Hey everyone,
I got in a creative mood on my day off and decided to bring some of the elements of my Kubuntu KDE/Plasma 6/Wayland box to my 21.3 Mint Cinnamon desktop. Here is my conky version of the Kurve panel visualizer, and a near copy of the Panel Colorizer I use to customize my Kubuntu panel. Unfortunately it's not split into segments like on Kubuntu, but it looks nice next to the Kurve conky.
Hey Willem,
I found your DeviantArt post from 2017. By any chance do you still have this black clock?
If so may I please have the files?
Spectrum-EQ v2.4
- Added 'led_effects' to the configs, giving a 3D look to the blocks
- Added 'falling_led_effect' to the configs, enable/disable 3D on the falling blocks
- Added 'falling_direction' to the configs that lets blocks falling down or up
- Added some more configs
https://www.cobrasoft.nl/download/conky/spectrum-equalizer/spectrum-eq-v2.4.tar.gz
Hello Everyone,
Here is the Grey Conky System running on my Mint 21.3 Cinnamon/Win10 Pro ASUS ROG gaming laptop.
A few different widgets: Wireless instead of wired network, Nvidia gpu widget instead of Radeon, and Battery widget.
Spectrum-EQ v2.3 with falling peak blocks
- Added options for falling peak blocks in configs (falling_blocks, falling_speed, falling_delay, falling_colour)
- Improved the reflection_fade to work with falling blocks
- Resized the conky window and set cava to 24 bars
- Modified all configs (better not use your old configs!)
- Added a few configs
Hello everyone,
I'm excited about this one!
I decided to see if it was possible to emulate the Kubuntu panel visualizer plasmoid Kurve as a large Conky that could be positioned anywhere onscreen. The answer was a hard YES :D
This is about a perfect an emulation of the plasoid effect as I can imagine. Driven by cava, it reacts to system music/sounds.
Hello Willem,
I hope you find this post!
Koentje and I tried his newest 2.0 version of spectrum equalizer visualizer on Kubuntu and found that on the Wayland DE, the conky window is not refreshing itself to reflect the visual changes the conky is supposed to display.
Have you any experience with this issue from your work on Wayland and can you help?
Thanks for reading,
Logan
I used AI to create a motorcycle dashboard image seated perspective just to incorporate Willem's awesome new .lua dial gauge conkys. Naturally because it was AI, there were realism issues. I expected this, and was happy just to have a good background to interact with the conkys.
Naturally the net lost it's fucking mind.
"AI slop" was about the kindest of the numerous comments. Undaunted, I've been running my conkys, but on a whim, I went back to google images and asked in different terms for a multi-gauge motorcycle cockpit image. To my surprise, it came up with this old BMW with 5 gauges in the cockpit. The two uppermost were offset to the left and partially overlapped and obscured by the right main gauge, so I used AI to change the perspective from the original angled shot to a straight lined up image of the seat view. I also had it move the top row of two gauges to the center to be unobscured by the right main gauge and to provide a grey gradient background instead of the busy blur that was the original background. Original pic shown here for comparison.
So aside from the edited top gauge row, this is a real bike with no meaningless cables added by AI.
Rewrote the whole LUA script and now after a few days of testing, the memory usage stays at zero!! :)
v2.1
- Fixed bug when cava data stream frame is empty, bars zero out for 1 frame
This caused flickering bars. Now it uses the last stored data stream frame
- Added option 'reflection_fade' in the configs
- Added wayland support (change OWN_WINDOW_TYPE to 'normal' in conky script)
https://www.cobrasoft.nl/download/conky/spectrum-equalizer/spectrum-eq-v2.1.tar.gz
I built a native C system service to pull low-level telemetry directly from my Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 and Intel Ultra 9 285K, turning it into a custom KDE Plasma live wallpaper. It tracks the exact per-pin load on the 12V-2x6 power conduits, while also pulling in Home Assistant (HA) data for ambient environment and UPS power metrics.
Since the daemon streams the output as JSON, the front-end possibilities are practically endless. My next step is building a native Android app to stream this telemetry directly to my phone.
