system_monitor

Table of Contents

• About
• Image
• Installation
  • Dependencies
• Documentation
  • Overview
  • How it works
  • Code structure
  • Running the program
  • Keybindings
  • Testing
  • Known Limitations

About

A simple system monitor for Linux, using gtkmm-4.0 and written in C++. This project was created as part of a school assignment to learn system-level programming in C++ and explore GUI development in gtk.

This program displays real-time usages statistics for the CPU, GPU, memory, hard drives and internet (upload/download). The program gets system information from the Linux /proc pseudo-file-system and uses the Nvidia and/or AMD API to retrieve the GPU stats.

Image

Installation

Dependencies

• gtk4
• gtkmm-4.0
• cmake
• ninja
• gcc/g++

You can also use your favorite package manager to install the dependencies.

On Arch you would use pacman:

sudo pacman -S gcc gtk4 gtkmm4.0 cmake ninja

Using git

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/Helland369/system_monitor.git

Cd to project:

cd system_monitor

Make the build script executable:

chmod +x build.sh

Run the script:

./build.sh

run the program

./build/system_monitor

Binary

You can get a binary here, but you need the gtk4 and gtkmm-4.0 dependencies.

Documentation

Overview

This system monitor gathers system statistics by reading files from the /proc pseudo-filesystem and accessing the NVIDIA and/or AMD API for GPU stats. It uses gtkmm-4.0 to build a modern, native Linux GUI.

• While running the program, you can press 1 through 5 to change the layout of the boxes.

How it works

• CPU & Memory Usage:

  Retrieved from /proc/stat, /proc/meminfo, and other related files.

• Disk Usage:

  Read from /proc/diskstats.

• Network Usage:

  Calculated Using /proc/net/dev, tracking changes in RX/TX byte counts over time.

• GPU Usage:

  Fetched via the Nvidia and/or AMD API. Depending on what GPU you have in your computer, the appropriate API (AMD or Nvidia or both) will be selected when building the program.

• GUI:

  Built with GTK4 widgets using the gtkmm C++ bindings, updated in real time using timers.

Code structure

• /src/main.cpp Main entry point of the program.

• /src/SystemMonitorWindow.cpp GTK related UI and rendering.

• /src/CpuUsage.cpp Logic for gathering CPU usage info.

• src/FileSystem.cpp Logic for gathering Disk usage info.

• src/MemInfo.cpp Logic for gathering memory usage info.

• src/NetInfo.cpp Logic for gathering Network info.

• src/GpuInfo.cpp Logic for talking to the Nvidia and/or AMD API.

Running the program

After building the project, you can run the binary from the build/ folder:

./system_monitor

Keybindings

Key to press	Action
1	Toggle on/off CPU usage
2	Toggle on/off Memory usage
3	Toggle on/off GPU usage
4	Toggle on/off Disk usage
5	Toggle on/off Network usage

Testing

Tested on Arch Linux in I3 and X11. Tested on Arch Linux in SWAY/Wayland.

Known Limitations

• GPU monitoring only works with Nvidia GPUs via NVML and AMD GPUs via rocm_smi.h.

• The program only supports Linux.

• GTK themes maybe works.

• UI may brake if you have multiple GPUs installed in you computer.