Meet SysMonTask: A Windows Task Manager Lookalike for Linux

Thanks to the desktop environments, almost all Linux distributions come with a task manager application. In addition to that, there are several other system monitoring applications for Linux that have additional features.

But recently I came across a task manager created for Linux that looks like … wait for it … the task manager of Windows.

You take a look at it and decide for yourself.

Personally, I am not sure if the likeness in the user interface is such a big deal but the developer and probably some other Linux users might disagree with me.

SysMonTask: A system monitor with the looks of Windows task manager

The open source software, SysMonTask, describes itself as a “Linux system monitor with the compactness and usefulness of windows task manager to allow higher control and monitoring”.

Coded in Python, SysMonTask boasts of the following features:

• System monitoring graphs.
• Shows stats for CPU, Memory, Disks, Network adapters, single Nvidia GPU.
• Support for listing mounted disks was added in recent version.
• User Processess tab can do process filtering, show recursive-CPU, recursive-Memery and aggregate values on coloumn headers.
• You can, of course, kill a process from the processes tab.
• Also supports system themes (dark and light).

Experience with SysMonTask

SysMonTask needs elevated privileges. You’ll be asked for your admin password when you launch it. I don’t like a task manager running with sudo all the time but that’s just my preference.

I played with a little to explore its features. The disk usage was pretty constant so I copied a 10 GB file from external SSD to my laptop’s disk a couple of times. You can see the spikes corresponding to the file transfer.

The process tab is also handy. It shows the accumulated resource utilization on the top of the columns.

The kill button is added at the bottom so all you have to do is to select a process and hit the ‘Killer’ button. It asks for your conformation before killing the process.

Installing SysMonTask on Linux distributions

For a simple application, it downloads 50 MB of archive files and takes around 200 MB on the disk. I think it is because of the Python dependencies.

One more thing is that since it reads the env

At the moment of writing this article, SysMonTask is available for Ubuntu-based distributions via PPA.

On an Ubuntu-based distribution, open a terminal and use the following command to add the PPA repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:camel-neeraj/sysmontask

You’ll be asked to enter your password, of course. On newer versions, the repository list is automatically updated. So, you can install the application straightaway:

sudo apt install sysmontask

Debian-based distributions may also try to install it from the deb file. It can be found at the release page.

There is no ready-to-use package for other distributions. Whayt surprises me is that it is basically a Python application so a PIP installer could have been added for other distributions. Perhaps the developers will add it in the future version.

Since it is open source software, you can always get the source code.

SysMonTask Deb files and Source Code

Once installed, look for SysMonTask in the menu and start it from there.

Remove SysMonTask

If you want to remove it, use the following command:

sudo apt remove sysmontask

It will be a good idea to delete the PPA as well:

sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:camel-neeraj/sysmontask

You may also use PPA Purge tool here which is a handy utility for dealing with PPA application removal.

Would you try it?

For me, the features are more important than the looks. SysMonTask does have the additional feature of monitoring disk performance and checking GPU stats which is something other system monitors usually do not include.

If you try and like it, perhaps you’ll like to add Ctrl+Alt+Del shortcut to launch SysMonTask to get the complete feel :)

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What is GNU/Linux Copypasta?

As a Linux user, you might have come across a long text that starts with “I’d like to interject for a moment. What you are referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux”.

It makes some people confused about what is Linux and what is GNU/Linux. I have explained it in the article about the concept of Linux distributions.

Basically, Linux is a kernel and with GNU softwares, it becomes usable in the form of an operating system.

Many purists and enthusiasts don’t want people to forget the contribution of GNU to the Linux-based operating systems. Hence, they often post this long text (known as GNU Linux copypasta) in various forums and communities.

I am not sure of the origin of the GNU/Linux copypasta and since when it came into existence. Some people attribute it to Richard Stallman’s article on GNU blog in 2011. I cannot confirm or deny that.

Complete GNU/Linux Copypasta

I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!

