Releases: AstraExt/astra-monitor
Beta v23
New features
- New Preferences Panel: In response to the need for more space to accommodate additional sections in our preferences panel, and the burgeoning size of the prefs.js file, which had grown to over 3,500 lines, we have taken the opportunity to reorganize both the code and the user interface of our settings. The new preferences panel now mirrors the layout of the system settings panel, enhancing usability and scalability. It is designed to easily integrate numerous additional sections, paving the way for the swift incorporation of future features
This is an ongoing process and the panel is not yet in its final form; it may undergo significant changes in the upcoming updates. We highly welcome and value your feedback.
Beta v22
Breaking changes
- Headers Height functionality has been changed. Prior to this release, the default height was 28px and you could change it to fit your needs. Now it will defaults to disabled and the extension will try to accomodate the height of the panel. You still can override the value to be whatever you want in the settings. Upon update we automatically move your previous value to the new setting and disable it if it was set to 28px. We still suggest you to check the value and eventually reset it to 0 it's not already to check if the new behavior fits your needs. [#114]
Bug fixes
Beta v21
Beta v20
Advanced GPU Monitoring
As per our Roadmap, in this release we are focusing on improving the GPU monitoring capabilities of Astra Monitor.
The new GPU monitoring is experimental right now and may cause some issues. You can disable it setting the Main GPU to None
in the Preferences window.
Both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs are supported, but AMD support might be more accurate and complete because it's been tested more extensively. Intel GPUs are not supported yet for a lack of hardware to test on, but they will be in the future.
Here's a list of the new features and improvements:
-
GPU Headers: also GPUs can now have their dedicated headers and be visible in the top bar with a lot options to customize them. By default this is disabled and you can see the GPU info in the CPU Menu. However, you can enable it from the Preferences window. Beware that enabling this feature can lead to a slight increase of CPU usage because GPU data will be queried continuously.
-
GPU Info: hovering the GPU name in the menu will show more info about it.
-
GPU Activities: when you move your mouse over the GPU bar in the menu you are able to monitor a lot of GPU usage details.
-
GPU VRAM: also VRAM usage have its dedicated popup menu with a in-depth view of the VRAM usage.
-
GPU Top Processes: there is a list of the top processes using the GPU in the GPU Section (3 elements in the CPU menu, 5 in the GPU menu). As before, the popup menu will show more details about the processes.
-
GPU Sensors: a dedicated sensor section is available in the GPU section (1 element in the CPU menu, 3 in the GPU menu). To see all the sensors you can open the popup menu. Soon these sensors will be available in the sensors menu too.
-
Tooltips: like the other monitors, you can customize the tooltip for the GPU headers.
Since this is a major change, we recommend you to test and report any issues you may encounter.
New features
- Improved UI performance at the expense of data responsiveness: you might see outdated or empty data for a few milliseconds when opening menus. Soon this will become a choice in preferences. [#102]
Bug fixes
- Improved IPs refreshing in Network Menu: now it refreshes on menu open if it's not been queried recently and you can trigger a refresh by clicking on it [#108]
- Fixed title label not being centered in storage info popup [#107]
- Allow bars to be empty when the value is zero
- Fixed graph clipping not properly clipping rounded corners
- Fixed Cpu Cores Bars occasionally exceeding borders on popup open
- Importing settings saved from a future version to a past version caused the settings to be just reset, now all settings are properly imported from V20 onwards
Beta v19
Beta v18
Advanced Storage Monitoring
As per our Roadmap, in this release we are focusing on improving the Storage monitoring capabilities of Astra Monitor. Here's a list of the new features and improvements:
-
Storage Devices Info: now you can see a lot more information about your storage devices in the Storage Menu.
-
Cumulative Read/Write Bytes: now you can see the total read/write bytes since the last boot in the Storage Menu for each storage device and globally.
-
Top Processes Details: now you can see more details about the top processes in the Storage Menu.
