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I've found this post when searching for something to display CPU, memory utilization in Ubuntu 20.04 top pane.

How do I show memory usage information in top bar or as notification?

According to the accepted answer ...

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extension-system-monitor

This will also pull in all the required dependencies, and after a reboot or log out the system monitor was in the top task bar.

I did try the solution given, rebooting the computer, but nothing happens.

I can't comment there as 50 reputations are required which I don't have yet at the moment.

How do I get this utility appear on the top pane?

enter image description here

Also, if there is an alternative/probably better tool, let me know.

3 Answers3

45

On Ubuntu 20.04 I was unable to get my CPU and Memory usage to appear on the top bar with the gnome system monitor. However, I found a different program that allows me to do just that:

sudo apt install indicator-multiload

After logging out and then logging back in you should see a little graph on the top bar showing CPU usage. To get the program to show memory usage (and other resources), click the graph and go to "Preferences". There you can just tick the checkboxes next to the resources you wish to show on your top bar.

Here is a link to a tutorial with some screenshots and more details: Ubuntu show CPU and Memory usages in Top Bar

Hope this solves your problem.

Edit: I figured out how to use gnome-shell-extension-system-monitor for this. You need to install Gnome Tweaks (sudo apt install gnome-tweaks). Then after running sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-system-monitor as above, open the Tweaks app and under the "Extensions" tab turn on System Monitor. You can then click on the graphs on the top bar to edit Preferences for the program.

BenM
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4

What worked for me just now was:

gnome-extensions enable system-monitor@paradoxxx.zero.gmail.com

I didn't like the idea of installing gnome-tweaks. Resource monitor is core functionality to me.

No reboot needed (though I had already, to no obvious effect, so might not hurt). The notifications popped up there immediately.

John
  • 141
1

Original extension

To get Paradoxxxzero GNOME Shell system monitor extension working on Ubuntu 22 LTS, you need to:

  1. Check here if updated version was published recently.
    • Install directly from Ubuntu Extension Manager if it was by searching system-monitor@paradoxxx.zero.gmail.com
    • Follow the guide otherwise
  2. Install its dependencies sudo apt install gir1.2-gtop-2.0 gir1.2-nm-1.0 gir1.2-clutter-1.0 gnome-system-monitor
  3. Download and install latest version of extension manually (Method#4). DO NOT install with other utilities (e.g. browser, Extension Manager) as these have older published versions at the time of this post.
  4. Restart OS (there is no reload mode in Wayland as I can see)
  5. Enable extension with Ubuntu Extension Manager
  6. You may need to tweak the code if you get an error. See here and here.

Alternative extension (fork)

There is a fork of the same extension at https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/3010/system-monitor-next/ which have fixes in place while original extension is being updated. However, you should make your own decision if you trust the fork in the long term.

Sources:

igor
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