annoying niggle with conky

zephyrus17 · 2008-09-15 06:45:22

I have my conky set up just about right, only problem is, everytime my cpu usage percentage shifts from a 1-digit number to a 2-digit number, it causes the whole group of words behind it to move as well. So sometimes it'll just move right and left repeatedly. Is there anyway to make it so that when the numbers change, it doesn't affect the placement of other items?

Also, I've been playing with the $alignr setting, and my mpd is set to be aligned to the right, but when it plays a song with a longer title or something, it just moves off the screen. My screen resolution is 1680x1050. What does "maximum_width" and "minimum_size" actually affect? I'm rather confused.

Here's my conkyrc just for reference.

###Configuration###
# maintain spacing between certain elements
use_spacer true

# set to yes if you want conky to be forked in the background
background yes

use_xft yes
override_utf8_locale yes

# Xft font when Xft is enabled
xftfont Sans-8
#xftfont Andale Mono-9
#xftfont Clean-8
#xftfont cubicfive10:pixelsize=9
#xftfont squaredance10:pixelsize=14
#xftfont swf!t_v02:pixelsize=10

# Text alpha when using Xft
xftalpha 1
mail_spool $MAIL

# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 1

# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type override
#own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
own_window_type desktop
# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes

# Minimum size of text area
minimum_size 0 0

#Maximum width
maximum_width 1680

#Minimum size
minimum_size 1680

# Draw shades?
draw_shades yes

# Draw outlines?
draw_outline no # amplifies text

# Draw borders around text
draw_borders no

# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders 0

# border margins
border_margin 20

# border width
border_width 5

# Default colors and also border colors, grey90 == #e5e5e5
default_color white
default_shade_color black
default_outline_color DarkGrey
color3 white
color1 black
color2 888888  #dark grey
color3 CECECE  #white-ish

# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
#alignment top
alignment top_left
#alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
#alignment bottom_right
#alignment middle_right
#alignment bottom_left

# Gap between borders of screen and text
gap_x 0
gap_y 0

# Subtract file system buffers from used memory?
no_buffers yes

# set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
uppercase no

short_units 1

###End of configuration###



# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen

TEXT
${color3}${user_names}@$nodename$color  //  ${color2}BATT:$color  ${color3}${battery_percent}%$color  ${color2}TEMP:$color  ${color3}${ibm_temps 0}%$color  ${color2}CPU:$color  ${color3}${cpu cpu0}%$color  ${color2}RAM:$color  ${color3}$memperc%$color  |  ${color2}Root:$color  ${color3}${fs_used /}/ ${fs_size}$color  ${color2}Home:$color  ${color3}${fs_used /home}/ ${fs_size /home}$color  |  ${color2}Uptime:$color  ${color3}${uptime}$color  ${color2}Download:$color  ${color3}${downspeed eth0}kb/s$color  ${color2}Upload:$color ${color3}${upspeed eth0}kb/s$color $alignr$color3${mpd_title} - ${mpd_artist}$color  ${mpd_bar 5,100} $color3${mpd_elapsed}/${mpd_length}$color

Last edited by zephyrus17 (2008-09-15 06:58:41)

thunderogg · 2008-09-15 07:44:15

Maybe you can use: tab (width, (start))

zephyrus17 · 2008-09-15 08:46:44

tab? I didn't see that in the conky documentation.. Hmm.. What does the (start) refer to?

muunleit · 2008-09-15 10:17:00

Maybe this site help you
http://conky.sourceforge.net/variables.html

lmsguerr · 2008-09-15 11:05:26

user_spacer doesn't use true/false options anymore!! Now are left, right, and none (default). Maybe that's your problem!!

Last edited by lmsguerr (2008-09-15 11:05:51)

zephyrus17 · 2008-09-15 11:20:58

Hmm.. I'll try. What is 'mono font'?

What does "maximum_width" and "minimum_size" actually affect?

EDIT: I set "use_spacer right" it didn't work

Last edited by zephyrus17 (2008-09-15 11:30:54)

jack.mitchell · 2008-09-15 13:02:39

As a quick guess I would say a mono font, is one which uses the same amount of pixels what ever it is displaying. For example I am sure all the default terminal fonts are mono fonts.

