diff --git a/usr/lib/byobu/.shutil b/usr/lib/byobu/.shutil
index f02c017f..7261c983 100644
--- a/usr/lib/byobu/.shutil
+++ b/usr/lib/byobu/.shutil
@@ -36,3 +36,32 @@ find_script() {
 		_RET="/dev/null"
 	fi
 }
+
+# divide 2 integers and return a floating point number
+# third argument indicates how many digits after the decimal
+fpdiv() {
+	local a=$1 b=$2 pres=${3:-3}
+	local i=0 mp="10" whole="" part=""
+	while i=$(($i+1)) && [ $i -le $pres ]; do
+		mp="${mp}0"
+	done
+	whole=$(($a/$b))
+	part=$((((($a%$b)*${mp})/$b)))
+	if [ $part -eq 0 ]; then
+		part=$(($mp/10)); part=${part#1};
+	elif [ $((${part}%(${mp}/10))) -ge 5 ]; then
+		part=$(($part+5))
+	fi
+	_RET="${whole}.${part%?}"
+}
+
+# rtrim(string,chars)
+rtrim() {
+	local tab=' ' cr="
+"
+	local cur="${1}" set="[${2:- ${tab}${cr}}]" n=""
+	while n=${cur%${set}} && [ "$n" != "$cur" ]; do cur=${n}; done
+	_RET=${cur}
+}
+
+# vi: syntax=sh ts=4 noexpandtab
diff --git a/usr/lib/byobu/cpu_freq b/usr/lib/byobu/cpu_freq
index e8b3eab5..a79e003a 100755
--- a/usr/lib/byobu/cpu_freq
+++ b/usr/lib/byobu/cpu_freq
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
 fi
 
 if [ -r "/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq" ]; then
-	freq=$(awk '{ printf "%.1f", $1 / 1000000 }' /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq)
+	read hz < /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
+	fpdiv $hz "1000000" 1 # 1Ghz
+   freq="$_RET"
 else
 	if egrep -q -s -i -m 1 "^cpu MHz|^clock" /proc/cpuinfo; then
 		freq=$(egrep -i -m 1 "^cpu MHz|^clock" /proc/cpuinfo | awk -F"[:.]" '{ printf "%.1f", $2 / 1000 }')
diff --git a/usr/lib/byobu/disk_io b/usr/lib/byobu/disk_io
index 5a042697..d4d79626 100755
--- a/usr/lib/byobu/disk_io
+++ b/usr/lib/byobu/disk_io
@@ -20,20 +20,26 @@
 PKG="byobu"
 DATA="$HOME/.$PKG"
 color 2>/dev/null || color() { true; }
+getdisk() {
+	local t=""
+	if [ -L "${1}" ]; then
+		command -v greadlink >/dev/null && READLINK=greadlink || READLINK=readlink
+		t=$($READLINK -f "$1")
+	else
+		t="$1"
+	fi
+	t="${t##*/}";
+	rtrim "$t" "0-9"
+}
+
 [ "$UTF8" = "1" ] && ICON_RD="◀" || ICON_RD="<"
 [ "$UTF8" = "1" ] && ICON_WR="▶" || ICON_WR=">"
 
 # Default to disk providing /, but let users override with MONITORED_DISK
 [ -z "$MONITORED_DISK" ] && MP="/" ||  MP="$MONITORED_DISK"
-case $MP in
-	/dev/*) disk="$MP" ;;
-	*) disk=$(grep -m 1 " $MP " /etc/mtab | sed -e "s: .*$::") ;;
-esac
-which greadlink 2>/dev/null && READLINK="greadlink" || READLINK="readlink"
-disk=$($READLINK -f "$disk" | sed -e "s: .*$::" -e "s:^.*/::" -e "s:\([hsv]d[a-z]\)[0-9]*$:\1:")
 
 if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
-	if which iostat >/dev/null; then
+	if command -v >/dev/null; then
 		iostat -d -m -h
 	else
 		echo "Please install iostat if you want detailed information on your disk throughput"
@@ -41,6 +47,13 @@ if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
 	exit 0
 fi
 
