Performing basic system monitoring and tuning

Customizing System Monitor colors

Once you select colors for each option in the ``List of System Options'' column in the System Monitor display, those options will always appear with the selected color unless they are overridden by values in the default file.

The System Monitor uses 32 colors. The colors in the ``List of Colors'' column will randomly change by default each session. You cannot change the randomness of the colors in this column, but you can set other colors in the ``List of System Options'' column if you do not want those presented in the ``List of Colors'' column.

Setting colors using the sysmonitor file

You can set colors for the System Monitor by directly editing the /usr/X/lib/app-defaults/sysmonitor file. This procedure sets colors for all users on the system, globally.

Add a line to the file for each option you desire. For example:

   *SarOption0*foreground: red
   *SarOption1*foreground: yellow
   *SarOption2*foreground: magenta
   *SarOption3*foreground: blue

Each line corresponds to an option in the ``List of Selected Options'' in the System Monitor. For example, if you want to assign the first option, ``CPU Usage - User Time'', to use the color red, you would type the first line as listed previously. The second option, ``CPU Usage - System time'', would use the second line, and so on.

The colors specified in the defaults file will override any color selections selected or saved using the System Monitor.

You must restart the System Monitor before the changes take effect.

NOTE: To view a complete list of allowed colors browse the /usr/X/lib/rgb.txt file. It displays the red, blue, and green color value columns as numbers and lists the allowed color names in the right-hand column.

Setting colors using the .sys_mon file

When you select a color for an option in the System Monitor, your changes are saved in the .sys_mon file (created the first time you save settings). The changes apply only for the user desktop from which you are working, not for the whole system. If you prefer to customize your colors by editing the .sys_mon file directly you can log in as root and edit the .sys_mon file.

The file contains a line for each option in the ``List of Selected Options'' that appears on the desktop. For example, the first line reads:

   CPU Usage - User time:100:0:65535:0:1:0:0:0:0:0

The second, third, and fourth columns that appear after User time (0:65535:0) contain the red, blue, and green values for the color you selected. If you know what value you want to change these to, you can modify this file rather than use the desktop.