However im sure mono font + google will give you a real definition.

zephyrus17 · 2008-09-15 13:30:10

So I guess if I'm using Sans, I'll not get 'use_spacers' to work?

sm4tik · 2008-09-15 22:32:44

Hey zephyrus17, you're right about sans and use_spacers working together the way you want them to. But gladly you can use the $goto variable to move the next item to a specified position (in pixels). This is how I do it. It takes a bit more of an effort to set up, but this way you end up having your stuff exactly where you want them to be without the problem of the rest of the text moving around.
Hope it helps!

EDIT: If you like the sans fontface, both 'bitstream vera sans mono' and 'dejavu sans mono' are good choises for a mono font (and I see nothing wring with 'andale mono' either) if you'd like to try one of them out before you start calculating pixels

Last edited by sm4tik (2008-09-15 22:40:19)

zephyrus17 · 2008-09-16 02:15:37

What's the difference between $goto and $tab, then?

sm4tik · 2008-09-16 09:17:56

umm... Haven't used $tab but maybe you can just try using both of them side by side and compare the results? Check out the variables documentation for details, muunleit posted the link above. When testing different stuff, I use another conkyrc. This way I won't screw up the original and I can have multiple conkys running simultaniously. Just launch both/all them with

$ conky -c your_config_file

Also when making changes and testing

$ killall -SIGUSR1 conky

comes in handy. It basically reloads you conky(s) with new your configs, so no need to kill and restart the app.

zephyrus17 · 2008-09-16 12:01:23

Thanks. I'll keep poking it around.

M177ER · 2008-09-16 17:24:18

zephyrus17 wrote:

Hmm.. I'll try. What is 'mono font'?
What does "maximum_width" and "minimum_size" actually affect?
EDIT: I set "use_spacer right" it didn't work

This is the size of own_window (the background image) I believe.

zephyrus17 · 2008-09-17 02:09:47

Now, this is the odd part. I understand that maximum_width is the maximum size allowed for the text, if the text is longer than the maximum_width, the text just gets cut off.

I can basically understand that minimum_size is the size that the background has. And forcing a bigger minimum size can help with drawing backgrounds.

What I don't understand is if I set minimum_size to my screen width (1680x1050), and don't change the alignment (with is set at "tm", it just moves the whole thing to be aligned to the left side of the screen.

sm4tik · 2008-09-17 10:40:30

alignment config setting sets the alignment of the conky window, not alignment of text. To move your text around, you need to set $alignc to align text to centre or $alignr to align text to right. In your case, I guess adding $alignc in front of your text will get you desired results.

EDIT: See the documentation in conky's homepage. The config file settings documentation is to help you set up the environment for conky and the variables documentation is to help you display the things you want the way you want them to be displayed.

Last edited by sm4tik (2008-09-17 10:46:21)

flaq · 2009-06-05 03:43:09

the ${goto x} worked for me you just have to use it after every variable that can move
as in

| CPU:   $cpu%  ${goto 150} | Mem: $memperc% ${goto 200} |

you have to play with the goto spacing in pixels i just took a guess

i was trying to figure out the exact same thing before thx for the conky variables page

göteborg-johan · 2009-06-05 13:42:02

flaq wrote:

the ${goto x} worked for me you just have to use it after every variable that can move
as in
| CPU:   $cpu%  ${goto 150} | Mem: $memperc% ${goto 200} |
you have to play with the goto spacing in pixels i just took a guess
i was trying to figure out the exact same thing before thx for the conky variables page

Thanks, was just having this issue and that fixed it

Arch Linux

#1 2008-09-15 06:45:22

annoying niggle with conky

#2 2008-09-15 07:44:15

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#3 2008-09-15 08:46:44

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#4 2008-09-15 10:17:00

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#5 2008-09-15 11:05:26

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#6 2008-09-15 11:20:58

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#7 2008-09-15 13:02:39

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#8 2008-09-15 13:30:10

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#9 2008-09-15 22:32:44

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#10 2008-09-16 02:15:37

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#11 2008-09-16 09:17:56

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#12 2008-09-16 12:01:23

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#13 2008-09-16 17:24:18

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#14 2008-09-17 02:09:47

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#15 2008-09-17 10:40:30

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#16 2009-06-05 03:43:09

Re: annoying niggle with conky

#17 2009-06-05 13:42:02

Re: annoying niggle with conky

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