Conky

Conky

Conky is the lightweight desktop widget system: a good fit for LXQt and this hardware. Configs are Lua since Conky 1.10.

Install & run

sudo apt install conky conky-all
mkdir -p ~/.config/conky
cp /etc/conky/conky.conf ~/.config/conky/   # starting point
conky                                       # run it (it daemonizes)
conky -C > ~/.config/conky/conky.conf       # or dump default config

Autostart: lxqt-config-session → Autostart → add conky. Or a .desktop file in ~/.config/autostart/.

Config structure (Lua syntax)

conky.config = {
    update_interval = 1,
    double_buffer = true,
    own_window = true,
    own_window_type = 'desktop',
    alignment = 'top_right',
    gap_x = 20, gap_y = 40,
    default_color = 'ebdbb2',
    font = 'DejaVu Sans Mono:size=10',
}
 
conky.text = [[
${alignr}${time %H:%M}
CPU: ${cpu}%  ${cpubar}
RAM: ${memperc}%  ${membar}
Temp: ${acpitemp}°C
Fan: ${execi 2 cat /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_input} rpm
]]

Useful objects: ${cpu cpu1}, ${mem}, ${memperc}, ${swapperc}, ${acpitemp}, ${battery}, ${wireless_link_qual_perc wlp3s0}, ${downspeed}/${upspeed}, ${fs_used /}, ${top name 1}, ${exec cmd}, ${execi N cmd} (every N sec), ${if_running mbpfan}, ${time %A %F}, ${alignr}, ${color red}, ${goto 100}, ${hr}.

MacBook-specific goodies:

conky.text = [[
CPU ${cpu}%  ${hwmon coretemp temp 1}°C
Fan ${execi 2 cat /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_input} rpm
Turbo ${execi 5 cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo}
]]

Lua scripts (drawing, custom logic)

Load a script + hook it:

conky.config = {
    lua_load = '~/.config/conky/rings.lua',
    lua_draw_hook_pre = 'main',    -- calls conky_main() in rings.lua
    -- hooks: lua_draw_hook_pre/post, lua_startup_hook, lua_shutdown_hook,
    --        lua_mouse_hook
}

The Lua function must be named conky_<hook value>. Drawing uses Cairo:

require 'cairo'
 
function conky_main()
    local surface = conky_surface()       -- nil in text mode
    if not surface then return end
    local cr = cairo_create(surface)
 
    -- read a conky variable from Lua:
    local cpu = tonumber(conky_parse('${cpu}')) or 0
 
    cairo_set_source_rgba(cr, 0.98, 0.74, 0.18, 0.8)   -- gruvbox yellow
    cairo_arc(cr, 60, 60, 40, -math.pi/2,
              -math.pi/2 + cpu/100*2*math.pi)
    cairo_set_line_width(cr, 8)
    cairo_stroke(cr)
    cairo_destroy(cr)
end

Gotchas:

conky_surface() is only valid inside the draw call: never cache it.
Guard early draws: ${cpu}-derived values are 0/NaN until the first update

interval; skip when conky_parse('${updates}') < 3 or you'll crash.

Check Lua support: conky -v | grep -i lua. The conky-all package has it.
Plain-text Lua output (no cairo): ${lua conky_myfunc arg} calls

conky_myfunc(arg) and prints its return value.

Standalone Lua

sudo apt install lua5.4 lua5.4-doc luarocks
lua5.4 -e 'print("hi")'
lua5.4 script.lua
luarocks install luasocket     # packages go to ~/.luarocks

Performance note

Conky itself is light, but execi every 1s on a 2-core adds up: prefer built-in objects and execi 5+ for shell-outs.

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