I’m a btop user how is it gamified? If by “gamified” thy mean “looks like something you would see in a video game (or movie)” then yeah tha tracks but that’s not what “gamified” typically means…
The project simply has "game inspired menu system". OP, probably unaware for what gamify truly means, used this term. That said a gamified system monitor will've been quite funny project to see. "Achievement unlocked: Run out of memory!"
I like btop but as someone who keeps their config files under source control it's a bit annoying that anything you do in the application results in config file changes.
I've been searching for something that would be able to show me all the stats I care about (cpu, memory, disk and network usage) on a single screen, and btop so far has been quite good at this role. It has a bit weird controls to my taste, but reading the manual works I guess :)
That isn't what gamified means, and one should not be using such a term without knowing what it means. When in doubt, stick to simpler descriptions. Hence calling it poorly editorialized.
This is quite cool, but I do have to nitpick the weird titlebars on the sections. For some reason the top lines bend down to meet the titles and create clutter, in an already cluttered interface.
btop is more colorful and a bit prettier. It has different color themes and it’s easy to open and close different views (network, memory, system processes, storage, etc). Not sure if there’s any real functional advantage though.
I really like the new wave of TUI aesthetic that's been worming its way into Linux user interfaces lately. Check out Omarchy's desktop distro if you want more of that aesthetic throughout your OS, it does a good job if that's the look and feel you want.
Lately? Tiling window managers with open terminals running TUI programs have been the focal point in r/unixporn since ever. All looking like poor imitations of Oberon system which actually combined text/graphical interfaces.
And I really dislike them. The nice thing about CLI is that you can compose them quite easily. You can compose your own report giving you what you want and none of what you don’t want.
And most of those TUI are badly designed in terms of configurability. Especially the ise of colors and “effects”.
I am all in favour of better TUIs. Omarchy unfortunately does not interest me ever since DHH decided to take more control of the ruby-ecosystem via shopify.
btop is my default resources monitor and I really like it, but calling it "gamified"?? you are tracking memory and cpu usage, it doesn't have to be fun
This is exactly my go to. Monitoring and visualization in Btop and killing the process in htop. It makes it so much easier searching a process with a shortcut instead of navigating the TUI in btop to search
Windows Task Manager is already gamified. You find the process you want to kill, then it starts jumping around and you can't click it. You try to find it by typing, but there are 20 other processes with that name that are selected first. So fun.
Not the same, I keep finding dstat hard to leave behind, because I can see the past. So many of these monitors have one or two or three over time graphs, but most of the information is ephemeral, only shows right now. But I really want to see network use, disk use, paging, context switching/interrupts over time.
There is also Below. Which has a much more htop like interface. But Below records system info over time, and allows time travel! It's not as convenient as dstat since you have to scrub through time. But it is pretty impressive system monitoring, great for what it is.
https://github.com/facebookincubator/below
I’m a btop user how is it gamified? If by “gamified” thy mean “looks like something you would see in a video game (or movie)” then yeah tha tracks but that’s not what “gamified” typically means…
I was also incredibly confused how one would gamify a process monitor. Anyone remember psdoom?
This is not that, but… honestly I don't think I want a game-menu-UIfied top either. Most games' UI is barely tolerable…
(Ed.: looks like it's just poor titling in the HN submission)
i dont think they could have possibly chosen a word to make me want to use it less than gamified.
The project simply has "game inspired menu system". OP, probably unaware for what gamify truly means, used this term. That said a gamified system monitor will've been quite funny project to see. "Achievement unlocked: Run out of memory!"
Title should be a textbook example of language misuse.
There was something years ago, Doom, but all the monsters were PIDs. If you wanted a process dead, you shot it.
psDooM. It's still available https://psdoom.sourceforge.net/download.html
GPU at 90°C: New high score!
It's not obviously the project's choice itself. See thread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45857774
Would a mention of loot boxes move you?
Nowhere on the GitHub page does the project describe itself as "gamified", it's just the title of the HN submission
agree
I like btop but as someone who keeps their config files under source control it's a bit annoying that anything you do in the application results in config file changes.
htop does the same and it is indeed annoying!
I prefer [bottom](https://github.com/ClementTsang/bottom)
I've been searching for something that would be able to show me all the stats I care about (cpu, memory, disk and network usage) on a single screen, and btop so far has been quite good at this role. It has a bit weird controls to my taste, but reading the manual works I guess :)
What about btop is gamified?
I don't know if this is the official answer but if you've ever played DOOM and pressed Esc then you'll feel right at home using btop!
Compare with: Apart from that, there are not other gaming mechanics.You get 50 points for every process you kill.
Haha. Joke, right? Please?
PsDooM: https://psdoom.sourceforge.net/
Also fsdoom: https://dos.itch.io/fsdoom
I just hit 10,000! Honestly, though: The respawn rate is too fast for some of these mobs.
Poor editorialized title.
Poor editorialized title.
"Editorialized" implied deceit was intended. It looks to me like the submitter was trying to be descriptive.
