Monitoring the Situation
This 3D-printed, ATmega32U4-based computer resource monitor would fit in the 1990s as well as a Hypercolor t-shirt at a grunge concert.
There must be something in the air. We have seen a slew of minimal displays recently that present us with specific, targeted information without beating us over the head with it, like the WebScreen, the lightning monitor, and the private ambient listener. YouTuber Curious Scientist must have been feeling the same desire to make a small, purpose-built display when he needed a resource monitor for his computer.
A resource monitor is typically just an application that one launches when they want to investigate something, or maybe a background app that sits on a status bar. But Curious Scientist took the term resource monitor quite literally and built a tiny replica of a computer that would fit in the 1990s as well as a Hypercolor t-shirt at a grunge concert. The miniature computer’s faux CRT monitor shows CPU and RAM utilization statistics from a connected computer.
The case of the resource monitor is 3D-printed and equipped with a tiny 1.3-inch 128 x 64 pixel OLED display. There is also a custom ATmega32U4-based, Arduino-compatible development board inside the monitor that was previously built by Curious Scientist. This development board runs simple firmware that serves two primary purposes — driving the display, and processing data sent from a host computer via USB.
An Adafruit library makes short work of handling output to the display, and the information that is displayed is sent as CSV values via serial through USB. A simple C# application running on the host computer grabs CPU and RAM utilization statistics every two seconds, then sends them to the ATmega32U4 microcontroller for processing and a display update.
Don’t worry, you do not have to wait for the old “It’s now safe to turn off your computer” message before you turn off this mini PC. After going 30 seconds without updates, the screen will automatically display a “NO SIGNAL” message, then after 15 seconds more, the screen will turn itself off. It will keep listening, however, so that the monitor can spring back to life when new measurements arrive.
Since the monitor is so small, just about any 3D printer can handle the job of creating one. And as far as the microcontroller is concerned, you can stick any Arduino-compatible board in there that will fit inside the case. As such, this project should be pretty easy to reproduce if you want to dip your toes into the world of minimalist displays, which are apparently all the rage right now. Whatever you do create, be sure to let us know about it!