Listing: tl

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
$|++;

my $host=`/bin/hostname`;
chomp $host;

while(1) {

open(LOAD,"/proc/loadavg") || die "Couldn't open /proc/loadavg: $!\n";

my @load=split(/ /,<LOAD>);
close(LOAD);

print "\033]0;";
print "$host: $load[0] $load[1] $load[2] at ", scalar(localtime);
print "\007";

sleep 2;
}

When you'd like to have your titlebar replaced with the name, load average, and current time of the machine you're logged into, just run tl&. It will happily go on running in the background, even if you're running an interactive program like vim. If you have your titlebar already set to show the current working directory, no problem. When you cd, the current working directory is flashed momentarily, and then replaced with the time and load average again. Need to see that directory one more time? Just hit Enter on a blank line, and it will flash again.

Now instead of spreading terminals around and completely covering your desktop, you can stack a pile of them together (leaving only your titlebars showing), and enjoy an "at a glance" view of how hard each machine is working. When you need to work on a machine, just bring that window to the foreground, and immediately begin working. Of course, this is all available to you without installing a single piece of software on your local machine.

When you're finished, don't forget to killall tl before logging out. Or if you're terminally lazy, try this:

$ echo 'killall tl > /dev/null 2>&1' >> ~/.bash_logout

That will kill all of your running tl jobs on logout, without even having to lift a finger. System administration just keeps getting easier, doesn't it?