Windows
Linux
Services & Processes
Processes
Windows taskmgr (Task Manager) equivalent in Linux
Opens a real-time interactive view of CPU, memory, disk, and network usage with process management.
Windows
→
taskmgr (Task Manager)
Linux equivalents
htop / btop
htop / btop
htop / btop
Overview
What this command does
Opens a real-time interactive view of CPU, memory, disk, and network usage with process management.
Migration tip: btop is visually impressive — it shows CPU, memory, disk, and network graphs together. htop is the classic choice and is almost always available. Both install via apt.
Practical tasks
Common use cases
Interactive process and resource monitor
Opens a real-time interactive view of CPU, memory, disk, and network usage with process management.
htop
Interactive process viewer (most popular)
btop
Beautiful resource monitor with graphs
top
Built-in basic monitor (always available)
Ready to run
Copyable Linux commands
Review paths, device names, package names and permissions before running any command.
sudo apt install htop
htop
sudo apt install btop
btop
Walkthrough
Examples with explanations
# Windows: Ctrl+Shift+Esc (Task Manager)
sudo apt install htop
htop
F5=tree F9=kill F6=sort q=quit
# Modern alternative:
sudo apt install btop
btopReference
Common options and variations
| Command or option | Use |
|---|---|
htop | Interactive process viewer (most popular) |
btop | Beautiful resource monitor with graphs |
top | Built-in basic monitor (always available) |
gnome-system-monitor | GUI Task Manager (GNOME) |
Distro differences
Debian/Ubuntu vs Fedora vs Arch
This command is the same on Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch Linux when the relevant tool is installed.
| Distribution | Package manager / base | Equivalent command | Difference to notice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian/Ubuntu | same command | htop / btop |
Same command on this distribution. |
| Fedora | same command | htop / btop |
Same command on this distribution. |
| Arch | same command | htop / btop |
Same command on this distribution. |
Keep learning