METER(1)

NAME
meter -- LED display load average program

SYNOPSIS
meter [ -m 0-5 ] [ -p io_addr ] [ -t usecs ] [ -l load_max ] [ -n leds ] [ -h ]

DESCRIPTION
Displays the system load average info graphically on a parallel port LED display. For information on the construction of the display see led-stat.txt by Joseph W. Vigneau (joev@wpi.edu)

OPTIONS

-h  Help.

-l load_max
    Specifies the upper limit of the LED load average indicator. When the load average equals or exceeds load_max then all the LEDs will be lit up. Each LED can be thought of as indicating an increment of load_max/leds. Defaults to 2.0.

-m 0-5
    Specifies the mode to run meter in. Defaults to 0. Mode 0 is the traditional/original mode. Mode 1 is the cylon or Knight Rider mode (depending on your 80's TV show preferences). It increases the frequency of LED cycling as the machines load average increases. This doesn't always work out well because when a machine is under a high load, the meter process runs a lot slower. At some point the lights actually pulse slower until the process(es) causing the load increase drop off. Mode 2 is an inverted cylon mode. It's a variation of mode 1 in which the frequency of cycling is greatest when the CPU is idle and slows down as the load average increases. This one works very well and doesn't fight the the processor for time slices. Mode 3 is a pulse mode. The LEDs are lit in sequence from lowest position to highest position. The frequency of cycling inreases with the load average. This mode suffers from the same problems as mode 1. Mode 4 is the inverted pulse mode. A variation of pulse mode with the frequency of cycling being highest when the CPU is idle. Mode 5 is a random mode. Perhaps the silliest mode and definately one of the more impressive (well, impressive as far as 8 LED displays are concerned). I tried to still keep it informational. As the load average increases, more LEDs are lit up in random fashion. My personal favorites are modes 5, 2, and 4.

-n leds
    Set the number of LEDs to use (1-8). Defaults to 8.

-p io_addr
    This option is used for specifying the I/O address for the parallel port. Generally this will be either 0x378 or 0x278. Defaults to 0x378 (LPT1).

-t usecs
    Option to specify the delay between updates. Defaults to 1000000 (1 sec).

NOTES
Currently relies on the /proc filesystem. A more general version is in the works (well maybe). The -l load_max and -t usecs options affect the the new modes in various ways. Either experiment or read the code to see what they do. Apologies for not giving any explicit info as to how they affect things.

AUTHOR
Brian D. Chase, Rose-Hulman IT, Rose-Hulman Users of Linux chasebd@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu