Free Open-Source System Monitor Utility (Linux Only): Easiest Conky Configuration Guide

Posted by Vivek ||

October 29, 2008 ||

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Being on Ubuntu (Or some ditro of Linux) is geeky enough. But how about flaunting that you are a nerd who can get system monitoring utility right on your desktop which looks just fabulous. Don’t believe me! Check the following snapshot of Ubuntu Desktop. To be precise check the right hand side of the desktop snapshot.

Did I get your attention? Alright, so the nerdy looking thing on the right hand side of the snapshot is called as conky and is only available for Linux. The fact is that it only looks geeky, getting it and setting it up on your favorite Linux distro (mine is Ubuntu) is a walk in the park. Let’s get started right away on how to get conky and how to set it up. But before that let’s see what Conky is;

Conky is a free, light-weight system monitor for X, that displays any information on your desktop. Conky is licensed under the GPL and runs on Linux and BSD.

I have tried to make this guide as easily as possible and have tested it on Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepeid Ibex), and there should not be any problem with other distros.

First step is of course you’ll have to get the conky. Make sure you are connected to Internet. All you have to do is:

1. Go to your Synaptic Package Manager and search for conky.

2. Click on conky and mark it for installation.

3. Hit apply and you are good to go.

And if you are addicted to Terminal, just type the following command.

sudo apt-get install conky

Now that you have conky, you can hit ALT+F2 and type conky to run it. But you’ll see a very boring conky interface. Sadly, the default conky configuration is not great looking. So now that leaves us with pimping up conky to look really geeky. Here’s what you have to do.

1. Open GEdit by hitting Alt+F2 and typing gedit.

Copy and paste the following code and save the file as .conkyrc in your home directory (notice the dot before the file name):

# 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
#
#

Tags: conky, conky configuration guide, Free Open-Source System Monitor Utility

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