install Conky on Ubuntu 10.10

Conky is a free, light-weight system monitor for X, that displays any information on your desktop. You've seen it in many screenshots under various forms; take a look at this screenshots if you don't know what Conky is.

How to set up and use Conky Colors in Ubuntu

1)

For Ubuntu 10.04 or older only: Add the Conky PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:norsetto/ppa

sudo apt-get update

For any Ubuntu Version

sudo apt-get install conky-all

2. Install other required packages

You'll also need the following packages:

sudo apt-get install python-statgrab ttf-droid curl

Optional: if you want Conky to display your CPU / motherboard temperatures and hard disk, also install lm-sensors and hddtemp:

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors hddtemp

Now you need to configure lm-sensors. Run this in a terminal:

sudo sensors-detect

Then enter "y" for everything and run this to start the sensors:

sudo /etc/init.d/module-init-tools start

For hddtemp to work in Ubuntu 10.04, you need to run this command:

sudo chmod u+s /usr/sbin/hddtemp

And then reboot.

3. Download Conky Colors

4. Configure Conky Colors

a) Extract the downloaded archive (from step 3), use a terminal to navigate to the folder where you extracted it and run:

make

b) Now to see all the available options, use the following command:

./conky-colors --help

Then to set up everything, simply run "./conky-colors" followed by the options you want. Here is an example:

./conky-colors --lang=english --theme=ambiance --cpu=2 --cputemp --swap --updates --hdtemp1=sda --proc=3 --clock=modern --nvidia --calendar --m --network --rhythmbox=case --ubuntu

I used the command above to get Conky the way it looks in the screenshot in the beginning of the post.

There are many options available such as themes, Gmail, Rhythmbox (or other music players) plugins, network info, hard drive temperatures, available / used disk space, display images, weather, todo lists, battery status and lots more - like I said, to see them all, use "./conky-colors --help".

c) Once you are done, run the following command:

make install

d) Try it out. Run conky by pressing Alt + F2 and then type "conky" or type "conky" into a terminal. To close conky, if you run it from a terminal press Ctrl + C or type "killall conky".

5. save it in ur home folder "home/vishal/.conkyrc":

use_xft yes

xftfont verdana:size=8

alignment top_right

xftalpha 0.8

own_window yes

own_window_type override

own_window_transparent yes

own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

double_buffer yes

draw_shades no

draw_outline no

draw_borders no

stippled_borders 10

border_margin 4

border_width 1

default_shade_color grey

default_outline_color black

default_color BADCDD

use_spacer none

no_buffers yes

uppercase no

color1 F8DF58

TEXT

${color 6694B2}${font OpenLogos:size=45} u t

${font weather:size=28}x ${font}HDD ${execi 1 ~/scripts/hddmonit.sh}°C

${color ffffff}${font StyleBats:size=16}A${font} CPU0: ${cpu cpu0}% ${cpubar cpu0}

${font StyleBats:size=16}A${font} CPU1: ${cpu cpu1}% ${cpubar cpu1}

${color F8DF58}${font FreeSans:size=16}@${font}${execpi 300 python ~/scripts/gmail_parser.py username password 3}

${color C2E078}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=16}J${font} $mem / $memmax

${font StyleBats:size=18}P${font} Work: ${uptime_short}

${font Radio Space:size=14}${time %A %d %Y}

${font Radio Space:size=40}${time %H:%M}

${color ffffff}${font Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:style=Bold:size=13}${execpi 60 DJS=`date +%_d`; cal | sed '1d' | sed '/./!d' | sed 's/$/ /' | fold -w 21 | sed -n '/^.\{21\}/p' | sed 's/^/${alignc} /' | sed /" $DJS "/s/" $DJS "/" "'${color1}'"$DJS"'${color0}'" "/}

/*in place of usrname and password put ur gmail username n password to get email notification on ur desktop*/

6. Put Conky in your Startup applications

To run Conky when your computer starts, go to System > Preferences > Startup Applications, add a new startup application and under "Name" enter "conky" and under command, enter "~/.conkycolors/bin/conkyStar"


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