The best system monitor tool would be ... ?

[Dooghy]

I'm using KDE and I would like to have a tool similar to Windows task manager. I know there is KSysGuard, but I can't minimize it in the system tray (in the clock area of the panel). Also, there are differences between the values displayed by KSysGuard and KInfoCenter in regards to the physical memory used/free.

So my question is: is there a good tool available for fulfilling my needs? I need a tool I can trust (in terms of the values displayed) and can be minimized into the system tray.

[apoorv_khurasia]

Don't know about systray but for accurate details try top
Type into console

top

IMHO this is the most accurate you can get.

[Dooghy]

Yes, i know about the top, ps commands.

But I would really like a good tool that will sit quietly in the systray.

[Scratch_]

Don't know about systray but for accurate details try top
Type into console

top

IMHO this is the most accurate you can get.

Just wanted to point out that top has nothing on htop.

[Dooghy]

Nice tool (mouse support and other nice features), still it's text mode based just like top. It's nicer and they say faster than top, but doesn't fulfill my needs.

[Dooghy]

Man, I'm still forgetting how customizable Linux is. :o You can add KSysGuard in the system tray area by adding it there as a panel. And voila, you have it as a systray icon displaying graphically the CPU usage and memory usage:

snapshot2.png

And further, you can customize it to meet everyone needs; e.g. display only the used memory, only the free memory or other combinations. The only thing which I dislike a little bit is that it's a little too big. I would like to have a smaller representation, but it's ok though.

No need to look for another system monitoring tool. KSysGuard does its job very well. Also, I trust it to be the most cost effective tool in terms of resources it uses to monitor the system resources.

[oz]

It's been awhile since I've used it, but if I remember correctly you can change the size of the graph display, too. You'll need to dig around a bit to find the settings to do so.

[Dooghy]

From the Properties (right click on systray icon) you can't change the size. You have a lot of other options (e.g. change the font, the color of the bars/lines, refresh time rate ...) but not the size. Hmmm ... maybe it can be done from somewhere else.

[oz]

I'm not running KDE right now, and it's been too long since I've used it to remember for sure about the settings options, but look in your start menu for KsysGuard to see if there are other options there. I do remember for sure that you can change the font size, but I'm still thinking there was a way to change the display size, too. I could be wrong, though.

[Dooghy]

I Found a way to change the "size", but all I could do was to change the width, but not the height: move the mouse over the left of the applet -> click on the arrow -> Configure System Guard and you get this window:

snapshot3.png

Changing the "Size ratio:" percentage value will affect only the width of all displays. Originally the value was 120% and I decreased it to 100%.

Anyway, I started to get used to it as it is, because it gives me a graphical representation of the amount of free/used resources.