OPEN LINK ↗
// 51d agoOPENSOURCE RELEASE
LavaPS Modern returns with GTK3/Cairo port
LavaPS Modern revives John Heidemann’s 2004 Linux process monitor by replacing the dead GNOME2/libgnomecanvas rendering layer with GTK3 and Cairo while keeping the original blob physics, process scanning, and color behavior intact. The result is a nostalgic system monitor that shows every running process as a floating bubble, sized by memory use and rising speed by CPU load, now running on a Raspberry Pi 5 robot car as part of the Picar project.
// ANALYSIS
Nice resurrection project with real technical restraint: the hard part was not reinventing the app, but modernizing the UI stack without disturbing the simulation logic.
- –The port scope is clean: rendering was replaced, while the process model and physics stayed faithful to the original.
- –This reads as a strong open-source revival story, not a net-new product.
- –The robot-car demo adds personality and makes the project more shareable than a standard desktop port.
- –Likely appeal is highest for Linux, retro UI, and embedded tinkering audiences.
// TAGS
linuxgtk3cairoopensourceprocess-monitorraspberry-piretro-computingrobotics
DISCOVERED
51d ago
2026-04-06
PUBLISHED
51d ago
2026-04-06
RELEVANCE
7/ 10
AUTHOR
yayster