Recommended Read:

Linux Jargon Buster: What is FOSS (Free and Open Source Software)? What is Open Source?

What is a Copypasta, again?

Did you notice that I used the term ‘copypasta’. It has nothing to do with Italian dish pasta.

Copypasta is a block of text which is copied and pasted across the internet, often to troll or poke fun at people. It is a degeneration of the term ‘copy-paste’.

Copypasta is also considered spam because they are repeated as it is a number of times. Take the example of GNU Linux copypasta. If a few people keep on pasting the huge text block every time someone uses Linux instead of GNU/Linux in a discussion forum, it would annoy other members.

Have you ever used GNU/Linux Copypasta?

Personally, I have never done that. But, to be honest, that’s how I come to know about the term GNU/Linux when I was a new Linux users and was browsing through some Linux forum.

How about you? Have you ever copy-pasted the “I would like to interject for a moment” in a Linux forum? Do you think it’s a tool for ‘trolls’ or is it the necessary evil to make people aware of the GNU project?

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How to Install the Latest Erlang on Ubuntu Linux

Erlang is a functional programming language for building massive scalable real-time systems. Originally created by Ericsson as a proprietary software, Erlang was later open sourced.

Erlang is available in the Universe repository of Ubuntu. With that repository enabled, you can easily install it using the following command:

sudo apt install erlang

However, the Erlang version offered by Ubuntu repositories may not be the latest one.

If you want the latest Erlang version on Ubuntu, you can add the repository offered by Erlang Solutions. They provide prebuilt binaries for various Linux distributions, Windows and macOS.

If you had installed a package named erlang previously, it will be upgraded to the newer version offered by the added repository.

Installing the latest version of Erlang on Ubuntu

You’ll need to download the key file in Linux terminal. You can use wget tool for that so make sure that you have it installed:

sudo apt install wget

Next, use wget to download the GPG key of the Erlang Solution repository and add it your apt packaging system. With the key added, your system will trust the packages coming from the repository.

wget -O- https://packages.erlang-solutions.com/ubuntu/erlang_solutions.asc | sudo apt-key add -

Now, you should add a file for Erlang in your APT sources.list.d directory. This file will contain the information about the repository and the APT package manager will use it for getting the packages and any future updates to it.

For Ubuntu 20.04 (and Ubuntu 20.10) use the following:

echo "deb https://packages.erlang-solutions.com/ubuntu focal contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/erlang-solution.list

I know that the above command mentions focal (for Ubuntu 20.04) but it also works for Ubuntu 20.10 groovy.

For Ubuntu 18.04, use the following:

echo "deb https://packages.erlang-solutions.com/ubuntu bionic contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/erlang-solution.list

You must update the local package cache to inform it about the packages from the newly added repository:

sudo apt update

You’ll notice that it suggests several upgrades. If you list the available upgrades, you’ll find erlang packages there. To update the existing erlang version or install it afresh, use this command:

sudo apt install erlang

Once installed, you can test it out.

To quit the Erlang shell, use Ctrl+g and then enter q. I had to do a hit and try to figure that out because I had never used Erlang before.

Removing erlang

To remove the program, use the following command:

sudo apt remove erlang

There will be a few dependencies left. You can remove them with the following command:

sudo apt autoremove

If you want, you may also remove the added repository file:

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/erlang-solution.list

That’s about it. Enjoy learning and coding with Erlang on Ubuntu Linux.

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Check Your Disk Usage Using ‘duf’ Terminal Tool [Friendly Alternative to du and df commands]

Brief: duf is a terminal tool meant as an enhancement to the traditional “df” and “du” Linux commands. It lets you easily check for free disk space, sort the output, and present it in a user-friendly manner.

duf: A Cross-Platform disk usage utility written in Golang

Before I knew about this utility, I preferred using a GUI program like Stacer or the pre-installed GNOME Disk usage app to check free disk space and the disk usage numbers for my system.

