gnome-system-monitor

gnome-system-monitor [OPTIONS]

-h, --help
    Shows basic help options for the command.

--help-all
    Displays all available help options, including GTK-specific ones.

--help-gtk
    Shows standard GTK toolkit options.

-s, --show-processes
    Starts the application with the Processes tab active.

-m, --show-memory
    Starts with the Resources tab active and displays the Memory chart.

-c, --show-cpu
    Starts with the Resources tab active and displays the CPU chart.

-n, --show-network
    Starts with the Resources tab active and displays the Network chart.

-f, --show-file-systems
    Starts the application with the File Systems tab active.

--maximize
    Launches the gnome-system-monitor window in a maximized state.

--display=DISPLAY
    Specifies the X display to use for running the graphical application.

gnome-system-monitor is the default system monitoring utility for the GNOME desktop environment. It provides a comprehensive graphical overview of a system's running processes, resource utilization (CPU, memory, network, disk I/O), and mounted file systems.

Users can view process details, sort processes by various criteria, terminate or suspend processes, and monitor historical resource usage through graphical charts. It's an essential tool for troubleshooting performance issues, identifying rogue applications, and understanding how system resources are being consumed. It offers a user-friendly interface divided into tabs for Processes, Resources, and File Systems, making it accessible to both new and experienced Linux users.

As a graphical application, gnome-system-monitor requires a running X server or Wayland compositor and cannot be used directly from a pure terminal console.

While highly functional, its own resource consumption might be noticeable on extremely low-resource systems. For deeply granular or scriptable monitoring, command-line tools often provide more flexibility.

Offers an intuitive point-and-click interface, simplifying complex system monitoring tasks compared to command-line alternatives.

Enables users to perform actions directly on processes, such as killing, stopping, or changing their priority, directly from the GUI.

Provides valuable graphical charts for CPU, memory, and network usage over time, helping users identify trends and performance bottlenecks.

gnome-system-monitor has been a core component of the GNOME desktop environment since its early versions, providing a user-friendly graphical interface for system statistics. Its development has consistently evolved with the GNOME project, leveraging standard Linux APIs and the /proc filesystem to present real-time system data.

top(1), htop(1), ps(1), free(1), df(1), iotop(8), ss(8)