The tool allows you to easily enable/disable various Conky modules/widgets and it also supports full themes, which is a combination of widgets. You can configure each widget alignment, size, transparency and so on, all from a GUI so if you didn't know how to configure Conky before, give Conky Manager a try.
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| Conky Manager v2 - widget settings |
In case you're not familiar with Conky, this is a lightweight, highly customizable system monitor that displays various info on your desktop.
Changes in Conky Manager v2:
- revamped UI;
- the main window now displays previews; if a widget/theme doesn't have a preview, click the "Generate preview images" button;
- new toolbar which lets you start/stop Conky, edit widget, edit Conky Manager settings (which includes option to run Conky on startup with an optional delay to avoid various issues or add Conky locations), search for new themes, import theme packs, etc.;
- easily switch between / filter themes and widgets;
Note: a Widget is a Conky configuration file (conkyrc file); a Conky Manager Theme is a combination of widgets along with a wallpaper (cmtheme file).
Check out the Conky Manager v2 release announcement for more information.
Conky Manager makes using/managing Conky a lot easier and while I like it for the most part, I've encountered two annoyances (nothing major though). One is that the application creates a "conky-manager" folder in the home directory - this will be fixed in a future release though.
And the second issue is related to widgets that display the weather: Conky Manager itself doesn't include an option to set your weather location so to get the weather for your location, you must edit the Conky configuration file (select the weather widget that's currently in use, then in Conky Manager click the Edit file manually... button, then modify it so it uses your weather location).
Below you can check out some of the themes available in the Conky Manager v2 theme pack (download link below; screenshots via Conky Manager theme pack):
Install Conky Manager in Ubuntu 14.04 or 13.10 / Linux Mint 17 or 16
To install Conky Manager in Ubuntu 14.04 or 13.10 / Linux Mint 17 or 16 and derivatives, use the following commands:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install conky-managerConky Manager ships with just a few demo themes but you can get the Conky Manager v2 themes collection from HERE. To install the themes, simply copy the downloaded archive to your home folder, then extract it. The archive contains a hidden ".conky" folder (so you won't see it after extracting the archive unless you press CTRL + H) which includes a large collection of Conky Manager themes.
Arch Linux users can install Conky Manager via AUR (but it wasn't updated to the latest version at the time I'm writing this article).
For other Linux distributions you can get the code via BZR.
If you encounter bugs, report them HERE.
