mgm/doc/faq.html

   1 <title>  xiph.org: MGM </title>
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  17 [ <a href="index.html">home</a> | <a href="faq.html">FAQ</a> | <a href="down.html">download</a> | <a href="trouble.html">troubleshooting</a> | <a href="docs.html">manual</a> | <a href="http://www.xiph.org/cvs.html">cvs</a> | <a href="mail.html">mailing lists</a> ]<p>
  18
  19 <hr>
  20
  21 <h2>You need:</h2>
  22
  23 Perl 5 (5.004_04 or later recommended) with the Tk module installed
  24 (Tk 8 recommended).  Debian's Perl with the Perl-Tk package
  25 (found under 'interpreters') will do nicely.<p>
  26
  27 MGM is not Linux only!  That said, I've not yet written many modules
  28 for other platforms; most of the statistics modules use Linux's /proc
  29 filesystem (equivalent statistics are available through different
  30 means on other platforms).  I or someone else will likely flesh things
  31 out on other OSes as time goes on.<p>
  32
  33 <img src="screenshot1.gif" align=right border=0>
  34 <h2>the MGM FAQ interview</h2>
  35
  36 <h3>"Why MGM?"</h3>
  37
  38 Xload, procmeter3 and xosview are fine, fine pieces of software
  39 (perhaps a bit hard to read).  But... dammit... at a time when geeks are
  40 cool, green jumpsuits stalk the streets and Volkswagen is hip again,
  41 they're just too dull. Dull, dull, dull.<p>
  42
  43 Evil geniuses generally have a finely honed esthetic sense which they
  44 choose ignore whenever possible.  However, evil geniuses do need
  45 something good looking, ultra sweet, way too big and above all tacky
  46 as hell to bolt onto the personal programming experience.  This
  47 code is *it*.<p>
  48
  49 Think of it as the SUV mentality applied to strollers.  Bigger than
  50 the kid?  Hell, it's bigger than Mom pushing it.  You can't even
  51 *find* the kid. <p>
  52
  53 <h3>"What is this software good for?"</h3>
  54
  55 On the serious side for a moment, MGM is thoroughly inspired by
  56 procmeter3; it is a load utility that monitors system statistics like
  57 CPU usage, disk usage, network, battery, memory, etc.  A few other
  58 things are thrown into the stock mix (like a clock, a spinning fish, a
  59 phase-of-the-moon display, etc).  MGM is module based; it's easy to
  60 write new modules and your own readouts.<p>
  61
  62 Getting back to our theme for a moment, the *real* fun is when the
  63 resident 'all software is bloated' complainer -- you know, the programmer
  64 who constantly whines about how if *he* wrote a web browser, it would
  65 fit in 16k... Every group has one -- notices MGM.<p>
  66
  67 Don't tell him right away it's written in Perl; it looks cute,
  68 possibly well written, probably small.  Lead him on by mentioning how
  69 elegant the code is, how it has little-to-no impact on the system load
  70 it monitors.  Go ahead and prove it; at this point he'll eagerly
  71 devour the volunteered 'ps' listing. He might get as far as the CPU
  72 usage number but chances are he'll notice the memory footprint first.
  73 If you're feeling very clever, set it up so that EMACS (a favorite
  74 target of a bloat-moaner) shows up in a nearby line for comparison
  75 purposes.  Plug your ears during the scream.<p>
  76
  77 Go ahead, sell tickets to the spectacle.  For the grand finale, offer
  78 him a copy!<p>
  79
  80 <p align=center><img src="battery.gif" border=0><p>
  81
  82 <h3>"Why name it 'the Moaning Goat Meter'?"</h3>
  83
  84 Long story, but there is a reason.  The short version is that a dying
  85 cooling fan (in this case in a SCSI disk enclosure) managed to do
  86 convincing impressions of an amarous goat during pauses in
  87 group conversation.<p>
  88
  89 This software is named after that fan.<p>
  90
  91 <h3>"I'm not an evil genius yet.  Will MGM make me cool?  Will it
  92 improve my hacking skills?"</h3>
  93
  94 You're kidding, right?
  95
  96 <h3>"What about my social life?"</h3>
  97
  98 The software equivalent of a depleted uranium lawn gnome?  Highly unlikely.
  99
 100 <h3>"What about the babes/hunks?  Will MGM get me the babes/hunks?"</h3>
 101
 102 I don't care to speculate.
 103
 104 <h3>"Why does MGM use so much memory?"</h3>
 105
 106 In one word, "Perl".  In a second word, "Tk".  The fact that the
 107 entire panel is rendered as pixmaps actually adds very little to the
 108 memory usage.  It will probably make some sense to go to a straight
 109 Perl/Xlib implementation at some point, but that would be for
 110 elegance, not practical benefit.  For the time being, Tk saved some
 111 extra work, and I have <a
 112 href="http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis.html">Real Work</a> to worry
 113 about<p>
 114
 115 On the upside, you know exactly why it's so damned big; it's not so
 116 much larger a memory footprint than, say, procmeter3.  Nor is MGM
 117 slow; despite the size, it's remarkably light-duty (unbelievably so if
 118 you consider it really is 100% written in Perl).
 119
 120 <p align=center>
 121 <img src=ps.gif><p>
 122
 123 <h3>"It's still absurdly large. It's bigger than Emacs! My pitiful little
 124 machine is swapping like a wounded moth!  Will you deal with memory
 125 usage in later versions?"</h3>
 126
 127 Here's a nickel.  Go buy more memory.
 128
 129 <h3>"Buy more memory?  That's your strategy to handle using way too much?"</h3>
 130
 131 It's half the strategy that's made Bill Gates $100B richer.
 132
 133 <h3>"That's... that's... so evil!"</h3>
 134
 135 Yes! <strong>Evil</strong> genius!  <STRONG>EVIL!</STRONG> What word
 136 in 'evil' is failing to sink in?  This software is an abomination in
 137 every sense of the word! Run it! Hug it! Feel the power of the Dark
 138 Side!<p>
 139
 140 <h3>"You're not going to start talking with a Slavic accent are you?"</h3>
 141
 142 Nyet.  But if you hear moaning goats followed by a musical apocalypse,
 143 that would be me with bagpipes.
 144
 145 <p>
 146
 147 <hr>
 148 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/">
 149 <img src="white-xifish.gif" align=left border=0>
 150 </a>
 151 <p>
 152 <font size=-2 color=#505050>
 153
 154 MGM will not get your whites whiter or your colors brighter.  It will,
 155 however, sit there and look spiffy while sucking down a major
 156 honking wad of RAM.<p>
 157
 158 MGM, Xiphophorus and their logos are trademarks (tm) of
 159 <a href="http://www.xiph.org/">Xiphophorus</a>.  These pages are
 160 copyright (C) 1994-1999 Xiphophorus. All rights reserved.<p>
 161
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