However, duf seems to be a useful terminal tool to check disk usage and free space that is written in Golang. Even though Abhishek suggested me to give this a try, I found it more interesting, especially considering that I’m currently learning Golang, what a coincidence!

It is fairly easy to use no matter whether you are a terminal guru or just a beginner not comfortable with the terminal. It is certainly easier to understand than the df command for checking disk space utilization.

Let me highlight some of the key features and its usage before you get it installed on your system.

Features of duf

• Gives you an overview of all the devices mounted which is easy to understand
• Ability to specify a directory/file name and check free space for that mount point
• Change/Remove columns from the output
• List inode information
• Sort the output
• JSON output supported
• Ability to specify the theme if it does not detect your terminal’s theme automatically

Installing & Using duf on Linux

You can find a package for Arch Linux in AUR. There’s also a package available if you’re using the Nix package manager.

For Debian-based distros and RPM packages, you can go to its GitHub releases section and grab the package suitable for your system.

It’s also available for Windows, Android, macOS, and FreeBSD as well.

In my case, I had to install the DEB package, and it was good to go. Once you set it up, using it is quite simple, all you have to do is type in:

duf

This should give you the details for all the local devices, any cloud storage devices mounted, and any other special devices (that includes temporary storage locations and more).

If you want to take a look at all the available commands using duf at a glance, you can type in:

duf --help

For instance, if you just want to see the details of the local devices connected and nothing else, all you have to type is:

duf --only local

Another example would be sorting the output based on the size in a particular order, here’s what you need to type:

duf --sort size

And, the output should look like:

You can explore its GitHub page for more information on additional commands and installation instructions.

Download duf

Closing Thoughts

I find the terminal tool ‘duf’ quite handy to keep an eye on the free disk space or the usage stats without needing to use a GUI program.

Is there anything similar to this tool that you know of? Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments down below.

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ESPlot: Open Source Software for Plotting Real-Time, High-Speed Signals For Embedded Systems

Confronted with the need of plotting high-speed (or high number of data) signals, typically for embedded systems applications and real-time, research engineers at the Saarland University, Germany have developed their own software called ESPlot.

ESPlot communicates with microcontroller boards over a custom serial protocol. In applications where the microcontroller is executing a real-time process, signals can be streamed to a computer in a synchronous way and data can be sent to the real-time process in an asynchronous way.

ESPlot allows recording and plotting signals to screen by means of time plots, FFT plots and X/Y plots.

ESPlot has been developed in Qt to support multi-platform and it is OpenGL hardware accelerated.

Since it has been designed to provide high performance, it needs systems with a multicore CPU with 4 GB RAM and a dedicated GPU supporting OpenGL 3.2.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=D7N2MgAdXJA

Features of ESPlot

Here are the main features of ESPlot:

• Streaming and recording of real-time signals
• Time plots, XY-Plots, FFT plot
• Able to send commands to the microcontroller
• Communication over serial interfaces
• Oscilloscope functionality, e.g. Trigger, Autoscale, Screenshot
• Externally controllable record function
• Export data to Matlab for further processing
• Multimonitor-Support with fully screen capability
• Fully personizable GUI
• OpenGL-Acceleration
• Multi-threading support
• Platform independent (Library is written in C)
• Supports Windows 10 64-bit, Linux 64-bit, Software can be compiled for ARM (e.g. Raspberry Pi)

Installing ESPLot

At present, ESPlot is available for Windows and Linux. The macOS version is under development.

For Linux, there is a tar xz file available. You can download it, extract it and run the executable file.

The software can actually interface with the majority of microcontrollers, but code for the classic Arduino boards is also available.

All of these stuff can be downloaded from its webpage:

Download ESPlot

The software is licensed under the AGPL 3.0. You can get the source code here.

In the end …

Since most of the other 3d-hardware accelerated plots are expensive and not always customizable, ESPlot would be a good choice for people in this field if it fulfills their need.

