Conky is a free, lightweight, simple, and customizable system monitor for X that displays any kind of information on your desktop or within its own window. Since it's cross-platform, it can also be used with Wayland and macOS.
Conky provides over 250 built-in objects, offering support for monitoring various operating system metrics such as uptime, CPU usage, memory consumption, disk space, network activity, process data similar to “top”, and uname, among others. It is capable of outputting data to a file, the console, or even via HTTP.
In addition, Conky features native support for IMAP and POP3, along with compatibility for several popular music players (MPD, XMMS2, Audacious).
It can be further customized using built-in Lua functionality or through your own scripts and applications. It also includes native Cairo and Imlib2 bindings for arbitrary Lua drawing. A Docker image is available that supports amd64, armv7, and aarch64 (also referred to as armv8).
There’s much more you can explore with Conky once you install and begin using it, as outlined below.
Install Conky on Linux
Most modern Linux distributions include Conky in their default or official repositories. To install it, use your package manager following the commands listed below. Make sure to run the correct command for your specific Linux distribution:
<code>$ sudo apt install conky [On <strong>Debian, Ubuntu and Mint</strong>] $ sudo yum install conky [On <strong>RHEL/CentOS/Fedora</strong> and <strong>Rocky/AlmaLinux</strong>] $ sudo emerge -a conky [On <strong>Gentoo Linux</strong>] $ sudo apk add conky [On <strong>Alpine Linux</strong>] $ sudo pacman -S conky [On <strong>Arch Linux</strong>] $ sudo zypper install conky [On <strong>OpenSUSE</strong>] </code>
Monitor Linux Desktop Using Conky
Once installed, you can immediately start using conky. However, note that Conky is configured using a configuration file.
The global configuration file for Conky is located at /etc/conky/conky.conf. You can also create a user-specific configuration file at $HOME/.config/conky/conky.conf (this file isn’t created by default).
To launch Conky, execute the command shown below. Keep in mind that if you need access to restricted information—like processes owned by root—you should use the sudo command (applicable only to users listed in the sudoers file):
<code>$ conky OR $ sudo conky</code>
By default, the Conky interface will appear on your Linux desktop aligned to the top-left corner.
To adjust the alignment of Conky on screen, use the -a
or --alignment
option. Valid values are: ‘top_left’, ‘top_right’, ‘top_middle’, ‘bottom_left’, ‘bottom_right’, ‘bottom_middle’, ‘middle_left’, ‘middle_middle’, and ‘middle_right’.
Short versions are also supported: ‘tl’, ‘tr’, ‘tm’, ‘bl’, ‘br’, ‘bm’, ‘ml’, ‘mm’, ‘mr’, ‘none’.
<code>$ conky -a middle_middle OR $ conky -a mm</code>
After starting Conky, no further commands can be entered because Conky takes over the terminal. To run it in the background and keep your terminal available, use the -d
or --daemonize
flag:
<code>$ conky --daemonize OR $ conky -d</code>
From the screenshot above, the conky process with PID 32709 has moved to the background. This PID can later be used to manage, stop, kill, or terminate the process.
<code>$ sudo kill 32709</code>
You can load a custom configuration from a file instead of using the default one by employing the -c
or --config
option as shown:
<code>$ sudo conky --config=/path/to/config/file OR $ sudo conky -c /path/to/config/file</code>
To view additional command-line options and configuration parameters, consult the conky manual page by entering the following:
<code>$ man conky</code>
This concludes our guide on installing and using Conky. With tools like Conky, which are simple yet effective, you can easily monitor numerous key aspects of your Linux desktop system.
Feel free to share your experience using the form below.
The above is the detailed content of Conky - The Ultimate X-Based System Monitor Tool. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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