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Getting Started - What is Linux? - Installing Ubuntu Site Navigation - Home - About - Recent News - Downloads Account - Login - Register - Logout Search Other Links	Latest News Conky - System Monitor March 27th, 2008 Conky is an application that I love to have running whenever I'm using my computer. Its pretty much eyecandy that gives you that geeky/cool look for your desktop, but I guess it can be pretty useful too. Basically what it does is show system monitoring information on your desktop, such as the amount of memory you are using, how fast your CPU is running, etc. It also has a transparent background, making it seem like its part of your desktop wallpaper. That picture shows conky running in the top right coner of the screen. For the most part it is very easy to install. If you are running Ubuntu you can simply go to the main menu -> System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager. Scroll down the list of programs until you find conky, check the box and install it. At the time of this writing conky is at version 1.4.7 in the package manager, but i believe there is a newer version available on the Conky Website if you want the upgrade. I use version 1.4.7 myself and it works like a charm. Now that we have conky installed we need to customize it how we want. Conky's configuration file is just found in your home folder, but it is a hidden file. To find it you need to click the View menu at the top of the File Browser and select Show Hidden Files. The file is called ".conkyrc". If you don't have this file in your home folder you can simply create one yourself. Inside of this file is where you need to put your configuration. Here is one to get you started: # set to yes if you want Conky to be forked in the background background no cpu_avg_samples 2 net_avg_samples 2 out_to_console no # X font when Xft is disabled, you can pick one with program xfontsel #font 7x12 #font 6x10 #font 7x13 #font 8x13 #font 7x12 #font *mintsmild.se* #font -*-*-*-*-*-*-34-*-*-*-*-*-*-* #font -artwiz-snap-normal-r-normal-*-*-100-*-*-p-*-iso8859-1 # Use Xft? use_xft yes # Xft font when Xft is enabled xftfont Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:size=8 own_window_transparent no own_window_colour hotpink # Text alpha when using Xft xftalpha 0.8 on_bottom yes # mail spool mail_spool $MAIL # Update interval in seconds update_interval 1 # Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus) own_window no # Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone) double_buffer no # Minimum size of text area #minimum_size 280 5 #maximum_width 150 # Draw shades? draw_shades no # Draw outlines? draw_outline no # Draw borders around text draw_borders no # Stippled borders? stippled_borders 10 # border margins border_margin 4 # border width border_width 1 # Default colors and also border colors default_color white default_shade_color white default_outline_color white # Text alignment, other possible values are commented #alignment top_left #minimum_size 10 10 gap_x 13 gap_y 13 #alignment top_right alignment bottom_left #alignment bottom_right # Gap between borders of screen and text # Add spaces to keep things from moving about? This only affects certain objects. use_spacer no # Subtract file system buffers from used memory? no_buffers yes # set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase uppercase no # boinc (seti) dir # seti_dir /opt/seti # Possible variables to be used: # # Variable Arguments Description # acpiacadapter ACPI ac adapter state. # acpifan ACPI fan state # acpitemp ACPI temperature. # adt746xcpu CPU temperature from therm_adt746x # adt746xfan Fan speed from therm_adt746x # battery (num) Remaining capasity in ACPI or APM # battery. ACPI battery number can be # given as argument (default is BAT0). # buffers Amount of memory buffered # cached Amount of memory cached # color (color) Change drawing color to color # cpu CPU usage in percents # cpubar (height) Bar that shows CPU usage, height is # bar's height in pixels # downspeed net Download speed in kilobytes # downspeedf net Download speed in kilobytes with one # decimal # exec shell command Executes a shell command and displays # the output in torsmo. warning: this # takes a lot more resources than other # variables. I'd recommend coding wanted # behaviour in C and posting a patch :-). # execi interval, shell Same as exec but with specific interval. # command Interval can't be less than # update_interval in configuration. # fs_bar (height), (fs) Bar that shows how much space is used on # a file system. height is the height in # pixels. fs is any file on that file # system. # fs_free (fs) Free space on a file system available # for users. # fs_free_perc (fs) Free percentage of space on a file # system available for users. # fs_size (fs) File system size # fs_used (fs) File system used space # hr (height) Horizontal line, height is the height in # pixels # i2c (dev), type, n I2C sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). dev # may be omitted if you have only one I2C # device. type is either in (or vol) # meaning voltage, fan meaning fan or temp # meaning temperature. n is number of the # sensor. See /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ on # your local computer. # kernel Kernel version # loadavg (1), (2), (3) System load average, 1 is for past 1 # minute, 2 for past 5 minutes and 3 for # past 15 minutes. # machine Machine, i686 for example # mails Mail count in mail spool. You can use # program like fetchmail to get mails from # some server using your favourite # protocol. See also new_mails. # mem Amount of memory in use # membar (height) Bar that shows amount of memory in use # memmax Total amount of memory # memperc Percentage of memory in use # new_mails Unread mail count in mail spool. # nodename Hostname # outlinecolor (color) Change outline color # pre_exec shell command Executes a shell command one time before # torsmo displays anything and puts output # as text. # processes Total processes (sleeping and running) # running_processes