Ever since I've really started to use Linux as an OS, I've been using this wonderful application called Conky. This application monitors various things going on around your machine (disk space, processor usage, now playing, battery power left, processes running, network statistics, just to name a few) and draws the information retrieved directly to your desktop, meaning that it becomes part of the background (cool, eh? :D). Well, I'm going to give you a short intro into exactly what Conky is and what it can do.

First of all, conky is a package you can get from apt/aptitude/synaptic/pacman/. You install it using that, or if you really want to stay on top of the game (like me) you can download the source tarball from the SourceForge page, which is located here. I will also be providing all links at the bottom of this article for reference. :)

After installation, you can find the default configuration file under ~/.conkyrc, which is a hidden file in your home folder. Open that up using gedit, mousepad, nano, vi, or whatever editor suits your fancy. You'll then see a bunch of configuration variables that are a little confusing at first. We're gonna skip over those for now, and just pay attention to the part of the file that tells conky what to acutally display, which is located below the line "TEXT". This is where the fun begins.

Built-in variables are called with possible arguments by using the following format:  ${variablename }. Let's go over a few examples. The variable "nodename" displays your hostname (such as kittykatt-laptop or arch-desktop) and requires no arguments. When a variable needs no arguments, it can be called without the curly brackets like so:  $nodename. A variable that does require arguments is "cpu" (called using ${cpu }), which will display the percent usage of the cpu# specified.

A very nifty little variable is the exec variable. This allows conky to call external scripts. This is called in conky by using the following format:  ${exec execi is to perform the supplied command/script at a certain interval. Format for execi is "${execi }". The purpose of of execp is to call a command/script and parse it's output for conky variables. This is useful when inputting $color variables in the script itself. A common use for the exec variable that is most often used beside the nodename variable is ${exec whoami}, which will report your username. This can be used to report your "username@host" using the following format:  ${exec whoami}@${nodename}.

Below is an image of a sample config made by me in about 10 seconds that shows a couple of things and doesn't call any external scripts (An old conkyrc file of mine called a total of 7 external scripts. xD):

Computer Name, Kernel, and Uptime

Battery Power Info

Disk Space on HDD

RAM and Swap usage

Processor Usage

Network Statistics (including up and down)

And the .conkyrc for that configuration can be found here (it's really long and I don't want to paste it here.)

Once you've done all of your configuring, if you saved the file as ~/.conkyrc then all you need to do is execute the command "conky" in a terminal or application launcher. If you saved it under another name, you will need to use "conky -c /path/to/config/file". Many users don't want to do this everytime they start up their system, so they add it to their auto-start applications. There are different ways of going about this based on what DE (GNOME, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, None) you're running. Most Desktop Environments will have a dialog for it somewhere in the main menu under "Preferences".

Once you get past the basic stuff, you can start REALLY having fun with this little application. I rework my conky config(s) almost daily and continue to upgrade/supplement them as I learn more and more uses for conky. Following is a screenshot of my current conkyrc(s) in action:

In that screenshot I'm using conky to report the following:  system information, processor usage, RAM and swap usage, battery power info, local repository status, top processes, network/connection statistics, HDD and mounted device space information, MPD now playing, calendar/clock combo, and one in the bottom right corner that displays what desktop I'm on currently and the name of said desktop.

Well, I've had fun writing this, and I hope you have a much better understanding now of what conky really is and what it can do. I also hope to see you whipping up your own conky configurations soon. ^^ If you have any conky questions, head on over to #conky on the FreeNode IRC network. Or stop by our network, SilverIRC, and ask shoot a few questions at yours truly. I'm far from knowing all of the answers, but I can usually answer most conky-related questions.

External Links:

Conky - Conky SourceForge page. All variables and config options are listed here in the documentation.

Sample Conky - Link to the sample conky config provided in this tutorial.

Samples [Conky Site] - A bunch of sample configurations with screenshots provided by conky users.

Samples [Ubuntu Forums] - A bunch of sample configurations provided by Ubuntu users.