Conky black background on Unity

Question

I'm using Ubuntu 13.10 (and 14.04 on another computer) with Unity. Conky doesn't work like I expect. This is my config:

alignment top_right
background yes
border_inner_margin 0
border_width 0
top_cpu_separate yes
default_color ffffff
default_outline_color 000000
#default_shade_color 999999
double_buffer yes
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
draw_outline yes
draw_shades no
gap_x 0
gap_y 30
maximum_width 222
minimum_size 222
own_window yes
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_argb_visual yes
own_window_argb_value 0
own_window_type override
own_window_class conky-semi
show_graph_scale yes
total_run_times 0
update_interval 5
text_buffer_size 1024
use_xft yes
xftfont Ubuntu:size=8

In this config Conky have black background, not disappear when showing or clicking desktop. If I change own_window_type to 'desktop' Conky runs with transparency but if I click on desktop it disappear (but still working). If I change own_window_type to 'normal' it have transparency and doesn't disappear on clicking on desktop but it minimize when I click on show desktop button and doesn't recover (still running).

Answer 1

"If I change own_window_type to 'normal' it have transparency and doesn't disappear on clicking on desktop but it minimize when I click on show desktop button and doesn't recover (still running)."

Do not minimize on Show Desktop

Using Compiz: If the 'Show Desktop' button or key-binding minimizes Conky along with all other windows, start the Compiz configuration settings manager, go to "General Options" and uncheck the "Hide Skip Taskbar Windows" option.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/conky

Answer 2

I have a similar problem, I found a setting that gets it "almost" right, try it yourself, see if it helps

own_window_class Conky
own_window yes
own_window_type normal
own_window_argb_visual yes 
own_window_argb_value 25
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

Answer 3

Try adding this lines:

own_window_type normal

own_window_hints undecorate,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager,below

Answer 4

I don't think there is a way to do this properly that works on Unity (it will on other desktop environments). However, here a workaround: use xdotool to make conky visible again after you loose it:

1. Install xdotool

   sudo apt-get install xdotool
   

2. Use these settings in your ~/.conkyrc:

   own_window yes
   own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
   own_window_transparent yes
   own_window_argb_visual yes
   own_window_argb_value 0
   own_window_type desktop
   own_window_class conky
   

3. Now, when you loose conky, you can get it back by running this command:

   xdotool windowactivate `xdotool search  --class conky`
   

4. Create this little script and save it as run_conky.sh:

   #!/usr/bin/env bash
   
   ## Kill any existing conoky instance
   killall conky
   
   ## Launch conky
   conky &
   
   ## As long as conky is running, run the xdotool command
   ## to make it visible every two seconds
   while true; do
       pgrep conky && xdotool windowactivate `xdotool search  --class conky`
       sleep 2
   done
   

5. Make the script executable (chmod +x start_conky.sh) and add it to your startup applications. Basically, use the script to launch conky at login instead of running the conky command.

The result of this is that conky will magically appear after 2 seconds (change the sleep value to 1 to make it faster but 2 is fine and is less of a load on your system). I tested it on Unity on 13.10 and it works fine.