I'll be open-sourcing the code and sharing it here as soon as I clean up some API keys.
What do you guys think?
Cheers
Hey everyone,
I have made a 2nd column for the Grey-conky Minimalis. The widgets from top to bottom are:
Bluetooth
Mouse
Optical Drive
GMail
Network Devices
Release Info
Open Ethernet ports
Currently sandwiched between the All-text Minimalis and a full lyrics display, the configuration may get swapped about we will see.
Sorry for the long read in advance.
A sneak peek at the 1.1.0 Conky Studio that is coming out soon, where 1 or even 2 nodes = a widget
What you see is what you get. No mockups, real conky
Conky Studio (full feature list for 1.1.0, some differ from the current 1.0.7.5)
**Visual node-graph editor for building Conky HUDs and system monitors.**
Conky Studio turns Conky theme creation into a drag-and-drop workflow. You design on a canvas of connected nodes (data sources -> logic -> visuals), then **Build** to generate real Conky files (`.conf`, `render.lua`, `start.sh`, helper scripts). Installed themes run independently of the app; Studio is an authoring tool, not a required runtime.
| What it is | What it produces |
|------------|------------------|
| Visual node editor (Sources, Logic, Visuals) | `conky.conf` + `render.lua` + `start.sh` + scripts |
| Theme Wizard for styled starter HUDs | Editable project graph (learning scaffold) |
| Manager for installed themes | Launch/stop/install from archives |
| Community stores | **Theme Vault** (themes) + **Node Vault** (plugins) + OpenDesktop/Pling |
**Target platform:** Linux (Conky + Cairo + Lua).
**Install root for themes:** `~/.config/conky/` (and legacy `~/.conky/`).
| Tab | Purpose |
|-----|---------|
| **Manager** | Discover installed themes, install archives, launch/stop with live logs |
| **Studio** | Design HUDs on the node canvas; Theme Wizard, preview, build |
| **Store** | **Theme Vault** (community themes) + OpenDesktop / Pling search & install |
Switch tabs freely. Tours walk through all three in sequence.
Studio is the core authoring environment.
- **Palette (left)** — All node types, grouped by category and subcategory. Simple / Complex filter.
- **Canvas (center)** — Drag nodes, connect sockets (wires), group and collapse nodes, pan/zoom the graph.
- **Layers/Windows** — Multi-window Conky output; layer order and window assignment.
- **Properties** — Dockable panel for editing the selected node’s properties (numbers, colours, gradients, fonts, paths, enums, code, bindable inputs). Same values as the Position Stage and Live Preview use.
- **Preview** — Live or snapshot preview of the generated theme.
- **Position Stage** — Screen-space layout dock; drag visual proxies on a window-sized plane (see below).
Docks (Properties, Preview, Position Stage, Layers, Windows) can be rearranged, tabbed, or floated like standard IDE panels.
Drag **Source** nodes (CPU, GPU, weather, media, etc).
Optionally wire through **Logic** (math, thresholds, smoothing, etc).
Connect to **Visual** nodes (gauges, graphs, text, effects, shapes).
Select a node and edit it in the **Properties** dock (colours, fonts, sizes, positions, poll mode, etc), **or** drag visuals on the Position Stage for placement.
**Save Project** (`.json`) to keep editing later.
**Build & Install** to export files into Manager and run them.
- Multi-window projects (Canvas Settings).
- Bindable properties — wire a source/logic output into a visual’s value, colour trigger, etc.
- Image/path properties copy assets into the theme’s `images/` or `assets/` on build.
- Custom Lua node for advanced/imported themes.
- Import Custom Files — bring existing `.lua` / `.sh` / `.conf` into the graph as nodes.
Position stage is a dockable **screen-space layout editor**, separate from the node-graph canvas (which is for data flow and wiring).
