Post your .conkyrc files w/ screenshots

[Clicksights]

BTW i posted my config, almost finished here in the lua threat.
will post it here as soon as i have worked out the last bugs.

I do have a question, i googled but didn't find an answer....

i ran conky on my netbook connected to my 22' screen, everything worked perfect.
if i run it on the netbook screen, it gets to big and disappears some where in the bottom.
- is there a way to make conky fit in both situations?

tft has resolution of 1680x1050
NB has a resulotion of 1024x600 (no higher settings in ubuntu netbook been trying to find a solution, but after a week i think there is none...)

[akernan]

How are you connecting? Dynamic network, ad-hoc, permanent connection? Some connection types are just kinda... well... pointless to report in Conky.

I'm connected with managed wireless. I've tried different distros and wireless is always eth1 on this laptop.

[Clicksights]

@akernan


take a quick look at this post.
Wlourf solved my wireless problem, now my rings work.

[mrpeachy]

re network info needing root privileges
try this

in a terminal put

sudo visudo

type password and youll get something that looks like this at the top

# /etc/sudoers
#
# This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root.
#
# See the man page for details on how to write a sudoers file.
#

scroll down and you should see a line like this

# Members of the admin group may gain root privileges
%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

right below this add a line like this

%admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /sbin/iwconfig

ctrl+x to close, it will ask you if you want to save, type y, then enter to save at th next prompt

you might need to log off and back on again, even restart

now when you type

sudo iwconfig

into a terminal you wont need to put a password

now this doesnt solve the problem of conky objects not working unless conky is root... but now you can run sudo iwconfig (you still need the sudo) as an exec command in conky and line edit the info you want out

if no one else uses your computer and you dont want to type a password for any use of sudo you can add

%admin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

so for this info

eth1      IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:"home-net"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.442 GHz  Access Point: 00:18:39:89:20:E0   
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:24 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=-49 dBm  Noise level=-90 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:40  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

you sould need something like

${exec sudo iwconfig | grep "Bit Rate" | awk '{print $2}' | sed 's/Rate=//'}

[akernan]

@akernan


take a quick look at this post.
Wlourf solved my wireless problem, now my rings work.

Thanks. I'm using bargrapgh.lua, I think I found the appropriate line and it was the same as the post.

[akernan]

I figured it out. The conky wireless variables do not work but I modified a bash script I got. The bash script gets the wireless signal info from iwconfig. I then use the bargraph.lua script with conky exec variable and the bash scripts as arguments. I've attached the bash scripts & lua script. I'm not 100% sure of the max settings in the lua script.

Here's the updated files. Hopefully the bash scripts are more generic and work on any wireless interface. My wireless is eth1, hopefully the scripts work on others. I'm still not 100% sure of the signal/noise max in lua.

[42dorian]

BTW i posted my config, almost finished here in the lua threat.
will post it here as soon as i have worked out the last bugs.

I do have a question, i googled but didn't find an answer....

i ran conky on my netbook connected to my 22' screen, everything worked perfect.
if i run it on the netbook screen, it gets to big and disappears some where in the bottom.
- is there a way to make conky fit in both situations?

tft has resolution of 1680x1050
NB has a resulotion of 1024x600 (no higher settings in ubuntu netbook been trying to find a solution, but after a week i think there is none...)

You can't have the exact same Conky on both, the screen resolutions are far too different from eachother. Okay, that's not quite what I mean. You will have to adjust the sizing and spacing of all your variables so that they "Look" similar. But the exact same file on both devices? No. Different resolutions means you have less physical work area to display on. You can lay them out the same, have the same content, and derive them from the same code, but you will have to adjust one or the other so the spaces and font sizes fit the screen resolution.

Time to crash-course your Conky training, my friend! Good luck on the hunt! This may take you a while with some trial and error. Work one section at a time, take it slow. Keep trying until they fit. It's only spacing and sizes that you have to worry about. If you're using one of the bar graphs, you'll need to adjust the height and width, same with graphics, and you'll have to do the same inside your lua scripts. This only SOUNDS difficult. Remember, you're only looking for size variables. Font Sizes, Bar Graph settings, Lua Element Settings, and the odd voffset and goto command. You don't need to reprogram anything, just change some numbers.

Go at it!

[42dorian]

you sould need something like

${exec sudo iwconfig | grep "Bit Rate" | awk '{print $2}' | sed 's/Rate=//'}

@akernan

Don't do this. Conky and Sudo don't work well together. Once you solve your privileges problem with your wireless connection, your wireless variables will work normally again.

Sudo works fine within lua, but it's never a good combo with Conky. If you were having so much trouble having access to your connection before, trying to get Conky to sudo it's way to the data around your privileges' back is only going to get worse and more complicated.

Another trait of a systems guy like me. WE NEVER ADVOCATE NOT DOING THINGS PROPERLY, AND ALWAYS TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM INSTEAD OF WORKING AROUND IT. (Capitalized for emphasis, not emotional content.)

[akernan]

@akernan

Don't do this. Conky and Sudo don't work well together. Once you solve your privileges problem with your wireless connection, your wireless variables will work normally again.

Sudo works fine within lua, but it's never a good combo with Conky. If you were having so much trouble having access to your connection before, trying to get Conky to sudo it's way to the data around your privileges' back is only going to get worse and more complicated.

Another trait of a systems guy like me. WE NEVER ADVOCATE NOT DOING THINGS PROPERLY, AND ALWAYS TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM INSTEAD OF WORKING AROUND IT. (Capitalized for emphasis, not emotional content.)

Everyone, thanks for all the help!! Hope to get a solution sometime. I don't believe my configuration is borked as other people are having the same problem.

[42dorian]

No. I don't believe it's your configuration either. Not Conky anyways. Ubuntu and it's derivatives sometimes have trouble with user configurations for certain network setups. When you installed it, it assumed you had one setup, and also assumed you were a certain type of user. It installed things so as to work without you needing to adjust anything.

Now, if it wasn't for the fact that you've started using Conky, and it needs access to these systems, your wireless network would be perfect for you. But when push comes to shove, Linux is good for one major thing. Adaptability. You have moved beyond the type of user it assumed you were when you installed, and now it's time to TELL it as much.

I have zero experience with wireless networks in Linux, so I can't give you step-by-step instructions. But I can tell you that you, and everyone else with this problem, need to use a more advanced setup for your networking. You need to have administration rights, and you need to know what you're doing. You need to take control of the networking interface. Take ownership away from root, and give it to all users. Then, without needing to touch Conky, your variables will start to work for you as they are. It's when people are lazy about it that these problems come up. It "Just Works" and they think everything is fine. That's a bad attitude inherited by Linux users from Apple Fanboys. Linux is a very gritty operating system. Get your hands dirty and it'll do whatever you want it to do.

Technically, Bluetooth isn't supposed to be visible with Conky, and yet my Bluetooth adaptor works perfectly with it. I know this is possible. Just look up the sudoer's list, and superuser groups.