FOSSPicks
System monitor
Gambal
There are typically three kinds of Linux desktop users. The first group includes those that like to run a single application in full-screen mode, taking up the entire display. The second group contains the growing number of people who use a tiling window manager. These still use every pixel of screen real estate, but they allow for more than one application to run at once by shuffling their windows around automatically. The third group prefers to see the desktop background occasionally, often running one or more applications as floating windows they can resize and relocate at will. All of these groups, but particularly the first two, will find it difficult to accommodate small windows, precluding the use of many of the best floating system monitors. Except this one.
Gambal is a tiny and unobtrusive floating window that constantly displays an overview of network, CPU, and memory usage. It does this without causing any other windows to resize or move. Thanks to its variable opacity, it can easily sit atop a full-screen application or tiling window manager without obscuring the information beneath it. Most of the space in its tiny window is taken up by the histogram of incoming and outgoing network data, which is also shown as numbers on the left. Beneath this, there are upload and download totals, a meter per core to show CPU usage, and a flat bar to show used memory, swap memory, and free memory. When you roll your cursor over the window, two further options appear. One lets you select which network device to monitor while the other switches between bold and normal font rendering. Apart from using the mouse scroll wheel to change the opacity value of the window, there are no other options. You can't even change the window size. But that's also one of the best things about this little tool, because it's one less distraction to worry about.
Project Website
https://github.com/ashtum/gambal

Face recognition
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Zorin OS 17 Beta Available for Testing
The upcoming version of Zorin OS includes plenty of improvements to take your PC to a whole new level of user-friendliness.
-
Red Hat Migrates RHEL from Xorg to Wayland
If you've been wondering when Xorg will finally be a thing of the past, wonder no more, as Red Hat has made it clear.
-
PipeWire 1.0 Officially Released
PipeWire was created to take the place of the oft-troubled PulseAudio and has finally reached the 1.0 status as a major update with plenty of improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Rocky Linux 9.3 Available for Download
The latest version of the RHEL alternative is now available and brings back cloud and container images for ppc64le along with plenty of new features and fixes.
-
Ubuntu Budgie Shifts How to Tackle Wayland
Ubuntu Budgie has yet to make the switch to Wayland but with a change in approaches, they're finally on track to making it happen.
-
TUXEDO's New Ultraportable Linux Workstation Released
The TUXEDO Pulse 14 blends portability with power, thanks to the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU.
-
AlmaLinux Will No Longer Be "Just Another RHEL Clone"
With the release of AlmaLinux 9.3, the distribution will be built entirely from upstream sources.
-
elementary OS 8 Has a Big Surprise in Store
When elementary OS 8 finally arrives, it will not only be based on Ubuntu 24.04 but it will also default to Wayland for better performance and security.
-
OpenELA Releases Enterprise Linux Source Code
With Red Hat restricting the source for RHEL, it was only a matter of time before those who depended on that source struck out on their own.
-
StripedFly Malware Hiding in Plain Sight as a Cryptocurrency Miner
A rather deceptive piece of malware has infected 1 million Windows and Linux hosts since 2017.