Linux:software:conky
From Linux How-To Repository
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The Excellent Conky
With Conky you can display machine stats on your desktop in various ways. Simply install it via the Synaptic Package Manager.
Links
Conky Homepage: http://conky.sourceforge.net/
Ubuntu Forums: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=205865
Howtoforge: http://howtoforge.com/conky_system_monitor_on_ubuntu704
Load at Startup
Go to System > Preferences > Sessions > Startup Programs and add 'Conky' to the list. Conky will be active after your next reboot!
Compiz may draw unwanted shadows around your display, in which case start Conky with a script. Just create a script in your home directory:
gedit .conky_start.sh
Make sure it is executable:
chmod a+x .conky_start.sh
Inside the script file put this:
#!/bin/bash sleep 10 && conky;
This will start conky after 60 seconds from your login. Actually, 10 seconds works for me.
Go to System > Preferences > Sessions > Startup Programs and edit the Conky startup command so that it contains the path to the script.
Basic Configuring
First make a configuration file in your home directory:
gedit /home/username/.conkyrc
Now all you do is paste the configuration code in it. Some example code is found here:
/usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conkyrc.sample.gz
However, you can get better ready-made code elsewhere, such as those submitted by users on forums or the Conky Homepage.
Paste the settings into the file and save. The configuration settings are pretty easy to follow. Just look at the TEXT part to figure it out. Once you change something, open a terminal and run this to reload and test your changes:
killall -SIGUSR1 conky
Here is an example from the Ubuntu forums (from a user called Pengo):
# 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)
#
# 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 no
# 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 arial
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/hda1}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/hda1}$color
hdb3: ${fs_free_perc /media/hdb3}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/hdb3}
${color orange}NETWORK (${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}
Inbound: ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count} Outbound: ${tcp_portmon 32768
61000 count}${alignr}Total: ${tcp_portmon 1 65535 count}
${color orange}LOGGING ${hr 2}$color
${execi 30 tail -n3 /var/log/messages | fold -w50}
${color orange}FORTUNE ${hr 2}$color
${execi 120 fortune -s | fold -w50}
If the network connections graph does not work, change all "eth0" references to appropriate devices, i.e. "ppp0" (for modem) or "ath0" (for some other devices).
For testing, simply run the conky script you made from a terminal window:
sh .conky_start.sh
Other Variables
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
Font Examples:
${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,
${font Grunge:size=12}${time %a %b %d}${alignr -25}${time %k:%M}
Add In Temperature
Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Install-lm-sensors-on-Ubuntu-47205.shtml
To install open Synaptic or type:
sudo apt-get install lm_sensors
Then create a device making script. It is only run once and can be saved to any location:
sudo gedit mkdev.sh
Paste in this code:
#!/bin/bash # Here you can set several defaults. # The number of devices to create (max: 256) NUMBER=32 # The owner and group of the devices OUSER=root OGROUP=root # The mode of the devices MODE=600 # This script doesn't need to be run if devfs is used if [ -r /proc/mounts ] ; then if grep -q "/dev devfs" /proc/mounts ; then echo "You do not need to run this script as your system uses devfs." exit; fi fi i=0; while [ $i -lt $NUMBER ] ; do echo /dev/i2c-$i mknod -m $MODE /dev/i2c-$i c 89 $i || exit chown "$OUSER:$OGROUP" /dev/i2c-$i || exit i=$[$i + 1] done #end of file
Make the file executable:
chmod +x mkdev.sh
Then run it:
sudo ./mkdev.sh
Finally, run the sensors detection program. Install it if it isn't installed:
sudo sensors-detect
Answer YES to all questions, including to automatically put entries in /etc/modules.
Open a terminal and type
sudo gedit /etc/modules
You will see a list similar to this:
# Generated by sensors-detect on Thu Feb 15 12:15:11 2007 # I2C adapter drivers # modprobe unknown adapter NVIDIA i2c adapter 2 at 2:00.0 i2c-isa # I2C chip drivers eeprom it87
Load each module listed there. Replace the modules in the example with the ones found on your system.
sudo modprobe i2c-isa sudo modprobe eeprom sudo modprobe it87
Run the following command to get the data from sensors.
sensors
If everything is working, you should see something like this:
Optionally, you can install a front-end that shows the sensor info in Gnome or KDE.
For Gnome (Add applet to taskbar):
sudo apt-get install sensors-applet
For KDE:
sudo apt-get install ksensors
Troubleshooting
Flickering
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 this:
Load "dbe"
Kbuntu and XFCE users may need different settings in .conkyrc.