New features
- Added layout settings for all multiline headers like Storage IO Speed, Network IO Speed and Sensors: now you can choose either to show them in a single line or in multiple lines [#82]
- Added a setting to hint Astra Monitor on the position of the topbar/dash/panel to improve menu anchor points [#96]
- Added an option to replace '-' with 0 [#85]
Bug fixes
- Greatly improved multiline text rendering in the Top Bar Headers [#30] [#93]
- Improved topbar header rendering: as a result of that Header Margin is now deprecated and not needed anymore, the header should always be perfectly aligned with the topbar
- Fixed long device name in the Storage Menu leading to a misalignment of other elements
- Reset button in dropdown menus of settings was reloading last saved value, now works as intended resetting to default value
Beta v17
Bug fixes
- Fixed an important bug that prevented the extension to start with a GPU selected before v10 [#94]
- Improved Popup Menu opening side: now they should always properly open on the right side when the extension is on the left side of the top bar (Requires the extension to be restarted if the panel box position has been changed in the current sesssion) [#92]
Beta v16
Advanced Network Monitoring
As per our Roadmap, in this release we are focusing on improving the Network monitoring capabilities of Astra Monitor. Here's a list of the new features and improvements:
-
Public IP Address: now you can see your public IPv4/IPv6 address in the Network Menu. This feature requires a remote API call to get the public IP address. We are using ipify as the default provider, which is a free and open source service. You can choose a different provider from the settings panel or disable this feature if you don't want to use it. We support every possible provider, included API created by yourself: the ip address will be matched with a regex to extract it from the response.
-
Default Routes: you can see default routing informations in the Network Menu.
-
Device Info: hovering a network interface will show you a lot more information about it.
-
Wireless Networks: the SSID of the connected wireless network is now visible in the Network Menu along with other useful information.
-
Cumulative Upload/Download Bytes: now you can see the total upload/download bytes since the last boot in the Network Menu for each network interface and globally.
-
Packet Upload/Download: now you can see the total packets uploaded/downloaded since the last boot in the Network Menu for each network interface and globally.
-
Errors/Dropped Packets: now you can see the total error/dropped packets since the last boot in the Network Menu for each network interface and globally.
-
Bridged Network Interfaces: bridged network interfaces are now visible in the Network Menu.
-
VPN Network Interfaces: VPN network interfaces are now marked with a specific icon in the Network Menu.
Bug fixes
- Overall performance improvements: Astra Monitor is now faster and more efficient than all system monitor extension I could test it against.
(benchmarks and comparative tests with other popular monitoring extensions can be found here!) - Fixed CPU Cores Usage Info user bar invisible when Cores Bar Breakdown is enabled [#86]
- Improved Memory Secondary Color for better readability and value understanding
Beta v15
First Beta Release
This marks the first beta release of Astra Monitor. After extensive testing, the extension is nearing stability, but we are open to feedback from the community to address any unresolved issues. Explore our Roadmap to see what's coming next.
Bug fixes
- Overall performance improvements
(benchmarks and comparative tests with other popular monitoring extensions will be published at a later date)
EDIT: you can now check benchmarks here! - Resolved an issue where updates on
hwmon
incorrectly triggeredlm-sensors
queries - Addressed a bug causing sensor updates to fail intermittently when
lm-sensors
was not installed [#81] - Adjusted the width of the Select Box in Preferences for improved usability [#80]
- Fixed CPU Cores Usage Info not being updated when Cores Bar Breakdown is disabled [#83]
- Improved sensors list with more info and better layout [#84]
- Refined the Export/Import settings feature with a default name, file extension filter and alphabetically ordered exported keys [#79]
Alpha v14
Hwmon
Hwmon is a kernel-based subsystem that provides an interface to monitor various hardware sensors and it's the new default source for sensors. This will benefit the extension on many levels: performance, efficiency, reliability, and compatibility.
lm-sensors is not a required dependency anymore, but it will remain as an option if you have it installed, even though it's not recommended.
We strongly encourage you to manually move all your sensors to Hwmon from the Astra Monitor Settings panel. The sensors list in the menu is already on Hwmon by default, but you can still switch to lm-sensors if you want to from the settings panel.
Since this is a major change, we recommend you to test all your sensors and report any issues you may encounter.
New features
- Added a shortcut to set all main and secondary colors all at once [#74]
- You can now export, import and reset settings [#71]
- Added load average to the CPU menu [#73]
- Improved UI performance and some async/await calls to increase parallelization of some tasks
- New icon for frequency sensor
Bug fixes
- Fixed a bug where a task could stop updating when a cancel was requested
- Fixed discrete GPU used as display controller with an iGFX not being detected [#76]
Note: this will be the last alpha release.