Newbie trying to setup gkrellm.

[slackerj]

Hey there :)

To install gkrellm just do a 

sudo apt-get install gkrellm

This will install gkrellm and then gkrellm-common. 

After you have installed the above you will need to install lmsensors.
lmsensors will enable you to monitor your temptures, fan speeds, and
voltages from gkrellm. There is a really well crafted HOWTO for
installing and configuring lmsensors avaible at:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2780

Once lmsensors have been setup. Open up a terminal and type in:

nautilus applications:///System

A window will pop up. Right click in the new window and select 'Create
Launcher'. 
Enter in the following information:

Name: Gkrellm
Command: gkrellm
Icon: /usr/share/pixmaps/gkrellm.xpm

This will create a Launcher in Applications--System Tools

Go into Applications--System Tools and select gkrellm. Once it has
loaded right click on gkrellm (on your desktop) and select
'Configuration'. A new window will pop up. Select 'Bultins' and click
on the little arrow to the left of 'Bultins'.

This will display the following new options:

Sensors
Clock
CPU
Proc
Disk
Internet
Net
Memory
File System
Mail
Battery
Uptime

Now the first thing you wanted to monitor was your cable connection. If
you want to show the amount of information (bytes) going in and out do
the following.

Click on 'Net'. Take the ticks out of the following boxes (under the
Timer Button tab):

Enable Timer
Show Seconds

Also select the option 'none' for 'Interface to link to the timer
button'.

Next select the tab (still under Net) eth0 (that is if your NIC is
known as eth0) and tick the following boxes:

Enable eth0
Force chart to be showneven if interface is not routed

Now where it says 'et0 command' under 'Launch Commands' enter the
following into the text box:

\r,t,\

After you have entered in the above click on the 'Ok' button to save
the changes.

This will display in real time (via a line graph) the flow of bytes in
and out of your machine. To set this up so that it is easier to read.
Right click above the word 'eth0' on gkrellm. A new window will pop up
called 'GKrellM Chart Config'. Select the boxe that says 'Inverted'.
This will now split the 2 lines. The Orange one (or top line) is data
going OUT. The blue line on the bottom is of data coming in.

Also if you move the mouse into the bottom right hand corner  of the
eth0 chart a little grey box will appear. Click this to see exact
figures (in Kb) of data in out and total. For daily, weekly and monthly
periods. And if you click in the top left hand corner of the chart; it
will show you what speed you are recieving data in, in Kb.

Now for your temps. If you have installed lmsensors this will be easy.
If not just follow the HOWTO above. We need lmsensors for the next
part.

Anyway. Open up the gkrellm configuration window and select 'Sensors'
from the 'Bultins' menu. Once you have done that click on the arrow
next to 'Temperatures'. This is what mine look like:

Temperatures                         Enable     Label
asb100-1-002d/temp1       Yes        CPU
asb100-1-002d/temp2       Yes        Mobo
asb100-1-002d/temp3       Yes        PSU
asb100-1-002d/temp4       Yes        HDD

I changed the labels for the temp monitors to what the are on my
system. You should be able to figure out which ones are which. If not
just run (from a terminal) 'sensors' and check to see what temps are
what. And then confer with gkrellm. Example. If sensors told me that my
CPU temp was 41. Then I would check each temp box (enable) and try to
match up the temp from sensors with the one displayed in gkrellm. Once
I had found the same temp, I would change the label to match that.

After that. Just press 'Ok' to save the changes.

The following is so that you can see how much space you have left on
your / partition. Select from the 'Bultins' menu 'File System'. Now
where it says 'Label' enter in a name in which you can use to identify
the partition. Under 'Mount Point' select the down arrow and click on
the partition that you want to display. Once you have done that, click
on the 'Add' button and the partition should put itself under
'Primary'. 

Select the tab 'Setup'. Tick the box that says 'Use binary units (MiB,
GiG) for reporting disk capacities'. Now from the drop down box
labelled 'Format String for FS data display' select the following
option:

$t - $u used

This will display the total size of the disk followed by how much is in
current use. Click 'Ok' to save your changes.

You will now see on gkrellm that a new addition has been made. It will
have the name that you gave it in Label. Click on the name to display
the total and then how much is being used.

The CPU usuage is automatically setup. So there is no need to configure
that. YOu might find that there are some charts that you do not need
(like the /proc chart for example). By going into gkrellm's
configuration window and selecting the appropriate option from under
'Bultins' (Proc) you can deselct the "Enable **** Chart" to make it no
longer display itself. Clicking on 'Ok' will save your changes.

Last but not least, making it so that when you start Ubuntu; it starts
as well.

If you are using GNOME; make sure that gkrellm is in the Workspace that
you want it to be in and click on 'Computer' -- 'Log Out'. And select
the option 'Save current Setup'. Proceed to log out as normal. When you
log back in; gkrellm will automatically start and place itself in the
postion you last had it.

Hopefully the above helps you out. And if you have any questions or
need clarification just let me know.

Have a good one :)


-- 
slackerj