Overview of btop: A System Monitoring Tool

In this guide, we explore btop, a powerful command-line system monitoring tool ideal for various Linux distributions, including Raspberry Pi.

Key Points

What is btop?

• A modern and advanced system monitoring tool for Unix and Linux systems.
• Offers enhanced visual representation compared to traditional tools like top or htop.

Installation

• For Ubuntu or Debian-based distributions, install using:

  sudo apt install btop
  

• For other distributions, use the corresponding package manager to install btop.

Features and Usage

• Launch Command: To start btop, simply type btop in the terminal.

• Interface Overview:

  • CPU Usage: Displays usage per core, includes an interactive graphical representation.
  • Memory Usage: Tracks memory allocation and availability, providing real-time updates.
  • Disk I/O: Offers insights into read/write operations with graphical displays.
  • Network Activity: Visualizes network throughput, showing real-time data transfer rates.
  • Processes: Similar to top and htop, lists running processes with their resource consumption.

Practical Demonstrations

• CPU Load Test: Running a tool to stress CPU, displays real-time changes in CPU usage for individual cores.
• Memory Utilization Example: Demonstrated by loading a large language model, shows increase in used memory and its release after stopping the process.
• Disk I/O Activity: Illustrated with file operations, tracks read and write activities.
• Network Usage: Demonstrated by downloading large files, monitors and displays the network bandwidth in use.

Conclusion

btop provides a comprehensive and user-friendly interface for monitoring system resources on Linux systems. It is crucial for system administrators and users responsible for managing servers and Raspberry Pi setups.

For further in-depth tutorials, systems monitoring tips, and other tech insights, subscribe to Gary Sims' YouTube Channel.

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This document serves as an overview and tutorial for using btop, making it easier for users to adopt and integrate into their system monitoring processes.