
outgoing bytes, the current number of incoming and outgoing network errors,
the current number of network collisions, and the total cumulative number
of incoming and outgoing bytes. Sensors can be defined for each interface
(Hardware Monitor only, requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later).
- Alert panels now display the exact time when the alert situation was detected.
- Selected display preferences for the Dock icon can now be set directly
via the context menu of the Dock icon.
- By user request, the Lite version has a new menu item to immediately refresh
the display of readings independent of the regular update interval.
- By user request, the Lite version has now support for sensor alerts. The
actions to display alert panels, to play the warning sound, and to run external
applications are supported.
- The handling of repaired or refurbished Macintosh systems which don't have
a valid serial number has been enhanced.
- Modified preference values are now committed to stable storage immediately
when the preferences window is closed. This can reduce the likelihood that
changes are lost when the application is used to diagnose problems on a
computer with defective hardware.
- The application now correctly suppresses the display of electrical sensors
for NVIDIA 7600 GT MXM cards in the 24-inch iMac. In that special configuration,
the power supply of the GPU cannot be monitored (Hardware Monitor only).
- A problem was corrected where artificial sensors for monitoring RAID status
could only be defined for one subset of a RAID 10 configuration. It
is now possible to monitor all 3 RAID subsets of a RAID 10 with three artificial
sensors (Hardware Monitor only).
- Corrected a problem where the application could crash when an artificial
power sensor was created but one of the dependent voltage or amperage sensors
was removed (Hardware Monitor only).
- Corrected a problem where the preferences to control an external LCD box
could not be deleted (Hardware Monitor only).
Release 4.11 (Build 070207)
This is a small maintenance update which only enhances minor issues in the
user interface:
- The menu-bar display will now be highlighted when the menu is open.
- It is now possible to delete the full sensor preferences set of a remotely
monitored computer by a single mouse click when that machine has been taken
offline and is no longer connected to the local computer.
- Corrects a scaling issue affecting the display of history curves when a
long term history display had been zoomed out and the window width resulted
in a horizontal time sampling resolution between 1 and 2 minutes per pixel.
- The resize behavior of the remote connection window was optimized.
- Enhanced compatibility of the disk saver feature with Mac OS X Jaguar.
- The internal hard drive sensor of Maxtor MaXLine Pro 500 (7H500F0) drives
is now also detected by PPC-based Macintosh systems.
Release 4.1 (Build 070104)
- Added support for a large number of voltage, current (amperage), power,
and light sensors for Intel-based Macintosh systems.
- Added full support for the new Apple Xserve Quad Xeon.
- Added support for S.M.A.R.T. temperature sensors in SATA drives connected
via an SAS bus.
- Removed support for the internal Intel CPU sensor monitoring the target
value of the core voltage. This is now superseded by the voltage sensors
monitoring the actual core voltage supply.
- Added new "disk saver" preference which allows users to stop monitoring
of internal hard drive sensors when the system is idle. Idle drives can now
enter sleep mode and be held in sleep mode, independently of S.M.A.R.T. monitor
time interval settings.
- The user interface for drawers in the history windows has been consolidated.
There is now a single drawer for colors and extreme values.
- The color preferences for the visualization of sensors can now also be
set via the color drawers of history windows.
- Added feature to add small labels to history curves. The labels use the
sensors' short names configured in preferences.
- Added feature to automatically recover from situations where one sensor
stopped responding and the application was about to be halted by the operating
system. (These situations can typically occur in machines where hard drives
need more than 12 seconds to wake up from sleep mode, or where third-party
applications are blocking the ATA busses for extended periods of time.)
When such a situation is detected, the application will automatically stop
all its activities, allowing the operating system to resolve the problem.
After a certain amount of time, the application will reactivate itself and
resume operation.
- The rounding of readings from frequency sensors of x86 processors has been
updated according to Intel's recommendations.
- Access to sensors where the user preference "Don't acquire readings" was
switched on is now prevented completely at the hardware level.
- Corrected a problem where the installation of the driver for extended x86
sensor support could fail if the application had been put in a folder which
had a name with non-ASCII characters.
- Corrected a problem where a memory sensor in portable Core 2 Duo systems
was misidentified as being a memory riser-card sensor.
- Corrected a problem where the internal temperature sensor of Hitachi Deskstar
7K500 drives was no longer seen as functioning sensor.
