Conky (software)
 A typical Conky look |
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| Original author(s) | Brenden Matthews |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 1.8.1 / October 5, 2010 |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Linux, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD; pre-configured in default installation of PinguyOS.[1] |
| Type | System monitor |
| License | GPL and BSD licenses[2] |
| Website | conky.sourceforge.net |
Conky is a free software system monitor for the X Window System. It is available for Linux, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD.[3] Conky is highly configurable[4][5][6] and is able to monitor many system variables including the status of the CPU, memory, swap space, disk storage, temperatures, processes, network interfaces, battery power, system messages, e-mail inboxes, Arch Linux updates, many popular music players (MPD, XMMS2, BMPx, Audacious), and much more.[7] Unlike system monitors that use high-level widget toolkits to render their information, Conky is drawn directly in an X window. This allows it to consume relatively fewer system resources when configured similarly.[8][9]
Conky has gained a strong following among many Linux and BSD enthusiasts, and was hailed as "one of the best maintained, and definitely one of the most useful, programs in the world of open source" according to Jan Rähm in a March 2009 article in Linux Magazine.
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[edit] History
Conky is a fork of torsmo, a system monitor that is no longer maintained.[10] Torsmo, however, continues to be used in systems where applications that use minimal resources are preferred. Damn Small Linux, for example, runs torsmo in its desktop root window on the default installation of its Live CD.[11] Conky derives its name from a character in the Canadian television programme Trailer Park Boys.
[edit] Common uses
While Conky is ideally suited for use as a system monitor, it can also be used to gather and display almost any type of information on the user's desktop (as well as in the command line, if one chooses). Conky can be extended with the Lua programming language, and uses its own functional-ish configuration file syntax. Conky features built-in support for several unrelated sources of information, but its biggest strength lies in its ability to be extended through scripting.
Conky has also been ported to devices such as the Nokia N900,[12] and can be ported to practically any system with GCC and an X11 implementation.
Users have created and distributed many customized scripts, demonstrating Conky's modularity and versatility in function and appearance. A thread on the Ubuntu forums has grown to over 1900 pages of users sharing their configurations.[13][14][15][16]
[edit] Usage example
A simple configuration for Conky which displays the time on a user's desktop is as follows:
update_interval 30
own_window yes
own_window_type desktop
use_xft yes
xftfont DejaVu Sans:size=14
alignment bottom_right
TEXT
${time %H:%M}
Default configuration file location is $HOME/.conkyrc or ${sysconfdir}/conky/conky.conf. On most systems, sysconfdir is /etc, and you can find the sample config file there (/etc/conky/conky.conf).[7]
[edit] Screenshots
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Conky on Arch Linux
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Conky on Ubuntu (Lucid Lynx)
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Conky on Fedora 14 (Laughlin)
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Custom Conky on PinguyOS default desktop[17]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ PinguyOS Homepage
- ^ About Conky
- ^ Conky homepage on SourceForge.net
- ^ Expert's guide to configuring Conky by Dmitri Popov on Linux.com
- ^ Conky: highly configurable system monitor for X by Casey Stamper on Debian.net
- ^ GKrellM vs. Conky by Sebastian Wieseler
- ^ a b Conky documentation
- ^ conky review by mulander
- ^ CLI Magic: Lightweight Conky is a system monitor powerhouse by Shashank Sharma on Linux.com
- ^ Conky FAQ
- ^ Changelog of Damn Small Linux
- ^ Nokia N900 Conky package
- ^ Post your .conkyrc files w/ screenshots
- ^ Conky scripts
- ^ Conky Gmail Revisited
- ^ Howto: Get a beautiful Conky 1.4.2 setup
- ^ DistroWatch.com: Pinguy OS
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Conky |
