How To View Average System Load Graphically In Linux Mint From Command Line

Linux Mint has some pretty useful graphical system tools for optimizing performance. The Linux shell too  can be used to run a graphical window based tool that is available in most of the distros. That is xload .

It gives a histogram view of average system load. It can be used for monitoring/diagnosing performance if needed.

Running it is simple, type in the following from Terminal:

[cc lang=”bash”]

xload

[/cc]

This will open a new window with a histogram being continuously updated which represents the average system load.

The default update interval for updating is 10 seconds and the minimum value that can be used is 1 second. So, to change it,use the –update flag :

[cc lang=”bash”]

xload -update 3

[/cc]

This will change the update interval to 3 seconds.

Also by default, the shell waits for xload to be closed which can be done by Ctrl-C or closing the histogram window.

However, it can be made to run in background too if needed. To do this, & parameter can be used:

The histogram window will still be open but the Terminal will no longer wait for xload to be complete. To terminate it, simply close the window.

Customizing xload:

Adding custom text:

There are other parameters too like adding a custom text by using the label parameter followed by the custom text:

[cc lang=”bash”]

xload -label “Linux Mint System Average Load”

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The custom text will be visible in histogram window.

Changing colors:

Parameters like bg, fg and hl can be used to change the background, foreground and scale colors of histogram window. Simply specify the colors:

[cc lang=”bash”]

xload  -label “Linux Mint average system load” -bg blue -fg orange -hl blue

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Running xload can be a good starting point to troubleshoot system load issues using a tool like htop.

All done.