- Corrected a problem in the preference panel where some settings in the
user interface were not updated correctly when the configuration tables for
history windows and alerts were only controlled by keyboard, not by mouse.
Release 4.0 (Build 061108)
- Added support for a large number of new temperature sensors of
Intel-based Macintosh systems. This includes thermal diodes monitoring
the processors externally, GPU sensors, drive bay sensors and FB-DIMM sensors
of the Mac Pro, etc.
- Added new feature to combine multiple history windows, making it possible
to put sensors with
different quantities into direct relation with each other. The user can
define overlays for any selection of graphs.
- Readings of sensors which have raised an alarm are now displayed with warning
markers in the sensor window, the screen display, and the menu-bar.
- The display of sensor readings in some output channels has been optimized
further. No additional space is added in front of the readings which consumes
less screen real-estate and enhances the appearance in windows where left-aligned
layouts were selected.
- Corrected a problem where the curves of history graphs could show a flicker
effect under very special circumstances.
- Corrected a problem where the speeds of switched-off fans were displayed
as "---" instead of "0 RPM" on some specific PowerBook models.
- Corrected a problem where S.M.A.R.T. status probes could not be created
for drives if the support status of the drives' internal temperature
sensors could not be determined.
NOTE: Some specific sensor location labels for Intel-based systems are subject
to change and may not be final. Compatibility Reports for the new Core 2-based
Mac series created via the Help menu of Hardware Monitor are welcome. Intel
Xserve models are not fully supported yet. Support will be added when these
systems become available.
Release 3.95 (Build 061010) - Hardware Monitor only
- Due to recent efforts in reverse-engineering Apple's System Management
Controller, it is now possible to support all fan sensors of all Intel-based
Macintosh systems. The sensors and their parameters for permissible limits
are found automatically. Additional temperature sensors are expected to be
supported in the near future.
- The application can now control additional types of external LCD displays.
The USB modules of the series CFA-632 and CFA-634 from Crystalfontz America,
Inc. are supported. Additional free device drivers from Future Technology
Devices International Limited (FTDI) are needed to make the modules accessible
by Mac OS X.
- The application now contains a "backlight saver" for external LCD modules.
The timeout intervals can be set individually for each connected module.
Release 3.9 (Build 060918)
- Added support for the 4 new iMac series introduced in September 2006.
- Added support for temperature sensors in some old hard drives which are
not fully compliant with today's implementation of the S.M.A.R.T. industry
standard.
- By user request, Hardware Monitor now additionally supports monitoring
of the case security lock for all Xserve systems. The lock position is monitored
by a logical status sensor, where 1 denotes the normal, locked position,
and 0 the unlocked setting.
- Artificial sensors to monitor storage space on volumes can now also be
created for network volumes, not only for local disk partitions (Hardware
Monitor only).
- If rulers are enabled for history windows, the application will now always
try to keep the position of the crosshairs, no matter how the window or
the selected time interval are resized.
- By user request, the old feature to display history curves in a scaled
down fashion has been reinstated. Clicking on a new zoom button now allows
to switch between a scaled down time axis, and display in full time resolution.
- Output of readings has been optimized to avoid leading blanks whenever
possible. This produces better output, especially in the Dock and menu-bar
channels, and in cases where the user has selected a combined Celsius/Fahrenheit
display.
- The panel to display processor details will now better differentiate between
logical processors, number of cores per processing unit, and physical number
of processing units. It will also correctly reflect the number of currently
deactivated processors.
- Corrected a problem where the marketing name of Xeon 5100 processors was
not displayed in the processor detail panel.
- Corrected a problem where the application could raise a low sensor reading
alert when the sensor was temporarily in a disconnected status.
Release 3.8 (Build 060825)
- Added support for the Apple Mac Pro.
- Added support for Growl notifications when defining sensor alerts. This
makes it easier to receive alert messages by e-mail independently of the
operating system version. (For more information see www.growl.info.)
- Users of large screens can now activate up to 8 sensor displays in the
menu-bar.
- By user request, sensor readings in the menu-bar can now be configured
to use the definable sensor display colors.
- The format preferences for sensor readings now allow to define up to 4
instead of 2 digits behind the decimal point. This change is necessary to
allow the exact display of core voltages for Intel processors (Hardware Monitor).