Visual nodes appear as draggable proxies on a plane the size of the selected Conky window (resolution/workable area). Moving a proxy writes the same `x`/`y` or `cx`/`cy` properties that the property panel edits, so Live Preview and Build pick up the change through the normal graph-changed path.
| It is | It is not |
|-------|-----------|
| Alternate layout editor for on-screen placement | A replacement for the property-panel X/Y spinboxes |
| Window-sized stage matching Live Preview/Windows dock | The node-graph canvas (wiring stays on the graph) |
| Synced with selection and property edits | A second source of truth; one set of props |
| Control | Action |
|---------|--------|
| **Window** combo | Which window’s resolution the stage represents (matches multi-window projects) |
| **Snap** + **Step** | Optional pixel grid snap while dragging (e.g., 10 px) |
| **Fit** | Zoom to fit the window rectangle |
| **↻ Refresh** | Reload proxies from the current project |
| **Ctrl + scroll** | Zoom |
| **Alt + drag** or **middle-click** | Pan |
| **Drag proxy** | Move visual; writes `x`/`y` or `cx`/`cy` |
- Only **visual** nodes with position properties (`x`/`y` or centre `cx`/`cy`) get proxies.
- Proxy size is estimated from common props (`width`/`height`, `size`, `radius`, bar counts, etc.) so small nodes stay grab-able.
- Centre-based nodes (`cx`/`cy`) map the proxy centre to the stored value; corner-based nodes (`x`/`y`) map the top-left.
- Window frame shows a grid, centre crosshair, and corner coordinates `(0,0)` … `(W,H)`.
- When a window has `visible_node_ids`, only those visuals appear on that window’s stage; otherwise, all visible visuals are shown.
- Selection on the stage can sync with the property panel; external graph changes (prop panel, etc.) refresh the stage.
Tabify it with Preview/Layers/Windows docks in Studio for a convenient layout workflow.
Nodes are pure metadata (`NodeSpec`) registered by category. Socket colours follow data kinds: percent, celsius, number, text, category.
Data that feeds the rest of the graph.
| Subcategory | Examples |
|-------------|----------|
| **System** | CPU Usage, RAM Usage, Disk Usage, Battery, CPU Frequency, RAM Used/Total, Swap |
| **System Info** | Uptime, Hostname, Kernel, Process Count, Top Process (name/CPU/RAM), Load Average, Threads, Running Processes |
| **Network** | Download, Upload, Total Down/Up, Wi-Fi SSID, Wi-Fi Signal, Public IP |
| **Time** | Greeting, Date/Time |
| **Sensors** | CPU Temp, GPU Util, GPU Temp, GPU VRAM Used/Total, Disk Temp, Fan RPM |
| **Weather** | Condition, Category, Temp (°F) |
| **Media** | Track Title, Artist, Album, Playback Status, Progress % |
| **Custom** | Custom Script (arbitrary command/cache) |
Sensors and many external sources support **Polling mode**:
- **Simple (Conky `execi`)** — Conky runs the command on an interval.
- **Background daemon** — `start.sh` runs a dedicated loop; zero-stutter reads from cache (recommended for GPU/temp/fan).
Nodes that share a `script_family` (e.g., `gpu_stats`) are deduplicated: one script, one cache, multiple readers.
Transform and gate values between sources and visuals.
| Node | Role |
|------|------|
| Math | add/sub/mul/div/etc |
| Conditional | if comparison then/else |
| String Format | template + decimals |
| Map Range | remap input range -> output range |
| Clamp | min/max bounds |
| Lerp | linear interpolate |
| Threshold Gate | binary gate on comparison |
| Deadzone | ignore small changes around a centre |
| Invert Percent | 100 − value |
| Scale/Offset | multiply + add |
| Round, Absolute | numeric helpers |
| AND/OR Gate, Pick A/B | boolean/selection |
| Smooth (EMA) | exponential moving average |
| Rate of Change | delta over time |
| Hysteresis | dual-threshold switching |
| String Join, Enum Map | text helpers |
What is drawn on screen.