+case "$MP" in
+	/dev/*) part="${MP}";;
+	*) part=$(awk '$2 == mp { print $1 ; exit(0); }' "mp=$MP" /etc/mtab);;
+esac
+getdisk "$part"
+disk=${_RET}
+
 [ -d "/var/run/screen/S-$USER" ] && DIR="/var/run/screen/S-$USER" || DIR="$DATA"
 t2=`date +%s`
 for i in "read" "write"; do
@@ -50,20 +63,21 @@ for i in "read" "write"; do
 	if [ $t2 -le $t1 ]; then
 		rate=0
 	else
-		x1=`cat "$cache"` 2>/dev/null || tx1=0
+		[ -r "$cache" ] && read x1 < "$cache" || x1=0
+		read a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6 a7 a8 a9 a10 other < "/sys/block/$disk/stat"
 		if [ "$i" = "read" ]; then
 			symbol="$ICON_RD"
-			x2=`awk '{print $3}' /sys/block/$disk/stat`
+			x2="$a3"
 		else
 			symbol="$ICON_WR"
-			x2=`awk '{print $7}' /sys/block/$disk/stat`
+			x2="$a7"
 		fi
 		echo "$x2" > "$cache"
-		rate=`echo "$t1" "$t2" "$x1" "$x2" | awk '{printf "%.0f", ($4 - $3) / ($2 - $1) * 512 / 1024 }'`
+		rate=$((($x2-$x1) / ($t2 - $t1) * 512 / 1024))
 		if [ "$rate" -lt 0 ]; then
 			rate=0
 		elif [ "$rate" -gt 1024 ]; then
-			rate=`echo "$rate" | awk '{printf "%.1f", $1/1024}'`
+			fpdiv "$rate" 1024 1
 			unit="MB/s"
 		fi
 	fi
diff --git a/usr/lib/byobu/load_average b/usr/lib/byobu/load_average
index afd3da3e..8341ac2e 100755
--- a/usr/lib/byobu/load_average
+++ b/usr/lib/byobu/load_average
@@ -24,5 +24,5 @@ if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
 	cat /proc/loadavg
 	exit 0
 fi
-
-color Y k; printf "%s" "$(awk '{print $1}' /proc/loadavg)"; color --
+read one five fifteen other < /proc/loadavg
+color Y k; printf "$one"; color --
diff --git a/usr/lib/byobu/network b/usr/lib/byobu/network
index 4e8348b1..15afdfbc 100755
--- a/usr/lib/byobu/network
+++ b/usr/lib/byobu/network
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ color 2>/dev/null || color() { true; }
 if [ -n "$MONITORED_NETWORK" ]; then
 	interface="$MONITORED_NETWORK"
 else
-	interface=`tail -n1 /proc/net/route  | awk '{print $1}'`
+	# get the last interface listed in /proc/net/route
+	while read cn other; do interface=$cn; done < /proc/net/route
 fi
 
