Install & Configure Conky in Xubuntu 12.04

Conky:

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.

Step 1: Installing Conky in Xubuntu 12.04

Open up the “Terminal” and type the following commands:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:conkyhardcore/ppa

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install conky-all

Step 2: Create config file

Create a file named “.conkyrc” in your home folder. This will be your config file where you will insert your configuration details later. To do this, use the following command in the terminal :

$ sudo touch ~/.conkyrc

$ sudo chmod +x ~/.conkyrc

Now you can either search in Google for sample conkyrc config files and copy them to your ~/.conkyrc file or you can download the following sample :

Sample Conky Config : Download Link

Now, open the ~/.conkyrc file and paste the contents of the above sample conky to it and save the ~/.conky file.

You can use gedit to open the ~/.conkyrc file using the following command:

$ sudo gedit ~/.conkyrc

 
Step 3: Start Conky

To start conky, open your terminal and type :

$ sudo conky

You should now see the conky window on the your desktop screen.

Step 4 : Add conky to startup

Create a file named say “conkystartup.sh” in home folder and make it executable by using the commands:

$ sudo touch ~/conkystartup.sh

$ sudo chmod +x ~/conkystartup.sh

Now, open “conkystartup.sh” file using the following command:

$ sudo gedit ~/conkystart.sh

 
Now, paste the following code into the “conkystart.sh” file:

#!/bin/bash
sleep 30 && conky ;

Save the file and exit.

To add to startup, Go to Menu>Settings>Session & Startup

Press “Add” , set name as “Conky” and set “Location” as the location of “conkystart.sh“.

This will make conky to run at startup after a delay of 30 seconds (so that conky gets loaded after the desktop is loaded).

Screenshot of My Xubuntu + Conky :

If you have any sort of queries on regarding this installation, just leave a comment and will get back at you. Don’t forget to follow my blog to get future updates! 😀

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