REDDIT · REDDIT// 6d 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

6d ago

2026-04-06

PUBLISHED

6d ago

2026-04-06

RELEVANCE

7/ 10

AUTHOR

yayster