- By request of many users, history windows are now resizable. The time axis
is no longer scaled down, so users can scroll over the entire history data
set in full resolution.
- By user request, the application will now track for each individual history
window if it was open when quitting the application. Upon next startup,
the application will restore the exact state of the history windows
and no longer open all histories if only one was open. For roaming network
users who use the application on different computers, different history
window groups for different computer types will be respected individually.
- The application can now detect if a processing core of an Intel processor
was shut down by the user, so the digital thermal sensors of that core
no longer update their values. The sensor display of the affected core will
switch to the usual "disconnected sensor" reading after some time.
- The application can now detect if it is being launched on Intel-based
systems before the operating system is fully started. On very fast systems
which were configured for automatic login and which launched the application
as a login item, this could cause the program to run before the Intel support
driver was started by Mac OS X. To avoid this problem, the application
will now automatically wait 10 seconds for the CPU driver to become active.
- Corrected a problem where the display of precision and accuracy of temperature
sensors could be switched to Fahrenheit (which is inappropriate) in the
sensor detail panel.
- Corrected a problem of an early build of 3.7 where the application could
crash when being used on an "Intel® Xeon® 5100 Sequence" processor.
- Corrected a problem of an early build of 3.7 which did not automatically
open the history windows on startup if they were open during last shutdown.
Release 3.7 (Build 060618)
- Due to quality problems and intellectual property issues, support for the
third-party software "SpeedIt" has been removed. The application now comes
with its dedicated own driver to access internal information of x86 processors.
The driver can easily be installed or uninstalled from within the application.
The program will automatically notify the user if installation of the driver
is recommended.
- The following additional sensors will be accessible on current x86-based
Macintosh systems when the driver is active: the internal digital thermal
sensors for each CPU core of Intel processors, current core voltage value
of Intel processors (Hardware Monitor only), current true clock frequency
of Intel processors (Hardware Monitor only).
- In addition, the System Information window of the application will be capable
of displaying family, model and stepping numbers, as well as the internal
identification of x86 processors after the aforementioned driver has been
installed.
- Added new preference values to adjust the ratio of the font sizes for display
of the sensor labels in relation to display of the sensor readings. The preference
settings are available for the sensor window and the screen display output
channels.
- The policy for detecting temperature sensors that are built into hard drives
has changed: If the application detects a SATA drive under control of an
Intel-based Macintosh system using AHCI, it will automatically assume that
this drive contains a working temperature sensor compliant with the latest
version of the ATA and S.M.A.R.T. standards. Up-to-date hard drives will
no longer need explicit support by the application but will be accepted automatically.
The column for temperature sensor support in the Drive Overview window has
been removed.
- The reference manual now gives an example on how to define a sensor alert
trigger to automatically shutdown the system when readings exceed adjustable
threshold values.
Release 3.6 (Build 060504)
By request of many interested customers, this update is published earlier
than initially intended. You only need to update from 3.5 if you like to use
one of the following modifications:
- Due to very high demand, this version adds support for the third-party
software "SpeedIt" by InCrew Software, Spain. SpeedIt is a kernel
extension for Mac OS X which grants user applications permission to access
the on-chip CPU temperature sensor of Intel-based Macintosh systems. The
monitoring application will automatically detect if SpeedIt is running on
the system. If yes, the features of SpeedIt will be used to acquire readings
from the CPU. For additional information, please see the FAQ chapter of the
reference manual.
- Enhanced support for the first generation iBook G4,
where temperature sensors of the type Analog Devices ADT7460 did not deliver
their readouts fast enough with specific Mac OS X versions, causing intermittent
display of zero values.
- Corrected a problem where temperature sensors controlled by the G4 version
of the Apple System Management Unit were displayed as being disconnected.
Release 3.5 (Build 060428)
The following items have been added to Hardware Monitor. They are not
available in Temperature Monitor:
- Added new feature to create artificial software sensors which monitor aspects
of the operating system. This includes the load on each processor core,
disk usage, free storage space and used storage space for each volume, free
memory, used active memory, used inactive memory, used non-pageable memory,
current number of page-ins and page-outs, allocated swap space, S.M.A.R.T.
drive verification status for each drive supporting the S.M.A.R.T. standard,
RAID operation status for each software RAID set created by Mac OS X, electrical
power for user-definable pairs of voltage and amperage sensors, remaining
battery capacity for each battery unit.
