The load average applet

The loadavg_applet is a small monitor applet which sits in your panel and tells you the current load average.

The load average of a machine is a rather arbitrary number which represents how "busy" your machine is. It is calculated as an average of (very roughly) how many processes there are which are either running or are waiting for a wake-up call from the kernel. It is very useful for comparing over time with different load averages on your machine, but it is not very useful to compare it with other machines. Normally, it is represented as a fraction.

Usage

You don't need to do anything to this applet. It will sit and run in your panel. Various options to alter its display are available.

Right-Click Pop-Up Menu Items

In addition to the standard menu items, the right-click pop-up menu has the following items:

Default Properties...

This opens the multiload_applet dialogue box described below which allows you to alter the default properties of this and related monitor applets.

Properties...

This opens the multiload_applet dialogue box described below which affects only the loadavg_applet properties.

Run gtop...

This option will run the gtop which starts up the GNOME System Monitor. gtop gives a much more detailed look at your system and what's happening on it.

Properties

Like several of the monitor applets, loadavg_applet has two ways of setting preferences. You can make changes that affect any of this group of applets, (cpuload_applet, memload_applet, swapload_applet, netload_applet and loadavg_applet) in one large dialogue box. This is useful if you run one or more of them. These are the settings used by default. They are reached from the Default Properties... menu item.

Or you can change just the properties for loadavg_applet. This is useful for when you only use loadavg_applet or want to try new combinations out. It is reached from the Properties menu item.

Note: If you use the Properties... menu item and edit the preferences for just this applet, you must uncheck the Use default properties checkbox before you can alter any settings.

The changes you can make to the properties are four:

Colours

You can alter the colours used for the applet's display clicking on the colour boxes. This invokes the GNOME colour wheel. The titles are a little misleading. "Used" is the current load average, and "free" is the background colour.

Speed

You can alter the speed that the graph proceeds with this. It is measured in milliseconds. The default is 500.

Size

You can alter the size of the applet with this. It is measured in pixels. The default value is 40, and the range is from 1 pixel to whatever you like. In a vertical panel, this refers to the height. In a horizontal panel, it refers to the width.

Maximum

This is the maximum number in the Y axis (the possible maximum load average which the applet will show). The default is 10.

Note: This option is only available from the Default Properties menu option. It does not appear on the dialogue box which is started by the Properties menu option.

Known Bugs and Limitations

Resizing and then altering the panel orientation can still cause intermittent problems, although they now fix themselves after a short period.

Authors

This applet was writen by Martin Baulig (). Please report problems with it to the GNOME bug tracking system. You can do this by following the guidelines on that site or by using bug-buddy from the command-line. For the package, put gnome-applets.

The documentation for this applet which you are reading now was written by Telsa Gwynne (). Please report problems with or suggestions for it to the GNOME Documentation Project ().