Battery Monitor – Tool to notify users about charging, discharging, not charging, and low battery on Linux

Battery Monitor is a simple utility tool developed on Python3 and PyGtk3. It will notify (plays a sound and pops up a notification bubble) user about charging, discharging, not charging and critically low battery state of the battery on Linux (If battery is present).

Simple install app then forget it. No manual effort required to know the batter status, no app indicator, it will automatically pop notifications with sound when the battery status changes.

Battery Monitor State

  • Initial State : It pops up a notification when battery is present.
  • Charging State : It pops up a notification with current battery percentage and how much time will take to reach 100%.
  • Discharging State : It pops up a notification with current battery percentage, also it shows how long we can use the system.
  • Not Charging State : It pops up a notification with remaining battery percentage for use.
  • Critically Low Battery State : It pops up a notification when the battery backup is below 10%.

Installing  dependencies :

Make sure, your system should have the following dependencies installed.

For Debian Systems

$ sudo apt-get install python3 python3-gi libnotify-dev acpi

For RHEL/CentOS Systems

$ sudo yum install python3 python3-gobject libnotify-devel acpi

For Fedora Systems

$ sudo dnf install python3 python3-gobject libnotify-devel acpi

For openSUSE Systems

$ sudo zypper install python3 python3-gobject libnotify-devel acpi

How to install Battery Monitor in Ubuntu/Mint ?

We can easily install Battery Monitor in Ubuntu derivatives by adding the following PPA in system.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:maateen/battery-monitor -y
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install battery-monitor -y

PPA supports only Ubuntu 14.04 & 16.04. Download the following DEB files and use apt command or apt-get command to install Battery Monitor in Ubuntu 16.10.

$ wget https://github.com/maateen/battery-monitor/releases/download/v0.4/battery-monitor_0.4-xenial_all.deb
$ sudo apt-get install battery-monitor_0.4-xenial_all.deb

How to install Battery Monitor from source ?

Except Ubuntu derivative, we need to install battery monitor from source, follow the below steps to install.

$ wget https://github.com/maateen/battery-monitor/archive/master.zip
$ unzip master.zip
$ cd battery-monitor-master
$ sudo make install

Note : I didn’t get the remaining time for charging, discharging, etc. Raised the issue with developer.

How to start Battery Monitor

Post installation of Battery Monitor, just run battery-monitor command from terminal or hit Alt+F2, battery-monitor command in the box and press enter once to start the utility. Next time on-wards, it will run automatically in background for every reboot/start.

Initial State :

Charging State :

Discharging State :

Not Charging State : I didn’t get the notification.

Critically Low Battery State :

About Magesh Maruthamuthu

Love to play with all Linux distribution

View all posts by Magesh Maruthamuthu

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