Swmarakis

Swmarakis / thinkpad-fan-control

Public

Automatic fan-speed control for ThinkPad laptops on Linux — a temperature-curve daemon plus a GUI with an interactive curve graph, manual/auto/BIOS modes, temperature smoothing, and a thermal safety override.

swmarakis.github.iothinkpad-fan-control cooling fan fan-control gui laptop
19
0
85% credibility
Found May 31, 2026 at 19 stars -- GitGems finds repos before they trend. Get early access to the next one.
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AI Analysis
Python
AI Summary

ThinkPad Fan Control is an open-source tool that gives Linux users a visual way to manage their laptop's cooling system. It runs a small background helper that watches your laptop's temperature and adjusts the fan accordingly, while a friendly desktop app lets you see what's happening and choose between automatic cooling or manual control. You can draw a temperature curve on a simple graph to customize how aggressively the fan responds, and the system includes automatic safety features that never let your laptop overheat. The whole setup works alongside your desktop environment (GNOME, KDE, or others) and keeps running even after you restart.

How It Works

1
💡 Discover the tool

You learn about a fan control app for your ThinkPad laptop while browsing online forums or tech discussions.

2
📦 Install the package

You download and install the app on your Linux computer with just a few clicks or one simple command.

3
⚙️ Connect to your laptop's fan

The app links directly to your laptop's cooling system and starts running quietly in the background, watching temperatures for you.

4
Choose how you want it to work
🔄
Automatic mode

The app adjusts the fan for you — you just pick how sensitive you want it to be.

🎛️
Manual mode

You set the fan to exactly the speed you want, like full blast when gaming.

5
📊 Fine-tune your cooling curve

You drag dots on a simple graph to tell the app 'when the CPU reaches this temperature, spin the fan this much' — it makes cooling feel just right.

😌 Enjoy your cool, quiet laptop

Your ThinkPad now keeps itself at a comfortable temperature automatically, staying quiet when you work and ramping up smoothly when needed — with built-in safety that never lets it overheat.

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AI-Generated Review

What is thinkpad-fan-control?

Thinkpad-fan-control is a Linux-native fan control system for ThinkPad laptops that gives you precise, temperature-based automatic fan management with a desktop GUI. It solves the problem that Linux users have faced for years: the firmware and desktop power profiles offer either nothing or blunt, on/off control, while Windows users have had proper tools like TPFanControl. This project runs a small Python daemon as a systemd service that reads CPU temperature and maps it to fan levels 0-7 using an editable curve, while a Tkinter GUI lets you drag points on a graph to customize how aggressive the cooling should be. The daemon and GUI communicate through a JSON config file, so the GUI runs as your normal user without root access.

Why is it gaining traction?

The interactive curve editor is the standout feature -- you literally drag dots on a graph to set temperature thresholds for each fan speed, and it handles the math to keep things monotonic automatically. It also ships with thoughtful safety defaults: a critical-temperature override forces full fan speed above 87C regardless of mode, a hardware watchdog ensures the firmware takes over if the daemon crashes, and the service gracefully restores BIOS control when stopped. The stall re-kick feature addresses a real hardware quirk where some ThinkPads can't sustain low fan levels, pulsing them periodically to maintain airflow. For Wayland users especially, this is a clean solution that doesn't require X11-specific hacks.

Who should use this?

ThinkPad users on Linux who want more control over their thermal management -- developers running sustained CPU workloads, anyone doing video encoding or compilation that spikes temperatures, or users who find the stock fan behavior either too aggressive or too passive. It's particularly useful if you're on GNOME or KDE Plasma with Wayland and want something that integrates cleanly without fighting your desktop environment. If you've been manually writing to /proc/acpi/ibm/fan or using crude scripts, this gives you a proper UI and safety guarantees.

Verdict

This is a well-designed solution for a real pain point, with the credibility score sitting at 0.85% -- low stars reflect the niche hardware scope and recent release, not quality. The documentation is thorough, the install process is polished with both .deb packages and source scripts, and the safety architecture shows careful thinking. It won't be for everyone (only works with thinkpad_acpi-compatible ThinkPads), but if it matches your hardware, it's the most complete Linux fan control tool available right now. Worth installing if you've been wishing you had TPFanControl on your Linux machine.

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