I am not involved in this embedded system and microcontrollers, so it wasn’t possible for me to test it out. But don’t let that discourage you from trying it yourself.

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Not Comfortable Using youtube-dl in Terminal? Use These GUI Apps

If you’ve been following us, you probably already know that youtube-dl project was taken down temporarily by GitHub to comply with a request.

Considering that it’s now restored and completely accessible, it is safe to say that it not an illegal tool out there.

It is a very useful command-line tool that lets you download videos from YouTube and some other websites. Using youtube-dl is not that complicated but I understand that using commands for such tasks is not everyone’s favorite way.

The good thing is that there are a few applications that provide GUI frontend for youtube-dl tool.

Prerequisites for Using youtube-dl GUI Apps

Before you try some of the options mentioned below, you may need to have youtube-dl and FFmpeg installed on your system to be able to download / choose different format to download.

You can follow our complete guide on using ffmpeg to set it up and explore more about it.

To install youtube-dl, you can type in the following commands in your Linux terminal:

sudo curl -L https://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl

Once you download the latest version, you just need to make it executable and ready for use by typing in:

sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl

You can also follow the official setup instructions if you need other methods to install it.

Youtube-dl GUI Apps

Most download managers on Linux also allow you to download videos from YouTube and other websites. However, the youtube-dl GUI apps might have additional options like extracting only audio or downloading the videos in a particular resolution and video format.

Do note that the list below is in no particular order of ranking. You may choose what suits your requirements.

1. AllTube Download

Key Features:

• Web GUI
• Open-Source
• Self-host option

AllTube is an open-source web GUI that you can access by visiting https://alltubedownload.net/

If you choose to utilize this, you do not need to install youtube-dl or ffmpeg on your system. It offers a simple user interface where you just have to paste the URL of the video and then proceed to choose your preferred file format to download. You can also choose to deploy it on your server.

Do note that you cannot extract the MP3 file of a video using this tool, it is only applicable for videos. You can explore more about it through their GitHub page.

AllTube Download Web GUI

2. youtube-dl GUI

Key Features:

• Cross-platform
• Displays estimated download size
• Audio and video download option available

A useful cross-platform GUI app made using electron and node.js. You can easily download both audio and video along with the option to choose various file formats available.

You also get the ability to download parts of a channel or playlist, if you want. The estimated download size definitely comes in handy especially if you are downloading high quality video files.

As mentioned, it is also available for Windows and macOS. And, you will get an AppImage file available for Linux in its GitHub releases.

Youtube-dl GUI

3. Videomass

Key Features:

• Cross-platform
• Convert audio/video format
• Multiple URLs supported
• Suitable for users who also want to utilize FFmpeg

If you want to download video or audio from YouTube and also convert them to your preferred format, Videomass can be a nice option.

To make this work, you need both youtube-dl and ffmpeg installed on your system. You can easily add multiple URLs to download and also set the output directory as you like.

You also get some advanced settings to disable youtube-dl, change file preferences, and a few more handy options as you explore.

It offers a PPA for Ubuntu users and an AppImage file for any other Linux distribution. Explore more about it in its GitHub page.

Videomass

Additional Mention: Haruna Video Player

Key Features:

• Play/Stream YouTube videos

Haruna video player is originally a front-end for MPV. Even though you cannot download YouTube videos using it, you can watch/stream YouTube videos through youtube-dl.

You can explore more about the video player in our original article about it.

Wrapping Up

Even though you may find more youtube-dl GUIs on GitHub and other platforms, most of them do not function well and end up showing multiple errors or aren’t actively developed anymore.

Tartube is one such option that you can try, but it may not work as expected. I tested it with Pop!_OS and on Ubuntu MATE 20.04 (fresh install). Every time I try to download something, it fails, no matter what I do (even with youtube-dl and ffmpeg installed in the system).

So, my personal favorite seems to be the web GUI (AllTube Download) that does not depend on anything installed on your system and can be self-hosted as well.

