Cannot get Conky to work under Debian.

[ThatsABigOne]

Hello all!
I have been using Debian for quite a while in VirtualBox, and now looking to customize it a bit.
I heard about a widget called Conky, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out the problem with installation.

I did the following:
sudo apt-get update

But, when I get to part where:
sudo apt-get install conky

and I get the following:

Thank you in advance!

EDIT:

I also want to clean out my installation a bit. I use the software center, but when I press on Remove for software that I want to remove, nothing happens. I can select other software, with nothing removed... Any tips?

Thanks again!

 

[lxskllr]

Open Synaptic, and try it from there. Enable the contrib repos.

Dunno about software center. I don't really use it. I do everything through Synaptic.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Open Synaptic, and try it from there. Enable the contrib repos.

Dunno about software center. I don't really use it. I do everything through Synaptic.

The package manager?

 

[lxskllr]

The package manager?

Yea. That's gives you easy checkboxes for software sources, and makes it easy to add repositories. It's a good bridge between Software Center, and Aptitude. It has more power than Software Center, but is a bit easier than Aptitude imo. I'm not really a cli guy. I get commands and syntax mixed up too ofter. I prefer poking buttons :^D

 

[zokudu]

Post your sources.list on pastebin for us. Maybe you don't have the repo enabled. Also if your using the command line to install software in debian I tend to suggest using aptitude. It handles dependences much better than basic apt-get does.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

I got Conky to work. There are some issues though. How to do I move it so it will be placed on top right portion of the screen? And, how would I make it more or less transparent? Is there a configuration file, if so, where would it be?

I am a new learner at this. Thank you for your patience.

 

[lxskllr]

Your best bet is to Google DuckDuckGo conky configs, and find something close to what you like. Download a few, and see how they work. You can then modify them to suit you exactly. Conky isn't especially n00b friendly, but it has a lot of power to show what you want, and the process of achieving your goal is satisfying and fun.

Edit:
To answer your question. The config file should be in /home/YourNameHere/.conky

 

[ThatsABigOne]

I googled DuckDuckGo conky configs. Nothing useful shows up. There is something I am missing here. Thanks for the help though!

 

[lxskllr]

:^D

DuckDuckGo is a search engine that doesn't track your surfing, throw ads at you, or tailor search results to what they think you want. It's the search of the future, but the verbiage kind of sucks. DuckDuckGo it? DuckGo it? Dugo it? I dunno. It doesn't have the nice clean ring Google it has, but it's still a better search. After looking up conky, go to DuckDuckGo and do a little reading. For now...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=conky+config

Checkout forum posts on GNU/Linux theme oriented sites also. VinDSL here always has a nice conky.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Huh. Never heard of such search engine. Thank you for all the help you guys provided for me. I am now a happy camper.

 

[VinDSL]

sudo apt-get install conky

Most ppl install "conky-all".

The plain vanilla "conky" package is missing a lot of features/functionality.

BTW, Merry Christmas, all!

 

[VinDSL]

:VinDSL here always has a nice conky.

Thanks, bro!

Here's a HOWTO (if anyone is interested):

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1771033

 

[ThatsABigOne]

I am! This could work on Debian, right?

 

[VinDSL]

I am! This could work on Debian, right?

Yep! You just need to tweak it for your screen res, OS, DE, et cetera.

There is a difference between Conky 1.8.0 & 1.8.1 also. I design my scripts to run on either version.

Conky is very flexible. I've run Conky on Unity, Gnome 2, Gnome 3, LXDE, E17... on netbooks, laptops, desktops.

Just takes a little adjustment to the code, here n' there, to get everything to align properly.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Wow, excellent.

This is what I have so far.

 

[lxskllr]

Lookin' good! Backup your script, then you can do some playing while still having a good copy you can go back to. Conky can be a huge time sink, but it's pretty fun getting everything tweaked exactly like you want. Don't forget, you run multiple conky instances. You can have a couple specialized conky displays for weather, music, or whatever. You don't have to cram everything into a sidebar if you don't want to.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Lookin' good! Backup your script, then you can do some playing while still having a good copy you can go back to. Conky can be a huge time sink, but it's pretty fun getting everything tweaked exactly like you want. Don't forget, you run multiple conky instances. You can have a couple specialized conky displays for weather, music, or whatever. You don't have to cram everything into a sidebar if you don't want to.

Great. Thanks for ideas!

One more thing. I know how to make an application to start up when turning on Windows, but in Linux it is a black hole... :biggrin:

EDIT: Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[lxskllr]

Without DuckDuckGoing it^P), I'm not sure how you do it manually offhand, but I think there's an applet built into Gnome to do it easily. Goto Preferences-Preferences-Startup Applications, then add an entry to your conky script, A search should tell you how to do it manually if care to look for it. It's worth knowing in case you ditch Gnome for whatever reason.

Edit:
I ran across this page that might give you some conky ideas...

http://www.linuxandlife.com/2011/12/awesome-conky-configs-on-devianart.html

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Wow, thanks for this gem!

 

[ThatsABigOne]

I am very happy with results so far. I will eventually tinker with conky config file some more, but none of this would be possible without links from lxskller and VinDSL.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[DuckyDuckling]

Most ppl install "conky-all".

The plain vanilla "conky" package is missing a lot of features/functionality.

BTW, Merry Christmas, all!

Nice conky .