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System Overlay

A small window that stays on top of your desktop and shows the live system values of a PlayStation 5 running Bazzite. It only reads sensors: nothing on the console changes and it needs no root.

Row What it shows Source
CPU load over the last second and the average core clock /proc/stat, cpufreq or /proc/cpuinfo
GPU load and clock amdgpu (gpu_busy_percent, its clock sensor)
VRAM used / total of the GPU's share of the memory amdgpu
RAM used / total /proc/meminfo
Refresh the refresh rate of the screen the window is on Qt
Fan the fan's duty (its share of full speed) and its mode: auto, manual or full speed ps5_fan
CPU temp Tctl k10temp
SoC temp the main SoC sensor ps5_fan ("MainSoC")
GPU temp the GPU's own sensor amdgpu
GPU limit the temperature above which the kernel's GPU governor slows the GPU down ps5_gpufreq (temp_limit)
Board temp the warmest of the three board sensors ps5_fan ("Local")
NVMe temp the SSD nvme
Network download and upload, all interfaces except loopback /proc/net/dev
Disk read and write, all disks /proc/diskstats

A row shows "—" when the console's kernel does not offer its value. Temperatures turn orange from 80 °C and red from 90 °C. The values update every second.

Compatibility

The GPU's load, clock and temperature need a ps5-linux kernel with the GPU sensors (7.3.1 and later); on older kernels those rows show "—", and hovering the GPU row says why. The PS5's fan reports no speed in RPM, so the overlay shows its duty (its share of full speed) and whether the kernel's curve drives it (auto).

Using it

  • Move it: drag it with the left mouse button. It opens where you left it.
  • Options: right-click it.
    • Rows: tick the rows you want to see; the window resizes to fit. At least one row stays.
    • Background: Solid, Light see-through, See-through or Very see-through. The text stays fully visible.
    • Always on top: on by default.
    • Quit.

The window is frameless and see-through, with rounded corners and a thin border in the suite's accent color. Starting it a second time brings the running window to the front.

Where it shows

On top of the desktop and of windowed or borderless games. A game in exclusive fullscreen can still cover it.

On Wayland a window cannot keep itself on top or choose where it opens, so the overlay runs through XWayland. ps5-system-overlay --native-wayland runs it as a Wayland window instead: sharper on a scaled screen, but KDE decides whether it stays on top (a KWin window rule can keep it there).

Install and remove

The portal installs and removes the app; it is on the Sustainable tab. By hand, from a clone or a release folder, as your own user:

./install.sh                         # app menu entry and Desktop icon
./install.sh --no-desktop-shortcut   # app menu entry only
./install.sh --uninstall             # remove the app; keeps its settings
./install.sh --uninstall --purge     # also remove its settings

It installs:

  • the app in ~/.local/share/ps5-system-overlay/app;
  • PyQt6 in the suite's shared venv ~/.local/share/bazzite-console-suite/venv;
  • the launcher ~/.local/bin/ps5-system-overlay, an app menu entry and a Desktop icon.

Settings are kept in ~/.config/ps5-system-overlay/ps5-system-overlay.ini.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later, see LICENSE.