Conky
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
1sudo apt-get install conky
- get a configuration example file (check a nicer one bellow)
1zcat /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
1#!/bin/bash
2sleep 20 && conky
- make sure the script is executable
1chmod a+x conky_start.sh
- try it
1conky_start.sh
- Go to System > Preferences > Sessions and add a new Startup Program with:
1Name: conky
2Command: /home/your_user/your_script_folder/conky_start.sh
3Comment: 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:
1# 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)#
2# 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
3# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)double_buffer yes
4# fiddle with windowuse_spacer yesuse_xft no
5# Update interval in secondsupdate_interval 3.0
6# Minimum size of text area# minimum_size 250 5
7# Draw shades?draw_shades no
8# Text stuffdraw_outline no # amplifies text if yesdraw_borders nofont arialuppercase no # set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
9# Stippled borders?stippled_borders 3
10# border marginsborder_margin 9
11# border widthborder_width 10
12# Default colors and also border colors, grey90 == #e5e5e5default_color grey
13own_window_colour brownown_window_transparent yes
14# Text alignment, other possible values are commented#alignment top_leftalignment top_right#alignment bottom_left#alignment bottom_right
15# Gap between borders of screen and textgap_x 10gap_y 10
16# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen
17TEXT$color${color orange}SYSTEM ${hr 2}$color$nodename $sysname $kernel on $machine
18${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} ${top mem 4}
19${color orange}MEMORY / DISK ${hr 2}$colorRAM: $memperc% ${membar 6}$colorSwap: $swapperc% ${swapbar 6}$color
20Root: ${fs_free_perc /}% ${fs_bar 6 /}$colorhda1: ${fs_free_perc /media/hda1}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/hda1}$colorhdb3: ${fs_free_perc /media/hdb3}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/hdb3}
21${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: ${tcp_portmon 1 65535 count}
22${color orange}LOGGING ${hr 2}$color${execi 30 tail -n3 /var/log/messages | fold -w50}
23${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
Flickering problem
If your have a flickering problem with conky add Load “dbe”, to your X11 configuration file. It should look like this:
1sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
1Section "Module"
2 Load "dbe"
3EndSection