Conky Install for Mint Newbie

[squirtbox]

I recently installed Mint 14 onto my old laptop and would like to install Conky. I have downloaded the .tar and being completely new to Linux I have no idea what I am looking at while reading the install file. I have check the post on how to install programs on Linux post(viewtopic.php?f=90&t=97158). After running ./configure I get a series of no responses on the final 4 checks and then an error message.

checking for funopen... no
checking ncurses.h usability... no
checking ncurses.h presence... no
checking for ncurses.h... no
configure: error: required header(s) not found
squirtbox@thebox ~/Downloads/conky-1.9.0 $ make
make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.

This is the response I get. I have no idea what any of this means.

[Orbmiser]

Did you check for Conky in Software Manager? It's there. And an easier and cleaner way is to install from the Software Center not from some site package doing it manually unless that is the only option.

And the way I did it on my Mint 14 Cinnamon.
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[YoelT]

Ok I installed via Software center, but whats the next step? I added a config file and installed per it's instructions. Conky is running, but I see nothing displayed. How is it configured?

[Orbmiser]

Ok I installed via Software center, but whats the next step? I added a config file and installed per it's instructions. Conky is running, but I see nothing displayed. How is it configured?

It isn't a simple click and edit it's a config .conkyrc file and you have to learn how to edit and change to your needs.
Can google the how to do's or find a conky config file made by others that does what you want.

Mine is a simple clock and date.

conky.png (21.14 KiB) Viewed 1725 times

I have a .conkyrc file in root of my home directory and run conky in the startup programs.
Of course you manually want to run conky in a term first to test and edit. As ctrl-c in term stops conky and gedit to edit the .conkrc fies allows you to make quick changes and save. Then up arrow in terminal again brings up the conky command hit enter and runs conky and you can check results. When you have it tweaked the way you want it. Then you can add it to startup application. I just use command: conky and that works for me.
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[TheDynamicHamza21]

Which conky style you want display?
I run two conkys: Metro Clock & Conky Popup. Replacing the .conkyrc it's what most styles but other require a little more work to configure.

[YoelT]

That is what I did. I added a .conkyrc file that had the setting I wanted. No Conky displays though. And I can't find a step by step how to set this up. Everything just tells you how to edit the .conkyrc file, which I do not want to do.

[Orbmiser]

"Everything just tells you how to edit the .conkyrc file, which I do not want to do."

Sorry that is how Conky works. And why everyone posts their conky files in threads throughout the linux forums. As writing one from scratch is daunting. And most find something close to what they want and modify it.

As screen resolutions and position are unique to system made for it. Only way is to find one that exactily same screen resolution and position on screen and use that one. But then you are stuck with what info is displayed.

Another option is to install screenlets which are desktop widgets that you can move around and pin to desktop. Customize settings right in screenlet. But not as many so may not have one that you need. I have one calendar screenlet and a very simple Metro Clock conky running.
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[TheDynamicHamza21]

That is what I did. I added a .conkyrc file that had the setting I wanted. No Conky displays though. And I can't find a step by step how to set this up. Everything just tells you how to edit the .conkyrc file, which I do not want to do.

Without knowing which style you want display it's hard to give advice so which style you're trying to display?
Also have you tried alt F2 type in conky (btw,to stop conky type in killall conky)? Does the conky you want display?

[homerscousin]

I,m no conky expert, but I'll add a few words. I'm going from memory so this may not be 100%. I installed conky from software mgr. There were 2 choices: conky and conky-all. Conky-all was recomended so I did that. Start conky by pressing alt + f2 and typing 'conky'.( I get a dropdown terminal type window to type 'conky' into) You should get the default ugly black box in the top left corner with limited info. If you don't get that, I guess conky isn't even installed correctly. The default config file for conky is something like /etc/ conky/conky.config. If you can get this far then we can help customising that config file or switching it over to a .conkyrc config file.

[wm_commercial]

could you please explain from this point?

i see the conky.conf installed from the mint servers no problem, making changes are doable.

what is with the conkyrc file? conky-colors seems much easier, but can't verify it's 64-bit.

i like the conky being in the system files rather than my /home folder - i've always felt that was for my conky personal settings (or other personal settings/data) ----

is it possible to just add the conky-colors extras and conkyrc to my existing install?

thanks for your time.

[bigj231]

Conky-color works fine on my 64 bit system. I'll write my own one day, but for now this is sufficient.

[wm_commercial]

.conkyrc vs .conky.conf & home folder location vs system location ...

i don't get it - anyway to install conky-color just like the debian install?