- Added new feature to control external alphanumeric LC display modules,
connected via USB by a Code Mercenaries IO-Warrior USB controller chip. Output
on the LCD is fully user-configurable. Next to sensor output and text elements,
an external display box can be configured to show current date, time, computer
name, kernel version number, OS version number, OS build number, IPv4 addresses
of all physical network interfaces, and bar-graphs for sensors representing
percentage values.
- Added a new user preference to allow the sign of battery current sensors
to change, reflecting whether the respective battery is charging or discharging.
- Added support for ACPI-compliant battery units of non-Apple computers.
- History records for non-temperature sensors are now automatically added
in the same user session if Hardware Monitor is switched from demo to unlocked
mode. It is no longer necessary to restart the application to get history
data of the previously locked sensors.
The following items apply to all variants of the software:
- Added support for several new S.M.A.R.T. hard drive sensors.
- The format of labels for the y-axis of history graphs has been enhanced.
- The policy for the display of alert messages has changed: The application
no longer locks its user interface until the user has acknowledged an alert.
If multiple alert messages arrive before the user has acknowledged a message,
new alerts will overwrite previous ones.
- The panel for computers which don't contain sensors has been enhanced.
Release 3.4 (Build 060302)
Added support for new Macintosh systems which use the "smart battery" industry
standard. Production dates and serial numbers of "smart" battery
units can be displayed in a new battery detail panel.
Note to users of Temperature Monitor: If you are already using version 3.3
of Temperature Monitor, you only need to update to 3.4 if you want to remotely
monitor the battery of a MacBook Pro running a licensed copy of Hardware Monitor
Remote 3.4. In all other aspects, version 3.4 is identical to 3.3.
Release 3.3 (Build 060216)
- Added a new system information detail window for Intel-based Macintosh
systems. The window displays system management data like component serial
numbers, hardware details, and vendor information for the following categories:
Computer system, processors, cache units, memory devices, firmware, system
mainboard, system enclosure, internal and external connectors, expansion
slots, onboard devices, and jumpers.
- Added
extended support for nVidia graphics cards containing more than one equally
named temperature sensor. The application now better keeps track which
sensor is which.
- Added support for hard drive sensors accessed by SATA controllers that
follow the AHCI standard, which is a new feature of Mac OS X 10.4.4.
- Added support for several new S.M.A.R.T. hard drive sensors.
- Added preliminary support for the iMac Intel Core Duo.
- Added new feature to automatically correct raw firmware sensor labels if
sensor preferences had been set with an old version of the application which
did not officially support a specific sensor yet.
- The FAQ chapter in the reference manual has been revised.
- Corrected a problem where the load sensor of the ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
was erroneously detected as temperature sensor.
- Corrected a problem where roaming network users which access more than
one computer could not correctly import preference sets from a computer of
the same model type.
Release 3.2 (Build 051125)
- Added support for the third-generation iMac G5 (iSight). If you used a
release prior to 3.2 on the new iMac G5, it is recommended to delete your
preferences file to get updated sensor labels.
- Added support for several new S.M.A.R.T. hard disk sensors.
- Added new option to let history windows show absolute instead of relative
time designations.
- The extreme value tables in the drawers of history windows will now remember
their size settings, and the drawers will now open with more appropriate
initial widths.
- The wait panel of the menu-bar version (Lite application) was replaced
by a message in the menu-bar.
- The display of detail information for some production sites and the Dallas
1631 sensor chip have been optimized.
- The reference manual has been revised.
Release 3.1 (Build 051110)
- The new version contains a workaround for the problem that Mac OS X did
not update the readings for some specific low-priority sensors of certain
Macintosh models. Now all sensor values are refreshed under all conditions.
This affects temperature sensors of the 15-inch and 17-inch PowerBook G4
models released in 2005, as well as the ambient air temperature sensors of
PowerMac G5 models.
- Added support for the new PowerMac G5 Dual Core systems.
- Added support for the new PowerBook G4 (Super Drive Dual Layer) systems.
- Added support for ambient light sensors found in the latest PowerBook models
(Hardware Monitor only).
- Added support for several new S.M.A.R.T. hard disk sensors.