| Subcategory | Examples |
|-------------|----------|
| **Text** | Text Label, Flip Card, Wall Calendar |
| **Gauges & Bars** | Arc/Ring Gauge, Bar, Needle Gauge, Segmented Gauge, Reactor Gauge, Ring Track, LED Dot, CPU Core Strip |
| **Graphs** | History Graph, Sparkline, Multi-Series Line Graph, Radar Chart, Top Processes Table |
| **Effects** | Glow/Pulse, Spiral, Orbit Field, Equalizer Bars, Spinning Fan, Radial Spectrum, Matrix Rain, Loading Dots, Analog Clock |
| **Shapes** | Rectangle, Circle, Triangle, Star, H/V Line, Crosshair |
| **Icons & Images** | Image/Icon (with conditional path swap), Weather Icon (cairo drawn, and weather change logic alreaady implemented) |
| **Media** | Vinyl Spinner |
| **Advanced** | Custom Lua (raw Lua passthrough) |
Visual properties typically include position, size, colour, opacity, fonts, and bindable value inputs.
- Window size, gap, own_window hints, update interval, etc.
- Multiple Conky windows from one project.
**Project → New HUD…** opens the Theme Wizard.
It is a **learning scaffold**, not a finished theme to ship unchanged. Generated graphs are meant to be edited in Studio, so you learn the node system.
| Step | Options |
|------|---------|
| **Category (style)** | Minimal, Gaming, RPG, Sci-Fi, Cyberpunk, Terminal, Fantasy, Arkhamos |
| **Resolution** | 1920×1080, 2560×1440, 3440×1440, 3840×2160 (more may be added in the future) |
| **Panels** | Clock, weather, music, battery, disk, network graph, system vitals, etc. |
| **Extras** | Flourish chrome, logic demos, etc. (tier-dependent) |
| **Complexity** | **Simple** · **Full** · **Showcase** |
- **Simple** — clean vitals, fewer decorations.
- **Full** — solid multi-panel HUD.
- **Showcase** — densest layout, extra effects, and logic edges for exploration.
On Create, a full project graph is loaded into Studio. Edit nodes, fix sensor modes, rename, and rebuild.
**Tour default:** Full Tour pre-selects **Minimal + Showcase** so you see a rich graph and common pitfalls (e.g., sensor `execi` defaults) firsthand.
The manager is a front-end for themes already installed under `~/.config/conky` (and `~/.conky`) if they have a `start.sh`, the manager can run them.
- **List** of installed themes with thumbnails and metadata.
- **Drop zone** — drag-and-drop `.zip` / `.tar.gz` / `.tar` archives, or click to browse.
- **Refresh** — rescan install directories.
- **Detail pane** — name, description, paths, actions.
- **Launch/Stop** — runs the theme’s `start.sh` (process group + PID lock); stop kills the group cleanly.
- **Live log** — stdout/stderr from the running theme process.
- Edit the README and theme.json
- Zip files to export
- Import themes via drag and drop, or search files
- Themes keep working after Conky Studio is closed; Manager is a convenience, not a dependency.
Community theme discovery lives here. (Community **node plugins** are in **Node Vault**, under Tools -> Plugins.)
The community **theme** catalogue.
- Driven by a remote `manifest.json` (+ per-theme JSON refs).
- **Browse only/link-out** — opens the theme’s real home (GitHub, Pling, KDE Store, openDesktop, etc) in your browser.
- Preview images and README fetched on demand.
- Nothing is downloaded or executed by Studio from this panel; you install from the host site or via the OCS panel below.
- Live search against the Open Collaboration Services API.
- **In-app install** — downloads and installs selected content into the Manager’s install root.
- Respects rate limits; handles provider base URLs.
| Action | What it does |
|--------|----------------|
| **New HUD…** | Theme Wizard -> starter graph |
| **New Blank HUD** | Empty project |
| **Open Project…** | Load a saved `.json` project |
| **Save Project…** | Write the editable graph + metadata (keeps working in Studio) |
| **Build to Folder…** | Export Conky files to a directory you choose |
| **Build & Install to Manager** | Export + copy into `~/.config/conky/<theme-name>/` so Manager can launch it |
| **Import Custom Files…** | Bring existing Lua/shell/conf into the graph (Custom Lua / Custom Script nodes, assets) |
**Save** = keep the project for further editing.
**Build** = generate the files Conky actually runs.
You almost always Save often and Build when you want to run or share the theme.