 if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
@@ -48,24 +49,27 @@ for i in up down; do
 	if [ $t2 -le $t1 ]; then
 		rate=0
 	else
-		x1=`cat "$cache"` 2>/dev/null || tx1=0
-		if [ "$i" = "up" ]; then
-			x2=`grep -m1 "\b$interface:" /proc/net/dev | sed "s/^.*://" | awk '{print $9}'`
-		else
-			x2=`grep -m1 "\b$interface:" /proc/net/dev | sed "s/^.*://" | awk '{print $1}'`
-		fi
+		[ -r "$cache" ] && read x1 < "$cache" || tx1=0
+		while read iface rbytes rpackets rerrs rdrop rfifo rframe rcompressed rmulticast tbytes tpackets terrs tdrop tfifo tcolls tcarrier tcompressed; do
+			if [ "$iface" = "${interface}:" ]; then
+				[ "$i" = "up" ] && x2=${tbytes} || x2=${rbytes}
+				break;
+			fi
+		done < /proc/net/dev
 		echo "$x2" > "$cache"
-		rate=`echo "$t1" "$t2" "$x1" "$x2" | awk '{printf "%.0f", ($4 - $3) / ($2 - $1) / 1024 }'`
+		rate=$((($x2 - $x1) / ($t2 - $t1) / 1024))
 		if [ "$rate" -lt 0 ]; then
 			rate=0
 		fi
 		case "$NETWORK_UNITS" in
 			bytes)
 				if [ "$rate" -gt 1048576 ]; then
-					rate=`echo "$rate" | awk '{printf "%.1f", $1/1048576}'`
+					fpdiv "$rate" 1048576 1
+					rate=${_RET}
 					unit="GB/s"
 				elif [ "$rate" -gt 1024 ]; then
-					rate=`echo "$rate" | awk '{printf "%.1f", $1/1024}'`
+					fpdiv "$rate" 1024 1
+					rate=${_RET}
 					unit="MB/s"
 				else
 					unit="kB/s"
@@ -73,13 +77,15 @@ for i in up down; do
 			;;
 			*)
 				# Default to bps
-				rate=`echo "$rate" | awk '{printf "%.0f", $1*8}'`
+				rate=$(($rate*8))
 				# Why 1000 and not 1024?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_rate_units
 				if [ "$rate" -gt 1000000 ]; then
-					rate=`echo "$rate" | awk '{printf "%.1f", $1/1000000}'`
+					fpdiv "$rate" 1000000 1
+					rate=${_RET}
 					unit="Gbps"
 				elif [ "$rate" -gt 1000 ]; then
-					rate=`echo "$rate" | awk '{printf "%.1f", $1/1000}'`
+					fpdiv "$rate" 1000 1
+					rate=${_RET}
 					unit="Mbps"
 				fi
 			;;
diff --git a/usr/lib/byobu/uptime b/usr/lib/byobu/uptime
index 35ba6ca4..3de0c69d 100755
--- a/usr/lib/byobu/uptime
+++ b/usr/lib/byobu/uptime
@@ -28,15 +28,17 @@ if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
 	exit 0
 fi
 
-u=$(sed "s/\..*$//" /proc/uptime)
+read u idle < /proc/uptime
+u=${u%.*}
 color w b
 if [ "$u" -gt 86400 ]; then
-	echo "$u" | awk '{printf "%dd%dh", $1 / 86400, ($1 % 86400)/3600 }'
+	str="$(($u / 86400))d%$((($u % 86400) / 3600))h"
 elif [ "$u" -gt 3600 ]; then
-	echo "$u" | awk '{printf "%dh%dm", $1 / 3600, ($1 % 3600 )/60}'
+	str="$(($u / 3600))h$((($u % 3600) / 60))m"
 elif [ "$u" -gt 60 ]; then
-	echo "$u" | awk '{printf "%dm", $1 / 60 }'
+	str="$(($u / 60))m"
 else
-	printf "%ds" "$u"
+	str="${u}s"
 fi
+printf "%s" "${str}"
 color --
diff --git a/usr/lib/byobu/wifi_quality b/usr/lib/byobu/wifi_quality
index 7622e29d..e31007b6 100755
--- a/usr/lib/byobu/wifi_quality
+++ b/usr/lib/byobu/wifi_quality
@@ -26,14 +26,22 @@ if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
 	exit 0
 fi
 
-iwconfig=`/sbin/iwconfig $MONITORED_NETWORK 2>/dev/null`
-bitrate=`echo "$iwconfig" | grep "Bit Rate." | sed -e "s/^.*Bit Rate.//" -e "s/ .*$//g"`
+# iwconfig is expected to output lines like:
+#    Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power=15 dBm
+#    Link Quality=60/70  Signal level=-50 dBm
+# the awk below tokenizes the output and prints shell evalable results
+out=`iwconfig $MONITORED_NETWORK 2>/dev/null |
+	awk '$0 ~ /[ ]*Link Quality./ {
+   sub(/.*=/,"",$2); split($2,a,"/");
+   printf "quality=%.0f\n", 100*a[1]/a[2] };
+   $0 ~ /[ ]*Bit Rate/ { sub(/.*=/,"",$2); printf("bitrate=%s\n", $2); }
+   '`
+eval "$out"
+
 [ -z "$bitrate" ] && bitrate="0"
-quality=`echo "$iwconfig" | grep "Link Quality." | sed -e "s/^.*Link Quality.//" -e "s/ .*$//g"`
+
 if [ -z "$quality" ] || [ "$quality" = "0" ]; then
 	quality="0"
-else
-	quality=`echo "$quality" | awk -F/ '{printf "%.0f", 100*$1/$2}'`
 fi
 [ "$quality" = "0" ] && exit 0