Running processes (not sleeping), # requires Linux 2.6 # shadecolor (color) Change shading color # stippled_hr (space), Stippled (dashed) horizontal line # (height) # swapbar (height) Bar that shows amount of swap in use # swap Amount of swap in use # swapmax Total amount of swap # swapperc Percentage of swap in use # sysname System name, Linux for example # time (format) Local time, see man strftime to get more # information about format # totaldown net Total download, overflows at 4 GB on # Linux with 32-bit arch and there doesn't # seem to be a way to know how many times # it has already done that before torsmo # has started. # totalup net Total upload, this one too, may overflow # updates Number of updates (for debugging) # upspeed net Upload speed in kilobytes # upspeedf net Upload speed in kilobytes with one # decimal # uptime Uptime # uptime_short Uptime in a shorter format # # seti_prog Seti@home current progress # seti_progbar (height) Seti@home current progress bar # seti_credit Seti@hoome total user credit # variable is given either in format $variable or in ${variable}. Latter # allows characters right after the variable and must be used in network # stuff because of an argument #${font Dungeon:style=Bold:pixelsize=10}I can change the font as well #${font Verdana:size=10}as many times as I choose #${font Perry:size=10}Including UTF-8, #${font Luxi Mono:size=10}justo como este texto que o google traduz fêz o português # stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen #${font Grunge:size=12}${time %a %b %d}${alignr -25}${time %k:%M} TEXT $nodename - $sysname $kernel on $machine $stippled_hr ${color lightgrey}Uptime:$color $uptime ${color lightgrey}- Load:$color $loadavg ${color lightgrey}CPU Usage:${color #5000a0} ${cpu}% ${cpubar} ${color black}${cpugraph 000000 5000a0} ${color lightgrey}RAM Usage:$color $mem/$memmax - $memperc% $membar ${color lightgrey}Swap Usage:$color $swap/$swapmax - $swapperc% ${swapbar} ${color lightgrey}Processes:$color $processes ${color grey}Running:$color $running_processes $color$stippled_hr ${color lightgrey}Networking: Down:${color #8844ee} ${downspeed eth0} k/s${color lightgrey} ${offset 70}Up:${color #22ccff} ${upspeed eth0} k/s ${color black}${downspeedgraph eth0 32,150 ff0000 0000ff} $alignr${color black}${upspeedgraph eth0 32,150 0000ff ff0000} ${color lightgrey}File systems: / $color${fs_used /}/${fs_size /} ${fs_bar /} ${color lightgrey}Temperatures: CPU:$color ${i2c temp 2}C${color grey} - MB:$color ${i2c temp 1}C ${font Dungeon:style=Bold:pixelsize=12}${color #88aadd}MPD: ${alignc}$mpd_artist - $mpd_title ${color #88aadd}$mpd_bar ${color #88aadd}${alignc}$mpd_status ${color}Name PID CPU% MEM% ${color #ddaa00} ${top name 1} ${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1} ${top mem 1} ${color lightgrey} ${top name 2} ${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 2} ${color lightgrey} ${top name 3} ${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 3} ${color}Mem usage ${color #ddaa00} ${top_mem name 1} ${top_mem pid 1} ${top_mem cpu 1} ${top_mem mem 1} ${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 2} ${top_mem pid 2} ${top_mem cpu 2} ${top_mem mem 2} ${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 3} ${top_mem pid 3} ${top_mem cpu 3} ${top_mem mem 3} And here is the one I made and use: # 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 yes # 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 Zekton Bold:size=7 uppercase no # set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase # Stippled borders? stippled_borders 0 # border margins border_margin 9 # border width border_width 1 # Default colors and also border colors, grey90 == #446688 default_color ffffff 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 #dddddd}Monitoring $nodename Uptime: $uptime $color CPU 1: ${cpu cpu1}% [${freq cpu1}MHz] ${cpubar cpu1} CPU 2: ${cpu cpu2}% [${freq cpu2}MHz] ${cpubar cpu2}$color RAM: $memperc% [$mem/$memmax] $membar$color Swap: $swapperc% $swapbar$color Disk: ${fs_used_perc /} % $fs_bar$color Net Down: ${downspeed eth0}k/s Total: ${totaldown eth0} ${downspeedgraph eth0 25,370 000000 89C1F4} Net Up: ${upspeed eth0}k/s Total:${totalup eth0} ${upspeedgraph eth0 25,370 000000 89C1F4}$color Inbound: ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count} Outbound: ${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 count} Total: ${tcp_portmon 1 65535 count} IP: ${addr eth0} I know it can look somewhat intimidating, but look over those scripts for a little while and I'm sure you can figure out how they work. Everything that has a "#" before it is just a comment to help you out. My script is a lot shorter than the first one, but the first one may do a better job of explaining what is going on. If you figure out how to work the scripts you can check out a full list of variables at the Conky Website. Now we want to run conky and see how it looks. open up a terminal and simply type in "conky" without the quotes and it should pop up. When you close the terminal conky will dissappear, but this is a good way to continue editing the .conkyrc file and checking out what it looks like. When you get it how you like and want it to stay up for good hit Alt + F2 and type in "conky" without the quotes. The next thing you probably want to do is getting conky to startup when you turn your computer on, however I'll probably save this for another tutorial. The reason being that sometimes people run into the problem of Conky loading before the wallpaper does, and therefore the wallpaper gets drawn on top of conky. If you really want to know the work around right now you can check out the Ubuntu forum. Wells thats about it for now. Whats great about Conky is that you can actually set it up to read RSS feeds, check your email, display the weather, and all kinds of other things, but i'm going to save that for another tutorial. First things first, and that is getting conky to work. Still having problems? Check out the Conky FAQs. Comments Type Your Comment Here. You must be logged in to comment.