Let me know in the comments what works for you best and if I’ve missed any of your favorite options.

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Starship: Open-Source Customizable Prompt for Any Shell

Brief: A cross-shell prompt that makes it easy to customize and configure the Linux terminal prompt, if you care too much about the looks of your terminal.

While I’ve already covered a few tips to help you customize the looks of your terminal, I also came across suggestions for an interesting cross-shell prompt.

Starship: Tweak your Linux Shell Prompt Easily

Starship is an open-source project that’s written in Rust to help you set up a minimal, fast, and customizable shell prompt.

No matter whether you’re using bash, fish, PowerShell on Windows or any other shell, you can utilize Starship to customize the appearance.

Do note that you do have to go through its official documentation to be able to perform advanced configuration for everything you like but here I will include a simple sample configuration to get a head start along with some key information about Startship.

Starship focuses on giving you a minimal, fast, and useful shell prompt by default. It even records and shows the time taken to perform a command as well. For instance, here’s a screenshot:

Not just limited to that, it is also fairly easy to customize the prompt to your liking. Here’s an official GIF that shows it in action:

Let me help you set it up. I am using bash shell on Ubuntu to test this out. You can refer to the steps I mention, or you can take a look at the official installation instructions for more options to install it on your system.

Key Highlights of Starship

• Cross-platform
• Cross-shell support
• Ability to add custom commands
• Customize git experience
• Customize the experience while using specific programming languages
• Easily customize every aspect of the prompt without taking a hit on performance in a meaningful way

Installing Starship on Linux

Note

Installing Starship requires downloading a bash script from the internet and then run the script with root access.|
If you are not comfortable with that, you may use snap here:
sudo snap install starship

Note: You need to have Nerd Font installed to get the complete experience.

To get started, ensure that you have curl installed. You can install it easily by typing in:

sudo apt install curl

Once you do that, type in the following to install Starship:

curl -fsSL https://starship.rs/install.sh | bash

This should install Starship to usr/local/bin as root. You might be prompted for the password. Here’s how it would look:

Add startship to bash

As the screenshot suggests, you will get the instruction to set it up in the terminal itself. But, in this case, we need to add the following line at the end of our bashrc user file:

eval "$(starship init bash)"

To add it easily, simply type in:

nano .bashrc

Now, navigate to the end of the file by scrolling down and add the line at the end of the file as shown in the image below:

Once done, simply restart the terminal or restart your session to see the minimal prompt. It might look a bit different for your shell, but more or less it should be the same by default.

Once you set it up, you can proceed customizing and configuring the prompt. Let me show you an example configuration that I did:

Configure Starship Shell Prompt: The Basics

To get started, you just need to make a configuration file (TOML file) inside a .config directory. If you already have one, you should simply navigate to the directory and just create the configuration file.

Here’s what you have to type to create the directory and the config file:

mkdir -p ~/.config && touch ~/.config/starship.toml

Do note that this is a hidden directory. So, when you try to access it from your home directory using the file manager, make sure to enable viewing hidden files before proceeding.

From this point onwards, you should refer to the configuration documentation if you want to explore something you like.

For an example, I configured a simple custom prompt that looks like:

To achieve this, my configuration file looks like this:

It is a basic custom format as per their official documentation. But, if you do not want a custom format and simply want to customize the default prompt with a color or a different symbol, that would look like:

And, the configuration file for the above customization looks like:

Of course, that’s not the best-looking prompt one can make but I hope you get the idea.

You can customize how the directory looks by including icons/emojis, you can tweak the variables, format strings git commits, or while using specific programming languages.

Not just limited to that, you can also create custom commands to use in your shell to make things easier or comfortable for yourself.

You should explore more about in their official website and its GitHub page.

Starship.rs

Concluding Thoughts

If you just want some minor tweaks, the documentation might prove to be too overwhelming. But, even then, it lets you achieve a custom prompt or a minimal prompt with little effort that you can apply on any common shell and any system you’re working on.

