From the README:
Lavaps is an interactive process-tracking program like “top”,
but with a much different attitude. Rather than presenting lots of
specific info in digital form, it tries to present certain important
information in a graphical analog form. The idea is that you can
run it in the background and get a rough idea of what’s happening
to your system without devoting much concentration to the task.
Lavaps was inspired by Mark Weiser’s idea of calm computing in
this paper:
“The Coming Age of Calm Technology” by Mark Weiser
and John Seely Brown. A revised version of Weiser &
Brown. “Designing Calm Technology”, PowerGrid Journal, v 1.01,
http://powergrid.electriciti.com/1.01 (July 1996). October,
1996. http://www.ubiq.com/hypertext/weiser/acmfuture2endnote.htm.
(This program dedicated to the memory of M.W.–I hope you would have
thought it a good hack.)
Author: John Heidemann <>
