Conky - Light weight system monitor

The first time I run DSL about one year ago, I loved its system monitor, it took me sometime to discover the name of that incredible application.

Conky is that great application, it is really useful for me, as I always want to be aware about which applications are running, how much memory they are using, how much micro-processor, etc.

I use to use among others: htop which is kind of improved top when working in text mode, for my Desktop I have tried some but my favorite is Conky.

Well lets see how to install it.

Install Conky on Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install conky

Install Conky on Sabayon

emerge emerge app-admin/conky

Install Conky on Fedora

yum install conky

It is on Fedora repository for F7

Once installed you need to configure it.

The configuration file is

$HOME/.conkyrc

You can use this as an example:

# Conky sample configuration
#
# the list of variables has been removed from this file in favour
# of keeping the documentation more maintainable.
# Check http://conky.sf.net for an up-to-date-list.

# set to yes if you want Conky to be forked in the background
background no

# X font when Xft is disabled, you can pick one with program xfontsel
#font 5x7
#font 6x10
#font 7x13
#font 8x13
#font 9x15
#font *mintsmild.se*
#font -*-*-*-*-*-*-34-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


# Use Xft?
use_xft yes

# Xft font when Xft is enabled
xftfont Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:size=8

# Text alpha when using Xft
xftalpha 0.8

# Print everything to stdout?
# out_to_console no

# MPD host/port
# mpd_host localhost
# mpd_port 6600
# mpd_password tinker_bell

# Print everything to console?
# out_to_console no

# mail spool
mail_spool $MAIL

# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 5.0

# This is the number of times Conky will update before quitting.
# Set to zero to run forever.
total_run_times 0

# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)
own_window yes

# If own_window is yes, you may use type normal, desktop or override
own_window_type override

# Use pseudo transparency with own_window?
own_window_transparent yes

# If own_window_transparent is set to no, you can set the background colour here
own_window_colour black

# If own_window is yes, these window manager hints may be used
#own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes

# Minimum size of text area
minimum_size 280 5

# Draw shades?
draw_shades yes

# Draw outlines?
draw_outline no

# Draw borders around text
draw_borders yes

# Draw borders around graphs
draw_graph_borders yes

# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders 8

# border margins
border_margin 4

# border width
border_width 1

# Default colors and also border colors
default_color white
default_shade_color black
default_outline_color black

# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
#alignment top_left
#alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
alignment bottom_right
#alignment none

# Gap between borders of screen and text
# same thing as passing -x at command line
gap_x 12
gap_y 12

# Subtract file system buffers from used memory?
no_buffers yes

# set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
uppercase no

# number of cpu samples to average
# set to 1 to disable averaging
cpu_avg_samples 2

# number of net samples to average
# set to 1 to disable averaging
net_avg_samples 2

# Force UTF8? note that UTF8 support required XFT
override_utf8_locale no

# Add spaces to keep things from moving about?  This only affects certain object s.
use_spacer no

# Maximum size of buffer for user text, i.e. below TEXT line.
#max_user_text 16384

# Allow for the creation of at least this number of port monitors (if 0 or not s et, default is 16)
#min_port_monitors 16

# Allow each port monitor to track at least this many connections (if 0 or not s et, default is 256)
#min_port_monitor_connections 256

# 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

# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen

TEXT
$nodename - $sysname $kernel on $machine
$stippled_hr
${color lightgrey}Uptime:$color $uptime ${color lightgrey}- Load:$color $loadavg
${color lightgrey}CPU Usage:${color #cc2222} $cpu% ${cpubar}
${color red}${cpugraph 0000ff 00ff00}
${color lightgrey}RAM Usage:$color $mem/$memmax - $memperc% ${membar}
${color lightgrey}Swap Usage:$color $swap/$swapmax - $swapperc% ${swapbar}
${color lightgrey}Processes:$color $processes  ${color grey}Running:$color $runn ing_processes
$color$stippled_hr
${color lightgrey}Networking:
 Down:${color #8844ee} ${downspeed eth0} k/s${color lightgrey} ${offset 80}Up:${ color #22ccff} ${upspeed eth0} k/s
${color #0000ff}${downspeedgraph eth0 32,150 ff0000 0000ff} ${color #22ccff}${up speedgraph eth0 32,150 0000ff ff0000}
${color lightgrey}File systems:
 / $color${fs_used /}/${fs_size /} ${fs_bar /}
${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 lightgrey} ${top name 4} ${top pid 4} ${top cpu 4} ${top mem 4}
${color}Mem usage
${color #ddaa00} ${top_mem name 1} ${top_mem pid 1} ${top_mem cpu 1} ${top_mem m em 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}
${tail /var/log/Xorg.0.log 3 30}
$stippled_hr
${color #ddaa00}Port(s)${alignr}#Connections
$color Inbound: ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count}  Outbound: ${tcp_portmon 32768 6100 0 count}${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}
 ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 5} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 5}
${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}
 ${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rhost 5} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 rservice  5}

Check out that I am making it generate its own window, but overriding and with no background, this way it appears like it is directly drawed on the Desktop, if you configure it to use Desktop instead of its own window.

own_window no

Will have the same effect, but it did not render well for me, maybe because of my ATI driver.

You can also check the screenshots at its homepage, and then select the .conkyrc you like the most.

Check out Screen shots