Conky (http://conky.rty.ca)

  WHAT IS CONKY?

	Conky is a system monitor for X originally based on the torsmo code.
	Since it's original conception, Conky has changed a fair bit from
	it's predecessor.  Conky can display just about anything, either on
	your root desktop or in it's own window.  Conky has many built-in
	objects, as well as the ability to execute programs and scripts,
	then display the output from stdout.
	
	We are always looking for help, and anyone interested in becoming
	a developer is welcome.  Please use the facilities at SourceForge
	to make bug reports, feature requests, and submit patches.
	
	Thanks for your interest in Conky.

  THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

	Conky is generally very good on resources.  However, certain objects in
	Conky are harder on resources then others.  In particular, the $tail,
	$top, $font, and $graph objects are quite costly in comparison to 
	the rest of Conky.

	If you do use them, please do not complain about memory or CPU usage,
	unless you think something is going seriously wrong (mem leak, et cetera).

  COMPILING

	To compile and run Conky with all optional components (If you run Gentoo, see the "Ebuild" Section below):

		./configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --datadir=/usr/share --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var/lib --enable-double-buffer --enable-own-window --enable-proc-uptime --enable-mpd --enable-xft --enable-metar --enable-seti
		make
		./conky

	Conky doesn't probably compile with other compilers than gcc and icc. It
	doesn't compile with C89 compiler and not even with pure C99. It uses few
	things that might not exist: strdup(), strcasecmp(), strncasecmp(), optarg
	variable with getopt() and long long (not in C89). Crashes in file system
	statistics stuff when compiled with icc, I don't know exactly why.
	
	You can disable 'drawing to own window' feature in case you don't need it
	by passing --disable-own-window to configure -script.

  EBUILD

	Conky is in Gentoo's Portage.  Simply use "emerge conky" to install conky.
	There is also usually an up-to-date ebuild within Conky's package or in
	CVS.

  CONFIGURING

	Default configuration file is $HOME/.conkyrc (can be changed from
	conky.c among other things). See conkyrc.sample. You might want to copy
	it to $HOME/.conkyrc and then start modifying it.
	
	Configuration file confs
	
		Conf                                Meaning                        
	alignment             Aligned position on screen, may be top_left,         
								 top_right, bottom_left, bottom_right                 
	background            Boolean value, if true, Conky will be forked to     
								 background when started                              
	on_bottom 				 Set conky on the bottom of all other applications
	border_margin         Border margin in pixels                              
	border_width          Border width in pixels                               
	cpu_avg_samples       The number of samples to average for CPU monitoring
	default_color         Default color and border color                       
	default_shade_color   Default shading color and border's shading color     
	default_outline_color Default outline color                                
								 Use the Xdbe extension? (eliminates flicker) It is   
	double_buffer         highly recommended to use own window with this one   
								 so double buffer won't be so big.                    
	draw_borders          Draw borders around text?                            
	draw_shades           Draw shades?                                         
	draw_outline          Draw outlines?                                       
	font                  Font name in X, xfontsel can be used to get a nice font                                                 
	gap_x                 Gap between right or left border of screen, same as passing -x at command line
	gap_y                 Gap between top or bottom border of screen, same as passing -y at command line
	no_buffers            Substract (file system) buffers from used memory?    
	mail_spool            Mail spool for mail checking                         
	metar_station         METAR station code for weather, see http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/ if you need to find your code.
	metar_server          Define a custom METAR ftp server
	metar_path            Path on server to use
	minimum_size          Minimum size of window                               
	mldonkey_hostname     Hostname for mldonkey stuff, defaults to localhost
	mldonkey_port         Mldonkey port, 4001 default
	mldonkey_login        Mldonkey login, default none
	mldonkey_password     Mldonkey password, default none
	net_avg_samples       The number of samples to average for net data
	override_utf8_locale  Force UTF8? requires XFT
	own_window            Boolean, create own window to draw?                  
	pad_percents          Pad percentages to this many decimals (0 = no        
				padding)                                             
	stippled_borders      Border stippling (dashing) in pixels                 
	total_run_times       Total number of times for Conky to update before
				quitting.  Zero makes Conky run forever
	update_interval       Update interval in seconds                           
	uppercase             Boolean value, if true, text is rendered in upper    
				case                                                 
	use_spacer            Adds spaces after certain objects to stop them
				from moving other things around.  Note that
				this only helps if you are using a mono font,
				such as Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.
	use_xft               Use Xft (anti-aliased font and stuff)                
	text                  After this begins text to be formatted on screen     
	
	Boolean variable without value in text means yes. Value may be also yes,
	true or any negative or positive integer meaning yes. No, false or zero
	meaning no.
	There may be some variables in text. Variable is given either in format
	$variable or in ${variable}. Latter allows characters right after the
	variable and must be used in some stuff because of arguments.
	
