Conky

Conky is an application that posts system monitoring info onto your Desktop. It is very light-weighted and very cool to play with.

Steps to install

• In the Terminal
  

• install conky
  

sudo apt-get install conky


• get a configuration example file (check a nicer one bellow)
  

zcat /usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conkyrc.sample.gz > ~/.conkyrc

• Run conky in the Terminal
  

• To have conky automatically start when you boot Ubuntu, do the following:
  

• create a script to run conky (vi conky_start.sh), with the following
  

#!/bin/bash
sleep 20 && conky

• make sure the script is executable
  

chmod a+x conky_start.sh

• try it
  

conky_start.sh

• Go to System > Preferences > Sessions and add a new Startup Program with:
  

• Name: conky
  

• Command: /home/your_user/your_script_folder/conky_start.sh
  

• Comment: Start conky
  

• Restart
  

To change the way conky displays information for you, you need to change the .conkyrc file in your home folder (Ctrl+H in Nautilus if you don't see it).

Here's a good configuration file to start, shared in Ubuntu Forums:

# UBUNTU-CONKY
# A comprehensive conky script, configured for use on
# Ubuntu / Debian Gnome, without the need for any external scripts.
#
# Based on conky-jc and the default .conkyrc.
# INCLUDES:
# - tail of /var/log/messages
# - netstat connections to your computer
#
# -- Pengo (conky@pengo.us)
#

# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)
own_window yes
own_window_type override
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes

# fiddle with window
use_spacer yes
use_xft no

# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 3.0

# Minimum size of text area
# minimum_size 250 5

# Draw shades?
draw_shades no

# Text stuff
draw_outline no # amplifies text if yes
draw_borders no
font arial
uppercase no # set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase

# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders 3

# border margins
border_margin 9

# border width
border_width 10

# Default colors and also border colors, grey90 == #e5e5e5
default_color grey

own_window_colour brown
own_window_transparent yes

# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
#alignment top_left
alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
#alignment bottom_right

# Gap between borders of screen and text
gap_x 10
gap_y 10

# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen

TEXT
$color
${color orange}SYSTEM ${hr 2}$color
$nodename $sysname $kernel on $machine

${color orange}CPU ${hr 2}$color
${freq}MHz   Load: ${loadavg}   Temp: ${acpitemp}
$cpubar
${cpugraph 000000 ffffff}
NAME             PID       CPU%      MEM%
${top name 1} ${top pid 1}   ${top cpu 1}    ${top mem 1}
${top name 2} ${top pid 2}   ${top cpu 2}    ${top mem 2}
${top name 3} ${top pid 3}   ${top cpu 3}    ${top mem 3}
${top name 4} ${top pid 4}   ${top cpu 4}    ${top mem 4}

${color orange}MEMORY / DISK ${hr 2}$color
RAM:   $memperc%   ${membar 6}$color
Swap:  $swapperc%   ${swapbar 6}$color

Root:  ${fs_free_perc /}%   ${fs_bar 6 /}$color
hda1:  ${fs_free_perc /media/hda1}%   ${fs_bar 6 /media/hda1}$color
hdb3:  ${fs_free_perc /media/hdb3}%   ${fs_bar 6 /media/hdb3}

${color orange}NETWORK (${addr eth0}) ${hr 2}$color
Down: $color${downspeed eth0} k/s ${alignr}Up: ${upspeed eth0} k/s
${downspeedgraph eth0 25,140 000000 ff0000} ${alignr}${upspeedgraph eth0
25,140 000000 00ff00}$color
Total: ${totaldown eth0} ${alignr}Total: ${totalup eth0}
Inbound: ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count} Outbound: ${tcp_portmon 32768
61000 count}${alignr}Total: ${tcp_portmon 1 65535 count}

${color orange}LOGGING ${hr 2}$color
${execi 30 tail -n3 /var/log/messages | fold -w50}

${color orange}FORTUNE ${hr 2}$color
${execi 120 fortune -s | fold -w50}

Tips

• Look for the free space file systems conf and change it to display your own filesystems

home: ${fs_free_perc /home}% ${fs_bar 6 /home}$color


• Check to see if your using eth0 as your network interface
  

${color orange}NETWORK (${addr eth0}) ${hr 2}$color

• The comments in the configuration file are very useful to get you started in your own conky setup
  

• Check the variables and config file settings available
• variables
• config file settings
  

Flickering problem

If your have a flickering problem with conky add Load "dbe", to your X11 configuration file. It should look like this:

sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
EndSection

Further reading:

• Conky Documentation
  


• Ubuntu Forums
  

last updated: 02-05-2008