- The display of the extreme value table in the drawer of the history window
has been optimized.
- Corrected a problem where keyboard navigation in the sensor preference
outline view did not update the entry fields.
- Corrected a problem where curves in the history graphs were displayed with
the wrong time scale for certain intervals.
- Corrected a problem where the clock frequencies of the local computer were
displayed in the system info window although a remote computer was selected.
Release 3.01 (Build 050908)
3.01 is a maintenance update which only affects a small minority of users.
If you are using release 3.0 with a Mac OS X system not among the problematic
cases outlined below, it is neither necessary nor beneficial to download version
3.01.
- Added support for Mac OS X installations with incomplete or unusual configurations.
In particular, this affects the following situations: Mac OS X systems where
the computer name has been deleted, Macintosh computers with repaired or
replaced mainboards where the hardware personalization fields in Open Firmware
were empty, system installations that are very slow in waking up from sleep
mode.
- Corrected a problem wheren the Connect button in the remote connection
panel might have stayed in disabled mode when you manually entered data to
connect to a remote computer in a different subnet.
Release 3.0 (Build 050826)
- The application can now monitor remote computers via a TCP network connection.
The user can connect to an unlimited number of remote computers using Bonjour
technology. The add-on Hardware Monitor Remote and an additional
registration key for each computer monitored simultaneously is required to
use this feature. It is not necessary that a user has logged in at the remote
computer.
- The application has now a multi-threaded architecture and its core was
rewritten completely. The history curves are no longer interrupted when the
application waits for a user response in a dialog window.
- The version numbers of Hardware Monitor and Temperature Monitor have been
synchronized to avoid confusion. (This means Hardware Monitor has been
updated from release 1.5 to 3.0, skipping version 2.)
- Added new feature to display S.M.A.R.T.-compatibility and S.M.A.R.T. verification
status of all disk drives.
- Added new feature to display the admissible limits for all sensor locations
for which Apple's specifications are known. The limits are displayed in additional
columns in the Sensor Overview window.
- Added new feature to locate and visualize extreme values in the history
windows.
- Added support for S.M.A.R.T. temperature sensors of several new hard disk
models.
- Added preliminary support for Intel-based Macintosh systems.
- Added support to differentiate between multi-processor and multi-core/multi-thread
systems.
- Added a user preference to keep the position of the screen display fixed,
so users can no longer shift the display by mistake.
- Added user preferences to set customized speech output names for each sensor.
- Added feature to let the program open an application or document when a
sensor alarm is triggered.
- Added feature to change the alignment for the display of readouts in the
sensor window and screen display.
- Added user preference to change the background color of each history graph.
- Added feature to restore the time intervals selected in each of the history
windows when the application is relaunched.
- Sensor types are now visualized using additional icons.
- The System Information window has been simplified.
- Hardware Monitor has got a redesigned icon.
- The preference window has been redesigned completely.
- Panther systems affected by security problem CVE-ID: CAN-2005-0985 are
now handled automatically, so user intervention is no longer necessary. Defective
Mac OS X fan drivers are no longer accessed.
- The application now contains a workaround for a bug in nVidia graphics
card drivers: If the drivers of GeForce 6800 cards mistakenly report that
the cards' sensor identifications have changed, the application will no longer
generate new preference settings for the "new" sensors of the supposedly
"replaced" card.
- Corrected a problem where pulse-width controlled fans of GeForce 6800 cards
have been mistakenly reported as fans with RPM sensors.
- Corrected a problem with the labels of history rulers where minutes and
seconds could be confused when a time interval of less than 1 hour was monitored
with the ruler crosshair.
- Corrected a problem where not all non-refreshing sensors were detected
on some specific PowerMac G5 models without liquid cooling system.
- Corrected a problem where a short-term history window was not updated when
the sensor update interval was increased in the same user session.
- Corrected a problem where the Dock tile was not restored to show the application
icon when the user launched the application via a permanent Dock entry
and had defined a very short update interval.
- Corrected several hyper-links in the English version of the reference manual.
- Several new sections have been added to the reference manual.
Release 2.5 (Build 050228)
- Added support for the 12-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch PowerBook G4 models
released in February 2005. Note that current versions of Mac OS X are not
capable of refreshing most temperature sensor readings of the February 2005
15-inch model, and the February 2005 17-inch model.
