[Ubuntu] Install Conky – A Desktop System Monitor

Conky is a light weight system monitor that uses to display system information on your Desktop. You can display various information like CPU, memory, network, hard disk capacity and etc using conky on the Desktop, a very handy tools to monitor system info.

Install Conky

- Open terminal and type the following command:

sudo apt-get install conky

- Once the installation is complete, copy the example config by copying the file from /usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conky.conf.gz  to ~/.conkyrc. Just type in the terminal:

zcat /usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conky.conf.gz > ~/.conkyrc

- Done, you can test by type in below command in terminal:

conky

Customize Conky config(conkyrc)

- Open terminal and type the following command:

sudo gedit ~/.conkyr

- Below is my conky config, you may base on this to configure your conky if you like. The config below actually conky general setting on desktop like where should conky to be place, using what text style, border and etc.

background no

text_buffer_size 2048

use_xft yes

xftfont Eurostile:size=7

xftalpha 0.7

update_interval 5.0

total_run_times 0

own_window yes

own_window_type override

own_window_transparent yes

own_window_colour hotpink

own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

double_buffer yes

minimum_size 260 5

draw_shades no

draw_outline no

draw_borders no

draw_graph_borders no

stippled_borders 3

border_margin 9

border_width 10

default_color grey

default_shade_color black

default_outline_color black

alignment top_right

gap_x 10

gap_y 35

no_buffers yes

uppercase no

cpu_avg_samples 2

net_avg_samples 2

override_utf8_locale no

use_spacer yes

show_graph_scale no

show_graph_range no

Below code is what will be show in the conky bar

TEXT

${font arial black:size=10}${color orange}SYSTEM${color}${font arial black:size=9}INFORMATION${color orange} ${hr 2}$color$font

$nodename – $sysname $kernel on $machine

${color lightgrey}Distro: ${pre_exec cat /etc/issue | grep Ubuntu | cut -c1-13} $machine

${color lightgrey}Uptime:$color $uptime ${color lightgrey}- Load:$color $loadavg

${color lightgrey}Battery: ${battery_percent CMB1}% ${battery_bar CMB1}$color

${font arial black:size=10}${color orange}CPU${color}${font arial black:size=9}INFORMATION${color orange} ${hr 2}$color$font

${color lightgrey}CPU Temp: ${acpitempf}F HDD Temp: ${execi 600 sudo hddtemp –unit=C /dev/sda2 | cut -c 24-30}

${color lightgrey}CPU Usage:${color #cc2222} $cpu% ${cpubar}

${color red}${cpugraph 0000ff 00ff00}

${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}

${font arial black:size=10}${color orange}MEMORY${color}${font arial black:size=9}INFORMATION${color orange} ${hr 2}$color$font

${color lightgrey}RAM Usage:$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

${font arial black:size=10}${color orange}DISK${color}${font arial black:size=9}INFORMATION${color orange} ${hr 2}$color$font

${font arial black:size=9}VOLUME${goto 116}TYPE${goto 180}USED${alignr 1}SIZE$font

${font arial black:size=9}ROOT:$font${goto 120}${fs_type /}${goto 190}${fs_used /}${alignr}${fs_size /}

${fs_bar 4 /}$color

${font arial black:size=9}Windows:$font${goto 120}${fs_type /home/chenhow/windows}${goto 190}${fs_used /home/chenhow/windows}${alignr}${fs_size /home/chenhow/windows}

${fs_bar 4 /}$color

${font arial black:size=10}${color orange}NETWORK${color}${font arial black:size=9}INFORMATION${color orange} ${hr 2}$color$font

${font arial black:size=7}LOCAL:$font${addr ppp0} $alignr ${color}

${font arial black:size=7}DOWN: $font$color${downspeed ppp0} k/s ${alignr}${font arial black:size=7}UP: $font${upspeed eth0} k/s

${downspeedgraph ppp0 25,140 0000ff 00ff00} ${alignr}${upspeedgraph ppp0 25,140 0000ff 00ff00}$color

${font arial black:size=9}TOTAL: $font${totaldown ppp0} ${alignr}${font arial black:size=9}TOTAL: $font${totalup ppp0}

${color orange}${hr 2}$color

${color #ddaa00}Port(s)${alignr}#Connections

$color Inbound: ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count} Outbound: ${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 count}${alignr}ALL: ${tcp_portmon 1 65535 count}

${color #ddaa00}Inbound Connection ${alignr} Local Service/Port$color

${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 0} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 0}

${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 1} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 1}

${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 2} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 2}

${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 3} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 3}

${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 4} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 4}

${color #ddaa00}Outbound Connection ${alignr} Remote Service/Port$color

${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rhost 0} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rservice 0}

${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rhost 1} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rservice 1}

${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rhost 2} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rservice 2}

${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rhost 3} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rservice 3}

${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rhost 4} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rservice 4}

${color orange}${hr 2}$color

${color}TODO:

${execi 20 cat /home/chenhow/Desktop/TODO.txt | fold -w40 }

The above configurations are the default setting that I used in my system. When you are more familiar with it, you can change it to suit your needs.

Attached is my conky config, feel free to download and modify.

Download chenhow conky config file: conky (46)

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