“GKrellM is more than just a system performance
monitor. Looking at it, I imagine a stack of stereo equipment
components, separate tuner, amplifier, DVD, tape deck, etc. In this
case, it displays time and date, CPU, processes in the run
queue, disk activity, network interface stats, memory, swap, e-mail
notification (complete with animated mail icon and Tux himself
bouncing back and forth), and the list goes on. It’s customizable
and it’s fun.”
“Building GKrellM is easy. … If you feel like saving yourself
the trouble of a compile, there are Debian and RPM packages
available as well. Once you have the program installed (in whatever
way you chose), simply type gkrellm & and you are off. Notice
the image off to the right. This is not GKrellM’s default look, but
one of many skins that can be downloaded to change the look of the
package.”
“To change the look of the monitor (and do any other
customization), right-click on the menu bar. In my sunset image,
the title bar says “scigate”, the name of one of my servers. The
menu pops up with “Configuration F1” or “Theme”. I don’t use the
theme switcher here, but rather change things through the
configuration menu. What the “Theme” menu does at this level is
allow you to switch sequentially from one theme to another, either
up or down. The configuration menu, on the other hand, displays
them in a nice menu and allows you to choose any one and apply the
changes until you are satisfied. You should also familiarize
yourself with the built-in functions and change them to suit your
own tastes and requirements.”