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I have a Raspberry Pi 4 with Adafruit's Official Case fan, and am running Ubuntu 20.10. I have installed the pi-fancontrol snap, but I can't get it configured using the instructions at https://snapcraft.io/install/pi-fancontrol/ubuntu.

$ sudo snap install pi-fancontrol
pi-fancontrol 0.1 from Oliver Grawert (ogra) installed
$ sudo snap connect pi-fancontrol:gpio pi:bcm-gpio-14
error: snap "pi" has no slot named "bcm-gpio-14"

snap list doesn't show that the pi snap is installed, so maybe that's the problem. There are instructions for that at https://snapcraft.io/install/pi/ubuntu.

$ sudo snap install pi --beta
error: cannot perform the following tasks:
- Mount snap "pi" (11) (cannot install gadget snap on classic if not requested by the model)

Googling that error message does not turn up any useful results. Where do I go from here?

Craig S. Cottingham
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1 Answers1

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pi-fancontrol snap is currently broken for Ubuntu Desktop.

Manually overriding worked for me.

sudo nano ../../boot/firmware/config.txt

To set the threshold at 80 degrees Celsius, add the following line in it:

dtoverlay=gpio-fan,gpiopin=14,temp=80000

Save the file by pressing Ctrl + X, and press Y, and press Enter.

Reboot the system now, it is done.

pitix
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Mustafa Tufan
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  • For temp=80000, what threshold does it represent? My fan is running at <50°C, and I would like it to automatically shut off at that point, starting again around 60°. – dust Jul 02 '21 at 20:19
  • I'm also curious to know - If I'm using the default pins 04 and 06 (5v and ground) and want to continue using them, what would the GPIO value equal? – dust Jul 04 '21 at 19:48
  • temp=60000 is to turn the fan on at 60°C. And from what I understand it will turn off again at 50°C. – Peet Oct 13 '22 at 17:37
  • @mustafa-tufan Where's your other wire? This kind of works for me too but compared to when I connected my fan to 3.3V and ground, the fan lights are more dim and flickering. Doesn't feel right. – Las Ten Sep 19 '23 at 08:44
  • Works great. Thanks. This answer is helpful for testing: https://askubuntu.com/questions/948854/how-do-i-stress-test-cpu-and-ram-at-the-same-time – Brett Jan 13 '24 at 22:42