Summary
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Tux Manager recreates the Windows Task Manager on Linux with a familiar, polished UI.
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It is built with Qt for speed and low resource usage, and the developer intends to keep it that way.
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Tux Manager is available on GitHub with packages for major distributors, plus AUR access and a Nix flake.
Switching from Windows to Linux can be really liberating, but it’s easy to miss some of Microsoft’s subtleties. For example, some people who make the leap may find they miss Windows’ Task Manager. Linux distros usually have somewhat similar software that lets you do what you want to accomplish, but it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of Microsoft’s solution.
If you’ve recently moved and want to return to Task Manager, you’re in luck. Someone released Tux Manager, a more complete and in-depth tool designed to replicate it on Linux.
Tux Manager brings the familiarity of Task Manager to Linux
It looks great too
On the Linux subreddit, user petr_bena announced the general release of Tux Manager. As you can see from the image above, the main purpose of Tux Manager is to replicate the familiar Windows Task Manager in the world of open source operating systems. Honestly, looking at this screenshot, I think they got the look and feel right. Petr_bena says that the app is coded in Qt, which means it shouldn’t take up too much of your resources and will load really quickly.
Here are petr_bena’s progress design mantas for Tux Manager:
KISS – keep it simple stupid
Lean and clean codebase, minimal system footprint (low RAM and CPU usage)
Stability and reliability, easy debugging
No over-designed or unnecessary extra features
Simple packaging flow – should be one script or 1 line command for each packaging tool
Minimal dependencies on 3rd party libs other than Qt, so building anywhere should be trivial
Document everything well
If you want to read more about this project, see more screenshots of Tux Manager in action, or download it for yourself, head over to the project. GitHub page. There’s a package for all the common distros, an AUR entry, and even a Nix kernel, so you’re definitely spoiled for choice.