- Support for temperature sensors of several hard disk models has been added.
- Added new feature to display disk monitoring detail data for Apple Xserve
drive modules.
- Added new feature to display the number of charge/discharge cycles as well
as the maximum capacity of battery units of portable computers (Hardware
Monitor only). This feature is only available on Mac OS X versions which
are capable of supporting this.
- History data and current sensor readings can now also be exported in CSV
format in addition to text files.
- Because different versions of Mac OS X handle the sign of the battery amperage
values differently (indicating that the battery is charging or discharging),
Hardware Monitor will now display positive values only to avoid confusion.
- By user request it is now possible to launch the Lite version from the
preferences panel of the full version. This allows a simple switch between
the Lite and full version when the user wants to change preference settings
for the menu-bar display.
- Fixed a problem where the option to display readings in Celsius and
Fahrenheit simultaneously could cause an incorrect display of temperature
extreme values in the minimum/maximum window.
Release 2.4 (Build 050128)
- Support for many new hard disk models has been added.
- Support for some previously undetected sensors of the Xserve and the Xserve
G5 has been added.
- A workaround for a bug in Mac OS X 10.3.7 has been added: On computers
with incorrect DNS configurations, Panther 10.3.7 imposes a delay of approximately
1 minute to applications which have to know the computer's TCP/IP name.
Among many other programs, Temperature Monitor and Hardware Monitor were
affected by these delays. The applications will now detect this problem and
cancel the request after 3 seconds. This allows the programs to be used in
incorrectly configured TCP/IP networks with Mac OS X 10.3.7.
- Alarm triggers for temperature sensors now automatically recompute their
thresholds when the user switches to a different temperature unit.
- The boot ROM version is now additionally displayed in the system overview.
- The application notifies users who have forgotten to define different colors
for curves in the history graphs.
- Fixes a problem where old readouts could be displayed in the Dock when
the application was quit.
- Many small changes and optimizations in the user interface.
Release 2.3 (Build 041123)
- Support for all sensors of the iMac G5 has been added.
- Support for sensors of nVidia GeForce 6800 graphics cards has been
added.
- Preliminary support for the sensors of the Power Mac G5 October 2004 model
has been added. Compatibility reports for this model sent with the respective
option in Hardware Monitor are welcome.
- Support for a large number of additional hard disk temperature sensors
has been added.
- The floating window has been renamed to screen display window. It can now
either float on top of all windows (as the previous version), or support
a new setting "backdrop window", which attaches it to the background image
of the Desktop.
- A new status window was added which can display minimum and maximum readouts
of all sensors for a selectable time frame of up to one week.
- An option was added to automatically save history data not only when quitting
the application but also in a regular, selectable time interval. This allows
you to save reference data for cases where your computer is affected by
emergency shutdowns due to overtemp conditions.
- By customer request, the readouts in the sensor window and the screen display
window have been made user-selectable. So the current values can be easily
copied to other applications without having to use the export feature.
- A new feature was added to move the screen display window back to the middle
of the screen after you have made layout changes or modified your multi-monitor
configuration to the effect that the window was placed outside the visible
screen area.
- Long sensor names in the sensor window or the screen display window are
no longer cut off if they are very large. The windows automatically adjust
to the best layout possible. For this reason, window locations and sizes
may change when you upgrade from a previous release to version 2.3.
- The preference panel now shows a warning if the access interval for hard
disk sensors is in contradiction with Mac OS X energy saver preferences you
have set for hard disks.
- The preference panel allows you to reset the fonts for sensor and screen
display windows to their default settings.
- The application no longer deletes preference settings of sensors that have
been removed from the system or are temporarily offline. This also includes
cases where hard disk temperature sensors have been categorized as being
unreliable. Sensors which have been removed finally can be deleted manually
from preferences.
- The filter method that rejects values of unreliable hard disk sensors has
been optimized.
- The application now automatically detects if the sensor of an offline hard
disk is reconnected to the system.
- A new menu item which allows an enforced re-scan of the current connectivity
of sensors has been added.
- Several menu items which open or close status windows have been moved from
the Monitor menu to the Windows menu to match the user interface of future
versions of Mac OS X.
- By customer request, the command line version of the application contains
new options which can be used to generate reports in CSV format.
