How To Install And Use Stacer On Linux
Stacer is a Linux app that gives users a dashboard for monitoring your PC’s memory, CPU usage, disk usage, and more. It also gives users the ability to manage startup applications, clean unwanted junk files, kill individual processes, uninstall specific packages on the system, and even control installed software repositories.
SPOILER ALERT: Scroll down and watch the video tutorial at the end of this article.
To get the Stacer app, you must be running Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Arch Linux (or use the official standalone AppImage).
Ubuntu Instructions
Installing Stacer on Ubuntu is possible via an external software repository. Open up a terminal window to add the repository.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oguzhaninan/stacer
Now that the PPA is on your system, you’ll need to update Ubuntu so that the system sees the new PPA. Don’t worry; there’s no need to download and install updates, just a quick refresh.
sudo apt update
With the software sources up to date, it’s time to install Stacer on Ubuntu.
sudo apt install stacer
Keep in mind that because you’re installing the Stacer app via an external software repository, it will always be up to date, and updates to the software will come with regular system updates.
Tried out the app but decided you don’t want it? Remove the Stacer tool from Ubuntu at any time with:
sudo apt remove stacer -y
Debian Instructions
Debian and Ubuntu are similar in a lot of ways. That said, PPAs only really work correctly with Ubuntu, and thus Debian users will need to install the software differently. There isn’t currently any available Debian-only repos one can add to the Debian source file. Instead, head over here and download the latest Stacer Debian package, and double-click on it to start the installation.
Double-clicking on it should automatically open up the Deb in the Debian GUI package installation tool. From there just click “Install package,” enter your password, and everything should be good to go.
Want to install the Stacer app to Debian via the terminal instead? Open up a terminal, and start off by using cd to move the terminal to the ~/Downloads folder. Then, use the ls command to reveal the package.
cd ~/Downloads ls *.deb sudo dpkg -i stacer_*_amd64.deb
Since installing this package is done manually, Debian users will not be able to experience regular updates. To solve this, consider bookmarking the release page, and checking on it every month.
Uninstall Stacer from Debian with:
sudo apt-get remove stacer
or
Double-click on the downloaded Deb package file and click “remove package” in the GUI package installer tool.
Arch Linux Instructions
There aren’t any native packages available for the Stacer system monitoring tool on Arch Linux. Instead, users that want to take advantage of all of the neat Linux system monitoring tools on Arch will need to use the AUR package. The AUR package builds the program from source, ensuring greater compatibility (instead of de-compiling an RPM or DEB package).
To start the building process on Arch, start out by opening up a terminal and using the Git tool to pull the latest version of the package.
Note: make sure you have the “git” package installed, or this process will not work.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/stacer.git
Using the CD command, move the terminal into the Stacer folder.
cd stacer
Start the build process with the makepkg command. Be sure to add -si to the end of this command, to tell your system to install all available, missing dependencies automatically. Using these flags will also cause Arch to install Stacer automatically when the build is complete.
makepkg -si
Fedora Instructions
The developers of the app are a bit slow when it comes to the RPM version of their program. Currently, the latest version users can download version 1.0.8. To install it, download the RPM file here. Once downloaded, double-click on the file to open it up in the Fedora package installation tool. Click “install,” enter your password, and you should be good to go.
Alternatively, install the program via terminal by doing:
cd ~/Downloads sudo dnf -y install stacer-1.0.8_x64.rpm
Remove Stacer from fedora with:
sudo dnf remove stacer
Suse instructions
Open SUSE doesn’t have any official support from the developers but considering that they use RPM packages, it can’t hurt to install it. Grab the RPM here, and install either with Zypper and terminal:
cd ~/Downloads sudo zypper install stacer-1.0.8_x64.rpm
Alternatively, double-click on the RPM package to open it in the Suse GUI installer.
Remove Stacer from Suse with:
sudo zypper remove stacer
Using Stacer
When you launch the app, it’ll open up a dashboard where you can see your entire system’s information at a glance. It shows the CPU usage, RAM usage, and Disk usage in donut graphs. In addition to this, it has a “System Info” section, that tells you your Linux PC’s hostname, the platform it is running on, your Linux distribution, Kernel release, CPU Model, CPU Core count, and CPU speed (if that information is detectable).
This dashboard is great looking up system information at a glance, but if you need to do more in-depth system management, go to the side-bar and click on the moving window icon. In this area, you’ll be able to look at programs running on your Linux PC easily, sort processes by memory/CPU usage, and even kill them.
To end a process in Stacer, highlight it and click “End Process.”
Manage Software
The Stacer tool is much more than a task manager and system information tool. Did you know you can also use it to control the software installed on your PC? To uninstall software, click on the disk icon. In this area, scroll through the list and click the checkbox next to the software you want to remove. Click “uninstall selected” to remove it. Alternatively, use the search box to filter software.
Manage Software Repos
Stacer can uninstall software and it can also manage the software repositories on your Linux PC as well. To control the software repositories, click the box icon. From here, use the browser to click the slider from green to red. Green means that the software repository is turned on. Red means off.
Note: delete any software repository by highlighting one, then click “delete.”
It is also possible to add a new software repository by clicking “Add Repository.”
Manage System Services
Lastly, another impressive feature that the app offers up is the ability to turn off, or even disable system services with a click. Have a problem with Bluetooth and want to turn it off? Simply click the slider. Suffice it to say; the app makes it super easy to turn just about anything on your Linux PC off if you so choose.
Please keep in mind that only advanced users should be turning system services on and off. Don’t mess with it if you don’t know what you’re doing, as it could seriously break something.
The system services manager in Stacer can be found by clicking on the gear icon.
