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

[Martin Abente]

On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:55:25 +0200, Tomeu Vizoso <tomeu at sugarlabs.org>
wrote:
> 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.
>

Assuming theres are no heavy weight processing Activities in sugar, the
memory alone is useful enough. My concern is, how to display this concept?
I'm not sure if everyone will agree on this, but "the users" here (in
Paraguay), are kids that (mostly) have never seen a computer, so, using
conventional units or percentage is not going to help much, at least not
for younger kids. A graphical gauge is probably the best way.

Game interfaces often translate complex concepts using graphical metaphors
such as "The face of your hero become more tired" or "title smokes coming
from a damage car", etc. If we could somehow personify the computer, it
would let us report its status very intuitively. 

Keep in mind this is just an idea. And at this time anything would better
than have absolutely nothing.


> 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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