For Kbuntu:
own_window yes own_window_hints undecorated,below,skip_taskbar background yes
Also, to get Conky to autostart in Kubuntu, add a link to the Conky bin file (in /usr/bin) in KDE's autostart file:
~/.kde/Autostart
For XFCE:
own_window yes own_window_type override own_window_transparent yes
For Compiz / AIGLX:
own_window yes own_window_type override own_window_transparent yes own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
Fortune's Word Wrapping is Wrong
Either change the font, use the "fold -sw" option, or see this
My Previous Cool Conky
My .conkyrc is based on the one above. Note that I have a Core Duo, so I have 2 cpu usage stats. Also, I've included stats on all of my partitions plus other disks on my local network.
I have a wide screen so Conky details sit nicely on the right hand side of the screen.
# UBUNTU-CONKY
#
# 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 no
# 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 arial
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 20
# everything after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen
TEXT
$color
${color orange}SYSTEM ${hr 2}$color
My < $nodename > $sysname $kernel on $machine
UPTIME:${color #606060} $uptime $color
${color orange}CPU ${hr 2}$color
${freq}MHz Load: ${loadavg} Temp: ${acpitemp}
TOTAL CPU:${color #606060} $cpu% ${cpubar}$color
CPU 1:${color #606060} ${cpu cpu1}% ${cpubar cpu1}$color
CPU 2:${color #606060} ${cpu cpu2}% ${cpubar cpu2}$color
${color #606060}${cpugraph 0000ff 00ec00}$color
NAME PID CPU% MEM%
${color #606060}${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}
Processes:${color #606060} $processes $color Running:${color #606060} $running_processes
${color orange}MEMORY / DISK ${hr 2}$color
USAGE:${color #606060} ${fs_used /}/${fs_size /} - ${fs_used_perc /}% ${fs_bar /}${color}
RAM: ${color #606060} $mem/$memmax - $memperc% ${membar}${color}
SWAP: ${color #606060} $swap/$swapmax - $swapperc% ${swapbar}${color}
ROOT: ${color #606060} ${fs_free_perc /}% ${fs_bar 6 /} $color
HOME: ${color #606060} ${fs_free_perc /home}% ${fs_bar 6 /home}$color
USR: ${color #606060} ${fs_free_perc /usr}% ${fs_bar 6 /usr}$color
LOCAL:${color #606060} ${fs_free_perc /usr/local}% ${fs_bar 6 /usr/local}$color
TMP: ${color #606060} ${fs_free_perc /tmp}% ${fs_bar 6 /tmp}$color
VAR: ${color #606060} ${fs_free_perc /var}% ${fs_bar 6 /var}$color
Windows: ${color #606060} ${fs_free_perc /media/Windows}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/Windows}$color
server2_C: ${color #606060} ${fs_free_perc /media/server2_C}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/server2_C}$color
server2_D: ${color #606060} ${fs_free_perc /media/server2_D}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/server2_D}$color
server2_F: ${color #606060} ${fs_free_perc /media/server2_F}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/server2_F}$color
${color orange}NETWORK (${addr eth0}) ${hr 2}$color
Down: $color${downspeed eth0}k/s ${alignr}Up: ${upspeed eth0}k/s
${downspeedgraph eth0 25,185 000000 ff0000} ${alignr}${upspeedgraph eth0
25,185 000000 00ff00}$color
Total: ${totaldown eth0} ${alignr}Total: ${totalup eth0}
Inbound: ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count} Outbound: ${tcp_portmon 32768
61000 count}${alignr}Total: ${tcp_portmon 1 65535 count}
${color orange}MESSAGES ${hr 2}$color
${execi 30 tail -n3 /var/log/messages | fold -w50}
${color orange}APACHE ERROR ${hr 2}$color
${execi 30 tail -n2 /var/log/apache2/error.log | fold -w50}
${color orange}LITERARY QUOTES ${hr 2}$color
${execi 120 fortune 100% literature | fold -w50}
The result is similar to this:
Conky Problems After Hardy Upgrade
After an upgrade from Feisty to Hardy, Conky started truncating my text output. This had never been an issue before. Now all my log messages and longer fortune quotes were being cut at about the 130th character mark. I didn't know what was going on.
Some searching helped me find a solution to some extent, which was adding this:
textt_buffer_size 512
However, with some experimenting, I found it still truncates text. This is crap in my opinion. I don't know how to get it back to how it was, when it just output whatever was in the database file.
I also added xft plus "override_utf8_locale yes" to stop weird characters, such as the A you get with a degrees symbol. However, the text and font seems clearer without xft, but I'll stick with it for now.
Here's the new .conkyrc file.