- The panel for demonstration mode has been redesigned completely.
- Fixed a problem where the import of sensor preferences for roaming users
working on several similar hardware models in a Mac OS X network did
not work reliably.
Release 2.21 (Build 040924)
This is a maintenance update only affecting minor issues.
- Corrected a problem where the sensor window was not resized correctly after
it was moved off the main screen in a multi-monitor setup, or the layout
was changed for a position near the screen border.
- Corrected a problem where the color wells in the preference window could
not be clicked under certain circumstances.
- Corrected a problem where alerts were triggered for the wrong threshold
value.
- The user interface for the warning of an unstable operating system version
was changed (Hardware Monitor only). It is now possible to set a user preference
that disables the warning per computer. The preference panel contains a
new button to re-activate all disabled sensors.
Release 2.2 (Build 040908)
- Translated descriptions for some sensors of the PowerBook G4 (12 inch,
1.33 GHz) and the cooling pumps of the Power Macintosh G5 (dual 2.5 GHz)
have been added.
- Support for temperature sensors of some hard disks of the Western Digital
Raptor series has been added.
- If the menu-bar display is switched off, the Lite version of the application
will now display a small icon in the menu-bar only. This reduces consumption
of screen real estate for the Lite version to the smallest amount possible.
- The font for the menu-bar display can now be configured by the user.
- The acquisition of data can now be disabled by the user for each sensor
individually.
- Readings of hard disks which send invalid data after waking from sleep
mode are now filtered out if they are implausible.
- When the feature to announce monitored sensor readings on value changes
has been activated, an additional tolerance value can be configured now to
control speech output.
- The application detects operating system versions which are eqipped with
defective fan control drivers. If access to fan control bears the potential
danger a Kernel Panic is triggered due to these defects, the application
will display a warning and will offer to disable access to affected sensors.
- Corrected a problem where standard sensor window and floating window could
move a few pixels in vertical direction after the application has been relaunched.
- Corrected a problem where values were added to the short-term history diagrams
in an incorrect time frame if certain values in the preference panel were
changed.
- An incorrect multiplier for the display of pulse-width controlled fans
on Power Macintosh G5 systems has been corrected.
- Several minor changes in the user interface.
Release 2.1 (Build 040804)
- Support for new voltage and fan sensors has been added.
- Support for temperature sensors on the hard disk models Seagate ST340015A,
Fujitsu MHT2080AT and Western Digital WD800JB-00FMA0 was added.
- Font types and font sizes for the sensor window and the floating window
can now be set by the user.
- Horizontal and vertical layout of the sensor window can now be set independently
of the floating window.
- A new function was added which tests for systems with variable clock frequencies.
- The System Info window now differentiates between nominal and actual clock
frequencies at startup time.
- A new menu item was added to the Lite version which allows to launch the
"big" version.
- If multiple monitors are connected in a vertical setup, the floating window
can now be dragged to the screen "above" the menu bar.
- The FAQ section in the documentation has been extended.
- A problem was corrected which could prevent the hwmonitor command line
program from being unlocked.
- The command line program tempmonitor which was missing in some
distribution packages was added.
- A problem affecting the incorrect display of production data for some particular
models manufactured for the US markets has been corrected.
- An incorrect multiplier for the amperage display of batteries has been
corrected.
Release 2.0 (Build 040719)
- The program now supports an unlimited number of sensors per computer. It tries to support all Macintosh systems equipped with sensors that are accessible by Mac OS X without needing third-party device drivers.
- Support for on-die temperature measurement of G5 processors has been added. This the first Mac OS X application with this capability that is distributed publicly.
- Support for temperature measurement of hard disks has been added. With this feature the application will now also support older Macintosh models that neither have temperature sensors on their mainboards, nor are capable of processor-based temperature estimates. (This feature is only supported with Mac OS X 10.3 or later. For technical reasons it cannot be offered for Jaguar.)
- The temperature sensors of a variety of iBook and PowerBook computers as well as sensors in some graphics cards are additionally supported.
- The program is no longer terminated when no sensor has been found. In this case it is still possible to read the documentation or use the system information feature.
- Rendering issues in connection with shadows not updated correctly for the floating window have been resolved.
- The application now makes sure speech output uses exactly the same update interval as graphical output, so there are no longer discrepancies between spoken and displayed values.
