[Sugar-devel] [DESIGN] Displaying the current status of system resources (such as memory, cpu)

[Tomeu Vizoso]

On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 07:55, James Cameron <quozl at laptop.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 03:18:31AM +0530, Anish Mangal wrote:
>> Sugar presently lacks a means to display the current status of system
>> resources such as free memory, CPU load, etc. I'd like form an opinion
>> as to what should be the ideal way to make these numbers available to
>> the user.
>
> Frame slider showing percentage available memory.
>
> CPU load is unimportant.  Most problems occur as a result of depletion
> of memory.
>
> Here's some simple and quick code to measure the available memory and
> return a percentage:
>
> def percentage_memory_available():
>    for line in file('/proc/meminfo').readlines():
>        name, value, unit = line.split()[:3]
>        if 'MemTotal:' == name: total = value
>        elif 'MemFree:' == name: free = value
>        elif 'Buffers:' == name: buffers = value
>        elif 'Cached:' == name: cached = value
>        elif 'Active:' == name: break
>    return 100 * (int(free)+int(buffers)+int(cached)) / int(total)
>
> Free, buffers, and cached are added because these are what an activity
> is easily able to consume if it makes a demand for memory.
>
> I'd also like to have a mode where a warning message is displayed.
>
> I've also tested some systems with a sound emitted where the frequency
> is chosen based on the memory available.  This gives very nice feedback
> about what is happening on a system without interfering with the
> display.

I would agree with James in that the amount of free memory is probably
the most useful metric we can provide. Wonder if we could tie it
graphically with activity launching.

I also agree with Tony in that though we have space in the frame right
now for more device icons, it's a resource that will be quickly scarce
if we don't think of alternatives.

Also wonder if according to the guiding principle of low-floor
high-ceiling we could find a place for this feature so it doesn't
raise the floor but it's there as a smoother next step than having to
use the terminal.

Regards,

Tomeu

> --
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
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