	Command line options
	
	Argument                          Description                        
	-V           Prints version and exits                                  
	-a ALIGNMENT Text alignment on screen, {top,bottom}_{left,right}       
	-b           Use double buffering (eliminates flicker)                 
	-c FILE      Config file to load instead of $HOME/.conkyrc            
	-d           Daemonize, fork to background                             
	-f FONT      Font to use                                               
	-h           Prints command line help and exits                        
	-o           Create own window to draw                                 
	-t TEXT      Text to render, remember single quotes, like -t '$uptime' 
	-u SECS      Update interval                                           
	-w WIN_ID    Window id to draw                                         
	-x X         X position                                                
	-y Y         Y position                                                
	
	Command line options override configurations defined in configuration
	file.
	
	Variables in text
	
	Variable          Arguments                   Description              
	
	addr              (interface)   IP address for an interface
	acpiacadapter                   ACPI ac adapter state.                   
	acpifan                         ACPI fan state                           
	acpitemp                        ACPI temperature.                        
	adt746xcpu                      CPU temperature from therm_adt746x       
	adt746xfan                      Fan speed from therm_adt746x             
	alignr            (num)         Right-justify text, with space of N
	alignc                          Align text to centre
	battery           (num)         Remaining capasity in ACPI or APM        
					battery. ACPI battery number can be      
					given as argument (default is BAT0).     
	buffers                         Amount of memory buffered                
	cached                          Amount of memory cached                  
	color             (color)       Change drawing color to color            
	cpu                             CPU usage in percents                    
	cpubar            (height)      Bar that shows CPU usage, height is      
					bar's height in pixels                 
	cpugraph          (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2)
					CPU usage graph, with optional colours in hex,
					minus the #.
	downspeed         net           Download speed in kilobytes              
	downspeedf        net           Download speed in kilobytes with one     
					decimal                                  
	downspeedgraph    net (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2)
					Download speed graph, colours defined in
					hex, minus the #.
	exec              shell command Executes a shell command and displays    
					the output in conky. warning: this      
					takes a lot more resources than other    
					variables. I'd recommend coding wanted   
					behaviour in C and posting a patch :-).  
	execbar           shell command Same as exec, except if the first value
					return is a value between 0-100, it
					will use that number for a bar.
					The size for the bar is currently fixed,
					but that may change in the future.
	execgraph         shell command Same as execbar, but graphs values
	execi             interval, shell command
 					Same as exec but with specific interval. 
					Interval can't be less than              
					update_interval in configuration.        
	font		  font		Specify a different font.  Only applies
					to one line.
	fs_bar            (height), (fs)Bar that shows how much space is used on 
					a file system. height is the height in   
					pixels. fs is any file on that file      
					system.                                  
	fs_free           (fs)          Free space on a file system available    
					for users.                               
	fs_free_perc      (fs)          Free percentage of space on a file       
					system available for users.              
	fs_size           (fs)          File system size                         
	fs_used           (fs)          File system used space                   
	hr                (height)      Horizontal line, height is the height in 
					pixels                                   
	i2c               (dev), type, n  I2C sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). dev   
					may be omitted if you have only one I2C  
					device. type is either in (or vol)       
					meaning voltage, fan meaning fan or
					temp/tempf (first in C, second in F)
					meaning temperature. n is number of the  
					sensor. See /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ on     
					your local computer.                     
	if_running        (process)     if PROCESS is running, display
					everything if_running and the matching $endif
	if_existing       (file)        if FILE exists, display everything between
					if_existing and the matching $endif
	if_mounted        (mountpoint)  if MOUNTPOINT is mounted, display everything between
					if_mounted and the matching $endif
	else                            Text to show if any of the above are not true
	kernel                          Kernel version                          
	linkstatus        (interface)   Get the link status for wireless connections
	loadavg           (1), (2), (3) System load average, 1 is for past 1     
					minute, 2 for past 5 minutes and 3 for   
					past 15 minutes.                         
	machine                         Machine, i686 for example                
	mails                           Mail count in mail spool. You can use    
					program like fetchmail to get mails from 
					some server using your favourite         
					protocol. See also new_mails.            
	mem                             Amount of memory in use                  
	membar            (height)      Bar that shows amount of memory in use   
	memmax                          Total amount of memory                   
	memperc                         Percentage of memory in use
	
	metar_ob_time
	metar_temp
	metar_tempf                     Temp in F
	metar_windchill
	metar_dew_point                 There are a bunch of these
	metar_rh                        and they are self-explanatory
	metar_windspeed
	metar_winddir
	metar_swinddir
	metar_cloud
	metar_u2d_time
	
	ml_upload_counter               total session upload in mb
	ml_download_counter             total session download in mb
	ml_nshared_files                number of shared files
	ml_shared_counter               total session shared in mb, buggy
					in some mldonkey versions
	ml_tcp_upload_rate              tcp upload rate in kb/s
	ml_tcp_download_rate            tcp download rate in kb/s
	ml_udp_upload_rate              udp upload rate in kb/s
	ml_udp_download_rate            udp download rate in kb/s
	ml_ndownloaded_files            number of completed files
	ml_ndownloading_files           number of downloading files
	
	mpd_artist			Artist in current MPD song
					(must be enabled at compile)
	mpd_album			Album in current MPD song
	mpd_bar           (height)      Bar of mpd's progress
	mpd_bitrate                     Bitrate of current song
	mpd_status                      Playing, stopped, et cetera.
	mpd_title			Title of current MPD song
	mpd_vol				MPD's volume
	mpd_elapsed                     Song's elapsed time
	mpd_length                      Song's length
	mpd_percent                     Percent of song's progress
	new_mails                       Unread mail count in mail spool.         
	nodename                        Hostname                                 
	outlinecolor      (color)       Change outline color                     
	pre_exec          shell command Executes a shell command one time before 
					conky displays anything and puts output 
					as text.                                 
	processes                       Total processes (sleeping and running)   
	running_processes               Running processes (not sleeping),        
					requires Linux 2.6                       
	shadecolor        (color)       Change shading color                     
	stippled_hr       (space),      Stippled (dashed) horizontal line        
			(height)        
	swapbar           (height)      Bar that shows amount of swap in use     
	swap                            Amount of swap in use                    
	swapmax                         Total amount of swap                     
	swapperc                        Percentage of swap in use                
	sysname                         System name, Linux for example           
	offset            pixels        Move text over by N pixels
	tail              logfile, lines (interval)
					Displays last N lines of supplied text
					text file.  If interval is not supplied,
					Conky assumes 2x Conky's interval.
					Max of 30 lines.
					Max of 30 lines can be displayed.
	time              (format)      Local time, see man strftime to get more 
					information about format                 
	totaldown         net           Total download, overflows at 4 GB on     
					Linux with 32-bit arch and there doesn't 
					seem to be a way to know how many times  
					it has already done that before conky   
					has started.                            
	top               type, num     This takes arguments in the form:
					top <name> <number>
					Basically, processes are ranked from 
					highest to lowest in terms of cpu
					usage, which is what <num> represents.
					The types are: "name", "pid", "cpu", and
					"mem".
					There can be a max of 10 processes listed.
	top_mem           type, num     Same as top, except sorted by mem usage
					instead of cpu
	totalup           net           Total upload, this one too, may overflow 
	updates                         Number of updates (for debugging)        
	upspeed           net           Upload speed in kilobytes                
	upspeedf          net           Upload speed in kilobytes with one       
					decimal                                  
	upspeedgraph      net (height),(width)  (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2)
					Upload speed graph, colours defined in
					hex, minus the #.
	uptime                          Uptime                                   
	uptime_short                    Uptime in a shorter format               
	
	seti_prog                       Seti@home current progress
	seti_progbar      (height)      Seti@home current progress bar
	seti_credit                     Seti@hoome total user credit
	
	
	colors are parsed using XParsecolor(), there might be a list of them:
	/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb.txt. color can be also in #rrggbb format (hex).
	
	Note that when displaying bytes, power is 1024 and not 1000 so 1M really
	means 1024*1024 bytes and not 1000*1000.
	
  KNOWN PROBLEMS
	
	Drawing to root or some other desktop window directly doesn't work with
	all window managers. Especially doesn't work well with Gnome and it has
	been reported that it doesn't work with KDE either. Nautilus can be
	disabled from drawing to desktop with program gconf-editor. Uncheck
	show_desktop in /apps/nautilus/preferences/. There is -w switch in Conky
	to set some specific window id. You might find xwininfo -tree useful to
	find the window to draw to. You can also use -o argument which makes
	Conky to create its own window.