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6 cool looking top (& htop) alternatives
Because terminal-based task managers should look sweet.
May 27, 2024
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Everyone knows top (the performance monitor and task manager). And, of course, htop… which is like top… but ever so much fancier and nicer looking.

But there are more — oh-so-many more — options for terminal-based system managers. Let’s look at six of them. With screenshots. (Because screenshots are important.)

ytop

ytop, while no longer maintained, is still quite excellent. And, like all software written in Rust, it tells you “I am written in Rust” right at the top of the Readme file.

Because, hey. What’s the point of writing software in Rust if you don’t tell anybody? That’d be like being a Vegan, Arch user… but keeping that information to yourself. Pointless.

bottom

Multiple themes. A number of visualizers and widgets. bottom is a fairly customizable htop alternative. Looks pretty clean, as well.

Plus, it gets brownie points for being named bottom. Because… you know… it’s not top. A good, solid, punny name right there.

Total side note: The only screenshot provided, by the developer, for bottom is in the form of an animated GIF. Ok. No problem. But it’s a 7.1 MB GIF. With thousands of frames. The only screenshot for bottom is literally larger than DOOM. That’s crazy. Above is an actual screenshot that is, you know, not as large as DOOM. You’re welcome.

vtop

vtop looks pretty nice. But… well… it’s written in Node.js. Javascript in the terminal? As the French would say, “le barf.” (I am mostly including it in this list so that I can say “le barf”.)

Seriously.  It really does look great.  Clean.  Easy to understand.  Easy on the eyes.

But.  You know.  Le barf.

glances

glances, besides being fairly cool looking, has one rather nifty feature: you can use it in the terminal… or via a web interface… that looks just like the terminal.

Why would you want to use it via a web browser, on a remote server, when you can just SSH into the server and use the terminal version? Who knows. But it’s cool that you can!

nmon

nmon (or “Nigel's performance Monitor”) has an absolute boat-load of features (including exporting performance data).

Bonus: Not written in Javascript using NodeJS.  Pure C.  So.  Not le barf.

btop

btop looks like a terminal task manager… designed by a BBS ANSI artist from the mid-1990s. And… well… I rather dig that.

Lots of features.  All in C++. Highly customizable look and feel. Will make you feel like a l33t 90s hAx0r in a jiffy.

Not gonna lie. Btop might be my favorite.  Some of the others are pretty awsome too, though.  It's a tough choice.

I recommend you install a few of these.  Just to be sure.

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The futility of Ad-Blockers

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openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

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September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

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December 17, 2025
The FOMO of not having a Lifetime Subscription to The Lunduke Journal

Time for some Fun Lunduke Journal Facts of Fact-ly-ness!

  1. The “per-month” cost of a Lifetime Subscription to The Lunduke Journal is an asymptotic line. The longer you have that subscription, the closer it gets to $0.00.

  2. The Lifetime Subscription was first introduced 3 1/2 years ago… and is still going strong.

  3. The price of a Lifetime Subscription is currently discounted to $89. For life. That’s less than 1/3rd the normal price.

The earlier you pick one up, the quicker that asymptotic line begins approaching zero. Which is fun.

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If you think you might ever want a Lifetime Subscription, now is the time.

Imagine missing this discounted price and missing out on months of, mathematically certain, asymptotic line fun. This is one of those scenarios where Future You (tm) would want to travel back in time to tell Present You (tm) to snag a Lifetime Subscription.

Go. Grab the Lifetime Subscription for $89. That deal is good all December long.

There’s a video of me yammering about it too. Just for good measure.

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December 13, 2025
Lunduke Journal Lifetime Wall 2 almost full, plus Lifetime Sub as a gift

Two quick tidbits!

First: Lifetime Wall 2 Almost Full

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Plus, hey! You can snag one for $89 this month. Which is pretty sweet.

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There are two options — Locals & Bitcoin — and both work equally well.

(Note: A gifted Lifetime subscription can also be applied to Substack accounts… it just can’t be purchased via Substack because of the way the system works for gifting it to another person.)

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How to get a Lifetime Subscription with Bitcoin:

You can also send a gift Lifetime Subscription via Bitcoin.  (And it's $10 cheaper thanks to the lower processing fees of Bitcoin.)

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Note: The Lifetime Subscription only applies to Substack, Locals, and the Lunduke Journal Forum. Other platforms (such as X, Patreon, & YouTube) do not provide the functionality necessary to create Lifetime Subscriptions.

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December 12, 2025
Last Week on The Lunduke Journal - Fri, Dec 12, 2025

This last week has been, as usual, a doozy for Tech News.

The Mozilla Annual Report dropped, The EU & UK ramped up their war on US Free Speech, and the future of Rust in Linux was cemented (for better or worse).

But the most widely viewed, and yelled about, story of the week — by far — was “Prisma Drops Rust for Javascript, Sees Massive Speed Increase”. I tell ya, followers of the Church of Rust get grumpy if you utter anti-Rust blasphemy!

Oh, and a quick reminder: Lifetime Subscriptions can be snagged for $89 through the end of December. Monthly & Yearly subscriptions are 50% off as well. Just because.

All Shows From the Last Week

Below are all of the shows over the last 7 days, with links to Substack (where you can get both the audio or video versions). If you want to watch on a different platform (Locals, X, Rumble, YouTube, etc.) check Lunduke.com for all of the links.

As always, thank you for making The Lunduke Journal possible. If it weren’t for your support, most of these stories would never have been told (as no other Tech News outlet is covering them).

You rule.

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