xload

xload [-display displayname] [-geometry geometry] [-update seconds] [-hlcolor color] [-scale integer] [-jumpscroll pixels] [-bg color] [-fg color] [-title string] [-label string] [-nolabel] [-remote]

-display displayname
    Specifies the X server to connect to.

-geometry geometry
    Sets the size and position of the xload window.

-update seconds
    Sets the update interval in seconds. Defaults to 10.

-hlcolor color
    Sets the highlight color.

-scale integer
    Sets the maximum value for the load display.

-jumpscroll pixels
    Sets jump scroll distance.

-bg color
    Sets the background color.

-fg color
    Sets the foreground color.

-title string
    Sets the title of the xload window.

-label string
    Sets the label below the graph.

-nolabel
    Suppresses the display of the label.

-remote
    Allows remote display using older X11 features.

xload is a graphical system monitor that displays a continuously updating histogram of the system load average. It provides a quick visual representation of CPU usage. The display typically shows the load average over the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes.

It's a lightweight tool primarily used in X Window System environments to give users an at-a-glance view of how busy their system is. High load averages can indicate that the system is under heavy stress and potentially becoming unresponsive.

While xload is visually simple, it's a useful tool to detect CPU overutilization. It can be configured to change its colors or to play sounds when the load average exceeds a certain threshold. This allows users to react quickly to system overload. It is important to remember that xload primarily shows the load, which is the number of processes waiting to use the CPU. A high load may not always mean that the CPU is the bottleneck but that there are too many processes running simultaneously.

xload relies on the X Window System. It may not be available or function correctly in environments without X. It does not provide detailed CPU usage information beyond the load average. Modern monitoring tools offer more comprehensive system metrics.

The load average represents the number of processes that are either using the CPU or waiting to use the CPU. A load average of 1.00 indicates that the CPU is fully utilized. A load average above the number of CPU cores suggests that processes are queuing and waiting for CPU time, potentially leading to performance degradation.

xload is a relatively old X11 utility, dating back to the early days of graphical Unix environments. It was designed to provide a simple, visual indicator of system load at a time when more sophisticated monitoring tools were less common. Its continued presence reflects its simplicity and low resource usage, even if its functionality has been surpassed by more modern options.

xload has been included in most Unix distributions and its usage remains to provide a simple visual graph of the system load.

top(1), uptime(1), vmstat(8), htop(1)