Hello Ben.

The unit is configurable with [Shift]+[E] and you can write the configuration with [Shift]+[W].

You can switch between KiB, MiB, GiB, TiB, PiB and EiB.

NOTE: You can also switch the column units by pressing [e].

Please, let me know if that satisfies your needs.

Thank you.

Regards,
Jaromir.

First of all, it really isn't a question of whether it satisfies my needs.   The question is whether the default unit (KiB) satisfies the average user's needs.  

It's nice that you can reconfigure it to a better unit, but that is almost irrelevant -- IMHO it should be a goal for all software should work without reconfiguration in most cases.    Since it is reconfigurable, there is even less reason to hang onto the old default of KiB, since the few people who need the unit of kilobytes can still use it.  An increasing number of server configs will have > 100 GB RAM, and a decreasing number (zero?) will have < 10 MB RAM.  So I'm trying to propose the simplest solution for the developer.

Also, the display is just wrong when it is in units of KiB, see above.  Perhaps the unit of KiB should be disabled when the field is overflowing?

Hello Ben.

Please, propose the changes upstream. The 'top' tool is maintained by Jim Warner and I'm willing to backport the change once it appears in the upstream repository.

Thank you,
Jaromir.

Upstream plans to cover this issue in one of the next versions of the software.
https://gitlab.com/procps-ng/procps/issues/50

When it is ready, a backport patch can be expected.

Ben, if you like, you can simply create your own configuration the way you propose.

1. run top
2. press 'e' (to scale memory in Task Area to MiB)
3. press 'E' (to scale memory in Summary Area to MiB)
4. press 'W' to create/rewrite your own ~/.toprc file (Section 6b in top's manpage)

Next time you run top, your configs will be loaded.

You can also add colors by pressing 'z', "tree" tasks by pressing 'V' and add usage bars by pressing 't' for CPUs and 'm' for memory repeatedly to your liking.
This is, by the way, the look of "modern top".
Again, save the changes by hitting 'W'.

Cheers,

Jan

ok, I surrender ;-) I didn't realize that you could persist the settings or change the defaults (by copying the config file).  Anyway, as you said I think the default should change in the next major release.

(In reply to Ben England from comment #15)
> ok, I surrender ;-) I didn't realize that you could persist the settings or
> change the defaults (by copying the config file).  Anyway, as you said I
> think the default should change in the next major release.

Agreed :)
Working on it.