[sf-lug] ps -A | grep timidity

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Christian Einfeldt (einfeldt at gmail.com):

[the irony of a multi-user systems' users all launching "top" to check
for performance problems, and thus bringing the machine to its knees]

> Thanks for this info.  I didn't know this.  Question:  it seems you
> are saying that top is only a problem if you have several users
> running it.  For example, at our lab, it seems our relatively modest
> server reports around 3.5% CPU usage for one instance of top.  You
> mentioned a dozen, so that probably does not apply to us, I'm
> guessing.

Certainly, I don't think you're likely to clobber a server from 4-5
users running "top", unless it was running the ragged edge of collapse
already.  Load is load, generally.  Some load is good, because that's
why you saved up the bucks for, not because Mister Computer looks great
in your living room.  Too much is bad, because then the magic smoke[0]
spills out, and like that....

> Also, is this different from other resource-heavy apps such as OOo?

I am not sure I understand this question.  Are you anticipating a
scenario where a half-dozen or more users are all running OOo on a
single *ix host simultaneously?

As to system loading, there is nothing magical about either OOo or top:
Each wants a grab-bag of hardware support, and thus imposes load.  If
work gets done in less than geologic time, everyone goes home happy and
Mister Computer helps earn the rent.  Don't think too deeply about the
hows and whys, or you risk becoming a system administrator, spend time 
in Scary Devil Monastery[1], constructing Last Day Cables, keeping a
laser-aimed LART balanced on your monitor, and so on.  ;->

[0] http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/M/magic-smoke.html
[1] If your fingers know the finger pattern for "Yvahk", you're probably 
    already spending too much time on ASR.