- By user request, a feature was added to optionally display temperature values in degrees Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit simultaneously.
- By user request, a feature was added to optionally zoom the visualization of history data into the current value range, so the curves are presented without losing details.
- By user request, the display size of readings in the Dock has been enlarged.
- By user request, readings in the Dock can optionally by displayed as plain text lines, enlarging the display even more.
- By user request, the application can be launched in a "Lite" version which only displays readings in the menu bar but doesn't use any space in the Dock.
- By user request, the number of digits after the decimal point is held constant when displaying readings. The format can now be specified for each sensor.
- By user request, a feature was added to monitor if values exceed or fall below definable limits and announce this by alarm messages. Optical, acoustical and spoken alerts are possible.
- The history graphs now contain an additional feature to display rulers that allow to exactly determine history values and their time.
- Long-term history data is now saved persistently when the application is quit. One week of readings per sensor, per computer is stored.
- The application supports "roaming" users in networks who use different computers with central private folders on a file server. In this case, the application stores individual sensor preferences per computer, allowing the user to take over configurations of similar machines. History data is stored per sensor, per computer, per user.
- The history graphs no longer show unavailable readings by horizontal lines. Time intervals that have not been recorded will appear as interruptions in the curve.
- The user can define an unlimited number of history windows and map sensors to them. An unlimited number of curves for the same type of physical quantity can be super-imposed in one graph.
- A feature to display processor type, frequencies, production date and production place, memory and cache sizes, as well as operating system version has been added.
- A feature to display the MPU product data of G5 processor cards has been added.
- A new window to display an overview of all sensors has been added. The window allows that technical detail information about each sensor hardware can be queried.
- Sensors can be identified by customized colors and names. For each of the different output channels, a different sensor list can be configured. Windows can display sensor readings in vertical or horizontal layout. A color legend can be displayed in a drawer of each history window.
- Windows can now be printed.
- Current readings or history data can be exported to text files.
- A feature was added allowing the software to check for newly available updates on the Internet.
- The BSD command line version of the program was revised and now supports an unlimited number of sensors as well.
- The menu was restructured.
- The documentation was rewritten completely.
- The program is now also distributed in a "pro" version under the name Hardware Monitor. The pro-version additionally displays battery data of portable computers, as well as fan, voltage, current, capacity and power sensors on supported computers. The pro-version is distributed as shareware. Temperature Monitor remains available for free.
Release 1.4 (Build 031103)
Support for temperature sensors of the next generation aluminum PowerBooks (Apple PowerBook G4 15-inch FW800) and support for the PowerMac G5 have been added. Please note that the temperature reading displayed for G5 models is not the CPU core temperature. See the Release Notes for further information.
Release 1.31 (Build 030721)
This is a maintenance update which fixes minor bugs in the user interface. No feature has been modified or added.
- Corrected a problem that could cause temperature degree symbols not to be displayed correctly if the program was launched by a user with non-Latin scripting systems. This affects system installations where Chinese, Japanese, or Korean is pre-selected as primary language.
- Corrected a problem where temperature display was delayed after program launch, depending on the update interval preferred by the user.
Release 1.3 (Build 030716)
- Support for temperature sensors of aluminum PowerBooks (Apple PowerBook G4 12-inch and 17-inch) has been added. Thanks to Kevin Francis Besig for beta-testing the new release.
- Wording in the menu bar of the English user interface was changed.
Release 1.2 (Build 030621)
- The shadow of the floating window can be switched off to improve readability.
- Documentation has been updated.
- The hardware survey was completed. Application development will now be frozen until Apple ships new hardware that makes changes necessary.
Release 1.1 (Build 030620)
- Because a few users are under the mistaken belief it is a software problem when their hardware is not supported, the support status panel has been completely redesigned. The program now returns very detailed information why it is technically impossible to run the software on some systems.
- The application now supports an additional display of the temperature in the menu bar.
- It is no longer necessary to press the return key when entering a new update interval in the preferences panel.
- A problem with the Apple Help Viewer not automatically displaying the title page of the online documentation when launched with a non-English primary language has been corrected.
- The FAQ page has been extended.
- The hardware compatibility list has been updated.
- Typos in the online documentation have been corrected.
Release 1.0 (Build 030618)
First official version of Temperature Monitor.
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