A successful build produces a self-contained theme directory, for example:
```
my-theme/
├── conky.conf # Conky config (windows, lua load, gaps, etc)
├── render.lua # Cairo drawing + framework + per-node code
├── `start.sh` # Launch script (setsid, PID lock, optional daemons)
├── scripts/ # Family scripts (gpu_stats.sh, etc) and custom scripts
├── images/ / assets/ # Copied PATH/image assets
└── theme_meta.json # Name, description, thumbnails metadata
```
Internals with a custom Lua API and Cairo engine.
- **Lua framework** — shared helpers, source refresh, draw dispatch.
- **Per-node generators** — each `NodeSpec.type` maps to a Lua emitter.
- **Script families** — shared sensor scripts + cache files; one process serves many nodes.
- **start.sh** — process management; starts background daemons when any node uses daemon poll mode.
- **Images** — PATH properties and Custom Lua asset lists are copied and path-rewritten.
Themes do not need Conky Studio installed to run.
| Item | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| **Hardware & Session…** | Report on display session, GPU tools, sensors, fonts, Conky presence, missing dependencies; useful for diagnosing missing data |
| **Install Font…** | Install a font family for use in Text/gauge labels (fontconfig-aware picker in properties) |
| **Plugins…** | **Node Vault** — fetch/install/uninstall community node plugins |
| Menu item | Description |
|-----------|-------------|
| **Getting Started…** | Built-in text guide (workflow, first HUD, troubleshooting) |
| **Take the Full Tour…** | Continuous tour: Theme Wizard (Minimal + Showcase) -> Studio (nodes, sensors, naming, save vs build) -> Manager -> Store |
| **Learn Studio…** | Studio-only interactive tour (palette, canvas, layers, properties, preview) |
| **Learn Theme Wizard…** | Wizard-only tour (category, resolution, panels, extras, complexity) |
| **Support…** | Discord + YouTube links |
| **Check for Updates…** | Compare local version to GitHub releases |
Tours use non-dimming highlight rings and floating cards; they can be re-run anytime.
**Full Tour flow (summary):**
Opens Theme Wizard, pre-selects Minimal + Showcase, and explains it is a learning tool.
After Create, Studio tour covers every node category/subcategory overview.
Explains sensors need **daemon** (not execi) and that **spaces in theme names** break builds (use hyphens: `minimal-HUD`).
Continues through Manager (launch/stop, install) and Store (Vault + OCS).
Clarifies **Save project** vs **Build & Install**.
## Important Rules & Common Pitfalls
**Theme names: no spaces**
Use hyphens or underscores only.
No: `Minimal HUD` -> build/runtime errors
Yes: `Minimal-HUD` or `minimal_hud`
**Sensors -> prefer daemon mode**
GPU util/temp, CPU temp, fans: set **Polling mode = Background daemon**, then rebuild. Wizard defaults may leave execi so you can see the failure mode.
**Save ≠ Build**
Save keeps the editable project. Build generates the files Conky runs. Install puts those files where the Manager can launch them.
**Wizard = scaffold**
Treat wizard output as a starting graph. Edit nodes, fix poll modes, adjust layout, then build.
**Plugins = same trust as scripts**
Only load plugins from sources you trust.
**Themes are standalone**
After Build & Install, `start.sh` is enough; Studio does not need to stay open.
I'm not into anime, I just have a few incidental characters in some of my Steampunk GUI's, but this wallpaper edit by u/Fun-Consequences4741 struck me as too beautiful not to work with.
There are 3 wallpaper edits in this series, Here is my favorite on main monitor along with my screen elements. The minimalis conky is a decade old classic, the green-conky from DeviantArt. Other elements include Gis-Weather and GCalendar Events along with Bleys 3 month .lua conky calendar colored for this GUI.