Howto: Get a beautiful Conky 1.4.2 setup

[seldon77]

Note: this thread is for setting up Conky on older versions of Ubuntu (EDGY, DAPPER and BREEZY). For current Ubuntu versions (Hardy and Ibex, etc), go to: see this How-to instead


FOR EDGY, DAPPER, and BREEZY. NOTE: conky in current versions of Ubuntu is now fixed and up to date, and can be installed from the standard repo. afaik, you only need to install, insert a .conkyrc file similar to the one below, and afaik there is no longer a place in xorg.conf to load the 'dbe' module. Read later discussion for more info or if someone can update me at conky@pengo.us on the latest instructions for later versions I'll put them up, as a lot of people seem to use this thread.

Conky is an powerful desktop app that posts system monitoring info onto the root window. It is hard to set up properly (has unlisted dependencies, special command line compile options, and requires a mod to xorg.conf to stop it from flickering, and the apt-get version doesnt work properly). Most people can't get it working right, but its an AWESOME app if it can be set up right done!

With Version 1.4.2 there is no longer a need to load devilspie to hide the taskbar window.

Screenshot:

1. Install required dependencies (make sure the universe repo is enabled)
Edgy/Breezy/Dapper:

    sudo apt-get --assume-yes install wmctrl

If you want to build from scratch, also install libxext-dev build-essential checkinstall

2. Edgy: Install 'conky' from universe repo. ie:

    sudo apt-get --assume-yes install conky

Dapper / Breezy: Download http://www.pengo.us/conky_1.4.2-0ubuntu1_i386.deb PLEASE DON'T LINK TO THIS FILE, as it's only on very limited bandwidth! ie:

cd
wget http://www.pengo.us/conky_1.4.2-0ubuntu1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i conky_1.4.2-0ubuntu1_i386.deb

This is a .deb file for Conky 1.4.2 now that works on Breezy/Dapper Ubuntu (the standard Debian 1.4.2 .deb doesn't work). Note that at the time of writing this how-to, the conky in the dapper ubuntu universe repository is very old and, in ways, broken.

Note that at the time of writing, version 1.4.2 is the latest version. If a later version has been released since the writing of this guide, you can build your own conky .deb file as follows. First, go to http://conky.sourceforge.net/ to download the latest version.

wget http://umn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/conky/conky-1.4.2.tar.gz

        tar xvzf conky-1.4.2.tar.gz
        rm conky-1.4.2.tar.gz
        cd ~/conky-1.4.2
        ./configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --datadir=/usr/share --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var/lib --enable-xft --enable-seti --enable-double-buffer --enable-own-window --enable-proc-uptime --enable-mpd --enable-mldonkey --enable-x11 --enable-portmon --enable-infopipe
        make
        sudo checkinstall

Then answer the relevant questions that checkinstall gives. But, as stated above, you may only need to download the source and make it if this guide has become outdated and versions after 1.4.2 have been released.

3. Make a configuration file in your home directory (ie. /home/bob)

gedit /home/bob/.conkyrc

4. Paste the following code into the file and save / exit. If you know what you are doing, you can edit this file, or download other example configuration file on the net (but this one is probably the best!).

# 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 shows number of connections from your computer and application/PID making it. Kill spyware!
#
# -- Pengo
# 
 
# 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 right

# Use Xft?
use_xft yes
xftfont DejaVu Sans:size=8
xftalpha 0.8
text_buffer_size 2048
 
# 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
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/sda1}%   ${fs_bar 6 /media/sda1}$color
 
${color orange}NETWORK (${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}
${execi 30 netstat -ept | grep ESTAB | awk '{print $9}' | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr}
${color orange}LOGGING ${hr 2}$color
${execi 30 tail -n3 /var/log/messages | awk '{print " ",$5,$6,$7,$8,$9,$10}' | fold -w50}
 
${color orange}FORTUNE ${hr 2}$color
${execi 120 fortune -s | fold -w50}

If the network connections graph does not work, you will have to change all "eth0" references to "ppp0" (for modem) or "ath0" (for some other devices).

5. Add dbe module to /etc/X11/xorg.conf to reduce flickering.

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

find the section titled Section "Module", and add

        Load    "dbe"

6. Go to System, Preferences, Sessions, Startup Programs and add 'conky' to the list of start up progams. Reboot. Conky will be active after your next reboot!

NOTE: Kubuntu users ONLY make the following changes:
Open .conkyrc and comment out the lines

own_window yes

own_window_hints undecorated,below,skip_taskbar
background yes

Since we don't use nautilus in Kubuntu, we don't need it.

Also, to get Conky to autostart in Kubuntu, you need to add a link to the bin file (in /usr/bin) to

~/.kde/Autostart

For XFCE ONLY make the following changes to .conkyrc

own_window yes

own_window_type override
own_window_transparent yes

For Compiz / AIGLX users ONLY please make these changes:
In .conkyrc

own_window yes

own_window_type override
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

Then (Compiz users) place a startup script called .conky_start.sh in your home directory:

#!/bin/bash

sleep 60 && conky;

This would start conky after 60 seconds of your login. That way, compiz doesn't draw shadows around conky. Make sure the script is executable:

chmod a+x .conky_start.sh

and add it to your startup programs (menu: system->preferences->session->startup programs).