# 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
#
#### my additions since Hardy upgrade #####
text_buffer_size 1024
override_utf8_locale yes
use_xft yes
#xftfont MgOpen Modata-09
xftfont Bitstream arial:size=8
xftalpha 0.5
maximum_width 350
#####
# 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 left
# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 3.0
# Minimum size of text area
#minimum_size 350 5
# Draw shades?
draw_shades no
# Text stuff
draw_outline no # amplifies text if yes
draw_borders no
#font arial
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 white
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 20
# everything after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen
TEXT
$color
${color orange}SYSTEM ${hr 2}${color}
My cool < $nodename > $sysname $kernel on a $machine
UPTIME:${color #888888} $uptime ${color}
${color orange}CPU ${hr 2}${color}
${freq}MHz Load: ${loadavg}
TOTAL:${alignr 260}${color #888888} $cpu% ${cpubar}${color}
CPU 1:${alignr 260}${color #888888} ${cpu cpu1}% ${cpubar cpu1}${color}
CPU 2:${alignr 260}${color #888888} ${cpu cpu2}% ${cpubar cpu2}${color}
${color #888888}${cpugraph 0000ff 00ec00}$color
Core 0: ${execi 8 sensors | grep -A 1 'Core 0' | cut -c13-16 | sed '/^$/d'} °C ${color #888888} ${cpu core 0}% ${cpubar core 0}${color}
Core 1: ${execi 8 sensors | grep -A 1 'Core 1' | cut -c13-16 | sed '/^$/d'} °C ${color #888888} ${cpu core 1}% ${cpubar core 1}
${color orange}PROCESSES (No:${color #888888} $processes ${color orange}Running:${color #888888} $running_processes ${color orange}) ${hr 2}${color}
NAME ${alignr 80}PID CPU% MEM%
${color #55ff55}${top name 1} ${alignr 80}${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1} ${top mem 1}
${color #FF5555}${top name 2} ${alignr 80}${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 2}
${color #FFaa55}${top name 3} ${alignr 80}${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 3}
${color #FFff55}${top name 4} ${alignr 80}${top pid 4} ${top cpu 4} ${top mem 4}
${color orange}MEMORY / DISK ${hr 2}$color
USAGE: ${color #888888} ${fs_used /}/${fs_size /} - ${fs_used_perc /}% ${alignr 130}${fs_bar /}${color}
RAM: ${color #888888} $mem/$memmax - $memperc% ${alignr 130}${membar}${color}
SWAP: ${color #888888} $swap/$swapmax - $swapperc% ${alignr 130}${swapbar}${color}
ROOT: ${alignr 250}${color #888888} ${fs_free_perc /}% ${fs_bar 6 /}${color}
HOME: ${alignr 250}${color #888888} ${fs_free_perc /home}% ${fs_bar 6 /home}${color}
USR: ${alignr 250}${color #888888} ${fs_free_perc /usr}% ${fs_bar 6 /usr}${color}
LOCAL: ${alignr 250}${color #888888} ${fs_free_perc /usr/local}% ${fs_bar 6 /usr/local}${color}
TMP: ${alignr 250}${color #888888} ${fs_free_perc /tmp}% ${fs_bar 6 /tmp}${color}
VAR: ${alignr 250}${color #888888} ${fs_free_perc /var}% ${fs_bar 6 /var}${color}
Windows: ${alignr 250}${color #888888} ${fs_free_perc /media/Windows}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/Windows}${color}
server2_C: ${alignr 250}${color #888888} ${fs_free_perc /media/server2_C}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/server2_C}${color}
server2_D: ${alignr 250}${color #888888} ${fs_free_perc /media/server2_D}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/server2_D}${color}
server2_F: ${alignr 250}${color #888888} ${fs_free_perc /media/server2_F}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/server2_F}${color}
${color orange}NETWORK (${color #888888}${addr eth0}${color orange}) ${hr 2}${color}
Down: ${downspeed eth0}k/s ${alignr}Up: ${upspeed eth0}k/s
${color #888888}${downspeedgraph eth0 25,170 000000 ff0000} ${alignr}${upspeedgraph eth0
25,170 000000 00ff00}$color
Total: ${totaldown eth0} ${alignr}Total: ${totalup eth0}
Inbound: ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count} Outbound: ${tcp_portmon 32768
61000 count}${alignr}Total: ${tcp_portmon 1 65535 count}
${color orange}MESSAGES ${hr 2}$color
${execi 30 tail -n1 /var/log/messages | fold -sw60}${font}
${color orange}APACHE ERRORS ${hr 2}$color
${execi 30 tail -n1 /var/log/apache2/error.log | fold -sw60}${font}
${color orange}LITERARY QUOTES ${hr 2}$color
${execi 120 fortune all | fold -sw60}${font}
In a way, it was a mixed blessing to have a few problems. I learned a lot more about Conky, including how to text wrap easily with the "fold -sw" output option.