Perosnally, I don’t think it’s very useful but several readers suggested it and it seems people do love it. I am eager to see how you customize the Linux terminal for different kinds of usage.

Feel free to share what you think about it and if you like it, in the comments down below.

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7 Ways to Customize Cinnamon Desktop in Linux [Beginner’s Guide]

Linux Mint is one the best Linux distributions for beginners. Especially Windows users that want to switch to Linux, will find its flagship Cinnamon desktop environment very familiar.

Cinnamon gives a traditional desktop experience and many users like it as it is. It doesn’t mean you have to content with what it provides. Cinnamon provides several ways for customizing the desktop.

Reading about MATE and KDE customization guides, many readers requested similar tutorial for Linux Mint Cinnamon as well. Hence, I created this basic guide on tweaking the looks and feel of Cinnamon desktop.

7 Different Ways for Customizing Cinnamon Desktop

For this tutorial, I’m using Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE 4). You can use this on any Linux distribution that is running Cinnamon. If you are unsure, here’s how to check which desktop environment you are using.

When it comes to changing the cinnamon desktop appearance, I find it very easy to do so as it is just 2 clicks away. Click on the menu icon and then on settings as shown below.

All the appearance settings are placed on the top of the window. Everything on “System Settings” window looks neat and tidy.

1. Effects

The effects options are simple, self-explanatory and straightforward. You can turn on and off the effects for different elements of the desktop or change the window transitioning by changing the effects style. If you want to change the speed of the effects, you can do it through the customise tab.

2. Font Selection

In this section, you can differentiate the fonts you use throughout the system in size and type, and through the font settings you can fine-tune the appearance.

3. Themes and icons

A reason that I used to be a Linux Mint user for a few years, is that you don’t need to go all over the place to change what you want. Window manager, icon and panel customization all in one place!

You can change your panel to a dark or light colour and the window borders to suit your changes. The default Cinnamon appearance settings look the best in my eyes, and I even applied the exact same when I was testing the Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix but in orange colour.

4. Cinnamon Applets

Cinnamon applets are all the elements included at your bottom panel like the calendar or the keyboard layout switcher. At the manage tab, you can add/remove the already installed applets.

You should definitely explore the applets you can download, the weather and CPU temperature Indicator applets were my choices from the extras.

5. Cinnamon Desklets

Cinnamon Desklets are applications that can be placed directly to your desktop. Like all the other customization option, Desklets can be accessed from the settings menu and the wide variety of choices can attract anyone’s interest. Google calendar is a handy app to keep track of your schedule directly on your desktop.

6. Desktop wallpaper

To change the desktop background on Cinnamon desktop, simply right click on the desktop and choose “Change Desktop Background. It will open an easy to use window, where on the left side the available background system folders are listed and on the ride pane there is a preview of the images within each folder.

You can add your own folders by clicking the plus (+) symbol by navigating to its path. At the Settings tab you can choose if you background will be static or slideshow and how the background is being positioned on the screen.

7. Customize what’s on your desktop screen

The background is not the only desktop element that you can change. You can find more options if you right click on the desktop and click on “Customise”.

You can change the icon size, change the placement from vertical to horizontal and the spacing among them on both axis. If you don’t like what you did, click in reset grid spacing to go back to the default.

Additionally, if you click on “Desktop Settings”, more options will be revealed. You can disable the icons on the desktop, place them on the primary or secondary monitor, or even both. As you can see, you can select some of the icons to appear on your desktop.

Conclusion

Cinnamon desktop is one of the best to choose, especially if you are switching from windows to Linux, but also for someone who is looking to a simple yet elegant desktop.

Cinnamon desktop is very stable and never crashed on my hands, and it is one of the main reasons why it served me for so long on a variety of Linux distributions.

I didn’t go in much details but gave you enough pointers to explore the settings on your own. Your feed to improve Cinnamon cuztomization is welcome.

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