Conky (1.5.1) 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

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 yesown_window_type overrideown_window_transparent yesown_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

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

# fiddle with windowuse_spacer yesuse_xft no

# Update interval in secondsupdate_interval 3.0

# Minimum size of text area# minimum_size 250 5

# Draw shades?draw_shades no

# Text stuffdraw_outline no # amplifies text if yesdraw_borders nofont arialuppercase no # set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase

# Stippled borders?stippled_borders 3

# border marginsborder_margin 9

# border widthborder_width 10

# Default colors and also border colors, grey90 == #e5e5e5default_color grey

own_window_colour brownown_window_transparent yes

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

# Gap between borders of screen and textgap_x 10gap_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 ${hr 2}$colorRAM:   $memperc%   ${membar 6}$colorSwap:  $swapperc%   ${swapbar 6}$color

Root:  ${fs_free_perc /}%   ${fs_bar 6 /}$colorhda1:  ${fs_free_perc /media/hda1}%   ${fs_bar 6 /media/hda1}$colorhdb3:  ${fs_free_perc /media/hdb3}%   ${fs_bar 6 /media/hdb3}

${color orange}NETWORK (${addr eth0}) ${hr 2}$colorDown: $color${downspeed eth0} k/s ${alignr}Up: ${upspeed eth0} k/s${downspeedgraph eth0 25,140 000000 ff0000} ${alignr}${upspeedgraph eth025,140 000000 00ff00}$colorTotal: ${totaldown eth0} ${alignr}Total: ${totalup eth0}Inbound: ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count} Outbound: ${tcp_portmon 3276861000 count}${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

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