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Use Case: Linux Beginner Guide

You just installed RemoteX and you're not sure where to start. This guide is for you. You don't need to know any Linux commands — RemoteX already includes 34 ready-to-use buttons.

You already have 34 buttons

The first time RemoteX launches, it populates your grid with two categories of pre-built buttons:

  • Linux Essentials (20 buttons) — system information, network, disk, users, logs, and basic maintenance
  • Development (14 buttons) — git, docker, Python, Node, and system services

These buttons are ready to use right now. No setup needed.

What each default button does

Linux Essentials

Button What it shows you
Disk Usage How full each partition is (df -h)
Memory Usage RAM and swap usage (free -h)
CPU Load Current load averages (uptime)
Temperature CPU temperature if lm-sensors is installed
Running Processes All processes, sorted by CPU usage
Network Interfaces Your IP addresses and network cards
Active Connections Established TCP connections
Open Ports Services listening on your machine
Block Devices Hard drives, USB drives, partitions (lsblk)
Largest Directories Biggest folders under /
System Info Kernel version and Linux distribution
Logged-in Users Who is currently logged in
Last Logins Login history
Failed Services Services that have crashed or failed to start
System Journal Last 50 lines of the system log
Kernel Messages Hardware and driver messages (dmesg)
Clear Trash Empties your Trash folder
System Update Updates your system (works on Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch)
Reboot Reboots the computer
Shutdown Powers off the computer

!!! warning Reboot and Shutdown have Confirm before running enabled — a dialog will ask you to confirm before anything happens.

Development

Git Status · Git Log · Git Diff · Docker PS · Docker PS All · Docker Images · Docker Clean · Tail Syslog · Disk I/O · Python Version · Pip Outdated · Node Version · NPM Outdated · Listening Services

Start by clicking things

Click Disk Usage. A small dialog pops up with your filesystem information. Click Memory Usage. Try a few more.

You cannot break anything by clicking these buttons — they only read information. The two buttons that actually do something (Reboot and Shutdown) ask for confirmation first.

Hide the categories you don't need

If you don't do development, the Development category is just noise. You can hide it:

  1. Right-click the Development pill in the tab bar
  2. Click Hide category

The tab and all its buttons disappear from view. They are not deleted — you can bring them back any time via Preferences → Categories.

Customise a button name or color

The default button names are functional but generic. You can rename or recolor them to suit your style.

!!! note Editing default buttons requires RemoteX Pro. On the free tier, you can use, hide, and delete default buttons, but not edit them.

With Pro, right-click any button → Edit:

  • Change the Label to something friendlier (Disk Usage → How full is my disk?)
  • Pick a Color to make important buttons stand out
  • Change the Icon to one that makes sense to you

Create your first custom button

You get 3 free custom buttons. Here is an easy one to start:

  1. Press Ctrl+N (or click +)
  2. Label: My IP address
  3. Command: hostname -I
  4. Execution mode: Show output
  5. Click Save

Now you have a one-click way to see your local IP address.

What if a button shows an error?

Some buttons require software that may not be installed:

  • Temperature — needs lm-sensors (sudo apt install lm-sensors)
  • Docker buttons — need Docker installed
  • Development buttons for Python/Node — need those runtimes

If a command fails, an output dialog opens showing the exact error. Usually it is a missing package — copy the package name and install it.

Getting more out of RemoteX

Once you are comfortable with the defaults: