Conky Help

samdavid6 · 2025-11-11 18:48:15

Hi everyone. I was wondering if anyone can help me out with my Conky setup.

Basically, I tried one script, but it relies on reading values from radeontop, sensors and other files. However it ended up constantly running radeontop, sensors etc every second to read the values, and in some cases running the files multiple times a second. I had an idea to have conky run radeontop and sensors once every second and update a file in /tmp, and then have conky read from that file. Seems to work so far, but for some reason my conky display on the desktop keeps overwriting the same section over and over again, so it seems that the display doesnt refresh, and instead overwrites on the screen. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?

conky.config = {
    alignment = 'top_right',
    use_xft = true,
    xftalpha = 0.8,
    font = 'Noto:normal:size=8',
    text_buffer_size = 2048,
    update_interval = 1.0,
    total_run_times = 0,
    background = true,
    double_buffer = true,
    no_buffers = true,
    imlib_cache_size = 0,
    cpu_avg_samples = 2,
    own_window = true,
    own_window_class = 'Conky',
    own_window_argb_visual = true,
    own_window_argb_value = 50,
    own_window_transparent = true,
    own_window_type = 'normal',
    own_window_hints = 'undecorated,below,skip_taskbar,sticky,skip_pager',
    own_window_colour = '000000',
    draw_shades = no,
    default_shade_color = '000000',
    draw_outline = no,
    default_outline_color = '000000',
    draw_borders = no,
    gap_x = 10,
    gap_y = 10,
    minimum_height = 5,
    minimum_width = 205,
    draw_graph_borders = true,
    show_graph_scale = no,
    show_graph_range = no,
    short_units = yes,
    override_utf8_locale = yes,
    uppercase = no,
    default_color = 'ffffff',
    color1 = 'c6396b',
    color2 = 'fc8c3b',
    color3 = 'f9e30f',
    color4 = '4291e2',
    color5 = '161925',
    color6 = '3bf4bb',
    use_spacer = none,
    hddtemp_host = "127.0.0.1",
    hddtemp_port = "7634",
}

conky.text = [[

#Save sensor data to /tmp
${execi 1 /bin/sensors > /tmp/sensordata}
${execi 1 /bin/radeontop > /tmp/radeontopdata}

#Title
${goto 10}${font Noto:bold:size=12}Sam's Desktop ${alignr 10}${color2}${time %r}
${font Noto:bold:size=9}${color4}${hr}${color}
# day/time
${font Noto:normal:size=9}${goto 10}Date:${color2}${alignr 10}${time %d %B %Y}${color}
${goto 10}Host:${color2}${alignr 10}${exec hostname}
${goto 10}${color}Kernel:${alignr 10}${color2}${kernel}${color}
${goto 10}Uptime:${color2}${alignr 10}$uptime
#
#Processor section
${color4}${hr}${color}
${alignc}${color6}${font Noto:normal:size=9}${exec cat /proc/cpuinfo|grep 'model name'|sed -e 's/model name.*: //'| uniq | cut -c 18-30}${color} @ ${color6}${freq_g 1}GHz
${font}${alignc}${color}Active Governor: ${color6}${execi 1 cut -b 1-20 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor}${color}
${goto 10}${color}Current Vcore: ${color6}${execi 1 sensors | grep 'Vcore' | cut -c 27-35} ${alignr 10}${color}Max Vcore: ${color1}${execi 1 sensors | grep 'Vcore' | cut -c 61-67
}
#
# top processes
${color}${goto 10}Current Avg CPU Load: ${alignr 10}${color6}${cpu cpu0}%
${color1}${goto 10}${top name 1}${alignr 10}${color}${top cpu 1}%
${color1}${goto 10}${top name 2}${alignr 10}${color}${top cpu 2}%
${color1}${goto 10}${top name 3}${alignr 10}${color}${top cpu 3}%
${color1}${goto 10}${top name 4}${alignr 10}${color}${top cpu 4}%
${color1}${goto 10}${top name 5}${alignr 10}${color}${top cpu 5}%
${color1}${goto 10}${top name 6}${alignr 10}${color}${top cpu 6}%
${color1}${goto 10}${top name 7}${alignr 10}${color}${top cpu 7}%
${color1}${goto 10}${top name 8}${alignr 10}${color}${top cpu 8}%
#
#
# GPU Section
${color4}${hr}
##------------Card1-------------##
${color}${alignc}${font Noto:normal:size=9}GPU1: ${color6}AMD RX6700XT${font}${color}
${goto 10}Pwr: ${color6}${execi 1 sensors amdgpu-pci-0300 | grep "power1" | cut -b 14-19} W ${alignr 10}${color}Max Pwr: ${color1}${execi 1 sensors amdgpu-pci-0300 | grep "power1" | cut -b 31-35} W
${color}${goto 10}GPU Load: ${color2}${exec cat /tmp/radeontopdata | grep -o "gpu [0-9]\{1,3\}" | cut -c 5-7 }%${alignr 10}${color}GPU VRAM: ${color2}${exec cat /tmp/radeontopdata | grep -o "vram [0-9]\{1,3\}" | cut -c 5-7 }%
${color5}${goto 10}${execgraph "/tmp/radeontopdata | grep -o "gpu [0-9]\{1,3\}" | cut -c 5-7"  20,110 fc8c3b c6396b -t} ${alignr 10}${execigraph 1 "execgraph "/tmp/radeontopdata -b 03 -d- -l1 | grep -o "vram [0-9]\{1,3\}" | cut -c 5-7"  20,110 fc8c3b c6396b -t}
${goto 10}${color}GPU Spd: ${color2}${exec cat /tmp/radeontopdata | grep -o "sclk ............." | cut -c 12-16 }GHz ${alignr 10}${color}VRAM Spd: ${color2}${exec cat /tmp/radeontopdata -b 03 -d- -l1 | grep -o "mclk .............." | cut -c 13-17 }GHz
${goto 10}${color}Curent Temp: ${color1}${exec cat /tmp/sensordata amdgpu-pci-0300 | grep 'edge' | cut -c 16-22} ${alignr 10}${color}Fan Spd: ${color2}${exec cat /tmp/sensordata amdgpu-pci-0300 | grep 'fan1' | cut -c 14-21}

#
# top memory
${color4}${hr}${color}
${goto 10}${color}Current RAM Usage: ${alignr 10}${color6}${memperc}%
${goto 15}${color5}${memgraph 20,220 fc8c3b c6396b -t}
${goto 10}${color1}${top_mem name 1}${alignr 10}${color}${top mem 1}%
${color1}${goto 10}${top_mem name 2}${alignr 10}${color}${top mem 2}%
${color1}${goto 10}${top_mem name 3}${alignr 10}${color}${top mem 3}%
#
#network
${color4}${hr}${color}
${color}${font}${goto 10}Internal IP: ${color6}${alignr 10}${addr enp14s0}
#${goto 10}Network${alignr 10 10}SSID: ${wireless_essid enp14s0}
#${goto 10}Signal:${goto 70}${color}${wireless_link_bar wlan0}${color}${alignr 10 10}${wireless_link_qual_perc enp14s0}%
#${font}${goto 10}External: ${font Noto:bold:9}${alignr 10 10}${exec curl ipinfo.io/ip}
${font}${goto 10}${color}Up Spd:   ${color2}${upspeed enp14s0}${goto 140}${color}Down Spd: ${alignr 10}${color2}${downspeed enp14s0}
${color}${goto 10}Total Up: ${color2}${totalup enp14s0}${goto 140}${color}Total Dn: ${alignr 10}${color2}${totaldown enp14s0}
${goto 15}${color5}${upspeedgraph enp14s0 20,110 fc8c3b c6396b -t}   ${color5}${downspeedgraph enp14s0 20,110 fc8c3b c6396b -t}
#
#Storage
${color4}${hr}${color}
#${goto 10}${color}Disk I/O Scheduler: ${color2}${alignr 10}${ioscheduler /dev/nvme}
#${goto 10}${color}NVME Disk I/O:    ${goto 105}${color}Read:${color2}${diskio_read nvme0n1}${goto 180}${color}Write:${color2}${diskio_write nvme0n1}
${goto 10}${color}Sys:      ${alignr 10}${color6}${fs_used /}${color}  /  ${color2}${alignr 10}${fs_size /}
${goto 15}${color}NVM Temp: ${goto 80}${color1}${exec nvme smart-log /dev/nvme0 | grep 'temperature' | cut -c 39-42}${alignr 10}${color}Available:  ${color6}${fs_free_perc /}%
#
${goto 10}${color}Home:      ${alignr 10}${color6}${fs_used /home}${color}  /  ${color2}${alignr 10}${fs_size /home}
${goto 15}${color}SSD Temp: ${goto 80}${color1}${exec hddtemp /dev/sda | cut -c 33-37}${alignr 10}${color}Available:  ${color6}${fs_free_perc /home}%
#
${goto 10}${color}Storage1:      ${alignr 10}${color6}${fs_used /home/sam/sdd}${color}  /  ${color2}${alignr 10}${fs_size /home/sam/sdd}
${goto 15}${color}SSD Temp: ${goto 80}${color1}${exec hddtemp /dev/sdb | cut -c 33-37}${alignr 10}${color}Available:  ${color6}${fs_free_perc /home/sam/sdd}%
#
${goto 10}${color}Storage2:      ${alignr 10}${color6}${fs_used /home/sam/hdd}${color}  /  ${color2}${alignr 10}${fs_size /home/sam/hdd}
${goto 15}${color}HDD Temp: ${goto 80}${color1}${exec hddtemp /dev/sdc | cut -c 32-37}${alignr 10}${color}Available:  ${color6}${fs_free_perc /home/sam/hdd}%


]]

seth · 2025-11-11 20:39:38

my conky display on the desktop keeps overwriting the same section over and over again, so it seems that the display doesnt refresh, and instead overwrites on the screen

    own_window = true,
    own_window_class = 'Conky',
    own_window_argb_visual = true,
    own_window_argb_value = 50,
    own_window_transparent = true,
    own_window_type = 'normal',

You're drawing to a window (not the desktop) that has fake transparency and ARGB enabled - not sure how that will pan out.
Is this X11 or wayland and do you run a compositor like picom (on X11)?

samdavid6 · 2025-11-11 21:01:30

This is x11.

I also have wayland, but am using x11 because a couple of my older games don't play well with Wayland (gamma issues).

Is what I am doing supposed to be on Wayland instead? How can I find out how it works on x11?

seth · 2025-11-11 21:07:07

What happens for

own_window_argb_visual = false,

Wayland will afaiu require more configuration, but ARGB will require compositing and it makes no sense to pair that w/ the fake transparency (root window copy) setting.
What window manager/DE do you use? Apparently there's a problem w/ cinnamon not setting a root window (but it runs a compositor so you'd disable own_window_transparent and keep own_window_argb_visual)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-11-11 18:48:15

Conky Help

#2 2025-11-11 20:39:38

Re: Conky Help

#3 2025-11-11 21:01:30

Re: Conky Help

#4 2025-11-11 21:07:07

Re: Conky Help

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