The very first item in the feature list is
> Easy to use, with a game inspired menu system.
right? that is not gamification. there's no reward system to make one want progression, or addiction.
that said a enjoy looking at code for projects that are multi os so cheers for op.
That isn't what gamified means, and one should not be using such a term without knowing what it means. When in doubt, stick to simpler descriptions. Hence calling it poorly editorialized.
taking inspiration from a game doesn’t mean “gamified”.
If you miss the quick time event it SIGKILLs PID1
This is quite cool, but I do have to nitpick the weird titlebars on the sections. For some reason the top lines bend down to meet the titles and create clutter, in an already cluttered interface.
You get this for free if you upgrade to Debian 12. It's in the repos.
It’s free anyway
Anyone have strong feelings on htop, btop, bottom, etc?
I have used htop forever, but would be happy to hear of a compelling reason to switch.
btop is more colorful and a bit prettier. It has different color themes and it’s easy to open and close different views (network, memory, system processes, storage, etc). Not sure if there’s any real functional advantage though.
btop is my default 'top' these days, has everything htop/top provides plus it shows the usage of GPUs.
htop has GPU usage too, it's just not at the top by default.
are you sure about that? how? I could not find the magic button to show gpu yet.
I recently found out https://github.com/ClementTsang/bottom#readme (cargo install bottom; executable btm), it's a pretty great improvement over htop I was using before.
I really like the new wave of TUI aesthetic that's been worming its way into Linux user interfaces lately. Check out Omarchy's desktop distro if you want more of that aesthetic throughout your OS, it does a good job if that's the look and feel you want.
Lately? Tiling window managers with open terminals running TUI programs have been the focal point in r/unixporn since ever. All looking like poor imitations of Oberon system which actually combined text/graphical interfaces.
And I really dislike them. The nice thing about CLI is that you can compose them quite easily. You can compose your own report giving you what you want and none of what you don’t want.
And most of those TUI are badly designed in terms of configurability. Especially the ise of colors and “effects”.
TUI and CLI are not the same thing. TUI is a GUI, and GUIs have never been composable.
I think they understand that. They're saying they dislike TUIs and prefer CLIs because CLIs are composable.
Btop really captures that '90s warez group feel.
I am all in favour of better TUIs. Omarchy unfortunately does not interest me ever since DHH decided to take more control of the ruby-ecosystem via shopify.
Me too. It make it a lot easier to filter out the kids.
btop is my default resources monitor and I really like it, but calling it "gamified"?? you are tracking memory and cpu usage, it doesn't have to be fun
I think it’s fun! (But yeah, it’s not “gamified”. That’s just a clickbait word)
Does anyone know the difference? I have been using htop since about 20 years.
Is btop basically just extending where it can run?
Lots of quality of life changes. Maybe some of them can be done in htop but with btop it's right in your face:
- CPU usage graph (global and per cpu)
- CPU temp + graph
- GPU usage
- Memory graphs
- Disks space infos + real-time IO
- Network graph, one for each network device, upload/download stats since opening the app
- Per program cpu graph, memory graph
You should try it.
I switched because btop provides vi-like keybindings. For htop I think you have to use a fork to get that.
Enhanced stats reporting really. Shows you processes, network throughput et cetera.
It’s pretty, but I’m a die hard htop fan. Watching and killing processes just doesn’t seem as simple in btop.
I agree but btop does have better visualizations. Htop is better for actually killing processes.
This is exactly my go to. Monitoring and visualization in Btop and killing the process in htop. It makes it so much easier searching a process with a shortcut instead of navigating the TUI in btop to search
> modern alternative
Anyone remember top? I was so happy to switch to htop that had colors!
Just press z in top for glorious colour.
Oh wow, I never knew! Guess I never read the manpage either.
And htop is still good enough.
I like the idea of having IO integrated. I have trouble remembering the iotop flags and often run it in a parallel window.
users: more dots
btop: done
My favorite part about btop is how smooth the color gradient is from the top of the process list to the bottom. Soooo smooooth…
Windows Task Manager is already gamified. You find the process you want to kill, then it starts jumping around and you can't click it. You try to find it by typing, but there are 20 other processes with that name that are selected first. So fun.
I wouldn’t call it “gamified” but I do love btop. the one thing missing for me is GPU usage on MacOS (I use asitop for that)
Waiting for neobtop++ to output a full GUI system monitor using sixels.
Not the same, I keep finding dstat hard to leave behind, because I can see the past. So many of these monitors have one or two or three over time graphs, but most of the information is ephemeral, only shows right now. But I really want to see network use, disk use, paging, context switching/interrupts over time.
There is also Below. Which has a much more htop like interface. But Below records system info over time, and allows time travel! It's not as convenient as dstat since you have to scrub through time. But it is pretty impressive system monitoring, great for what it is. https://github.com/facebookincubator/below
My goodness, it's written in a non-memory safe language! /s
I bet the Rust boys are contemplating a rewrite already.