BASHTOP is the superior process viewer

Most of us “IT guys” know top and htop as the default process viewers on Linux. Top is the simple version without mouse support or graphical details and htop is the more fancy tool with mouse interactions and basic graphics.

But what if I told you that these tools fade in comparison to bashtop? Let me show you.

What is bashtop?

Bashtop is a “resource monitor that shows usage and stats for processor, memory, disks, network and processes.”

https://github.com/aristocratos/bashtop

You can imagine bashtop as the “all-in-one” solution for a quick system overview. Just open it up and instantly see the most valuable details for your system.

• Is your memory filled to the brim?
• Are you generating a lot of network traffic?
• Is your processor crying for help?
• Are your partitions full?

All that can be seen on a glimpse with bashtop.

How to install bashtop?

Installation via Github

Depending on your OS, there are different ways to install bashtop. I chose to clone the GitHub repository and then add an alias into my .bashrc file.

Here is how you do that:

> cd /path/to/your/prefered/location                         #go to your prefered installatiuon location

> git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/bashtop.git      #clone the repository

> cd bashtop                                                 #enter the cloned folder

> ./bashtop                                                  #start bashtop

I then changed my .bashrc file to include an alias for the start command.

> sudo nano ~/.bashrc


if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
    test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dircolors -b)"
    alias ls='ls --color=auto'
    #alias dir='dir --color=auto'
    #alias vdir='vdir --color=auto'
    alias ll='ls -lah'
    alias bashtop='/home/user/bashtop/bashtop'


    alias grep='grep --color=auto'
    alias fgrep='fgrep --color=auto'
    alias egrep='egrep --color=auto'
fi


> source ~/.bashrc
> bashtop

Installation via package manager (apt)

You can also install bashtop via apt, as long as you are okay with adding an additional repository.

> sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bashtop-monitor/bashtop
> sudo apt update
> sudo apt install bashtop


#source: https://github.com/aristocratos/bashtop#installation

The End

Bashtop adds a lot of useful information when compared to htop. It is definitely a tool that I will keep in my arsenal when it comes to diagnosing issues.