I was reading Beautify your Zorin Pro/Core 16/17 and figured i would give Conky Manager a go. But ever since i installed it there has been nothing but issues. Or well, one issue in particular I haven't been able to resolve.
Here are some screenshots from the different widgets i currently have, only the first one is a template i downloaded from Pling.
When you launch Conky Manager, you can click on one of your conky's in the list. Then click the Text Editor icon at the very top (Between the settings icon and the Open parent folder icon).
In that file, check that the following matches yours - change yours if needed:
own_window yes
own_window_type normal
own_window_transparent yes
Wow.
I am on DP on both of my monitors, using an RTX 3060 and on Xorg, as well.
I use quite a few Conky objects, actually.
Maybe this is a Gnome Desktop thing. You might try some other parameters: own_window_type override own_window_type desktop own_window_transparent no own_window no
It may take some trial and error and some mix and match...
That helped, i kinda got it working. Although, it is a bit of a struggle to have to do this. Aren't there any other (better) alternatives to desktop widgets?
we're in 2024 for gods sake
But atleast now it renders properly and values aren't being displayed ontop of each other.
It seems to me... that desktop widgets are being discouraged at a higher level.
Without stronger demand and encouragement, there are not better alternatives because Desktop widgets are seen as "not Modern".
It is an attitude, not a reality.
Conky is singularly one of the most useful pieces of software in computing. It provides a very malleable Head Up Display that can monitor and report critical system actions in real time.
That it is 2024 has more to do with why there is a lack of support.
What you are experiencing in this small moment is one of those eye opening events that make it clear to the End User who really matters. It ain't us End Users.
To me... I would not consider this solved. You have a solid black background behind your conky.
Playing with the conky configuration file with parameters is tedious and not-fun, but it may be the only viable route toward getting what you want. I have spent hours doing it, refining it.
One other thing (That just popped into my head) is Compositing. It is much easier to check this on Zorin OS Lite since the XFCE4-Window Manager Tweaks included application has a checkbox for Compositing right there in plain sight.
However, Gnome integrates its desktop instead of being modular, which is odd and exclusive to Gnome. I am not sure how to handle compositing on Gnome or if it is even possible.
But enabling compositing is necessary for display transparencies.
In the old days, Gnome users used Compiz for this. On the new Gnome Desktop, Compiz is much harder to implement but there may be some Gnome Extensions that can be installed to help with that.
I am sorry - this is not a very upbeat and cheerful post supplying neat solutions.
Thank you for trying anyway. Atleast i got the answer i was looking for.
I don't mind working with config files, and fiddling around with them. But the fact that I just have to try some values without knowing exactly what to set makes me just want to wait until there is some proper support for desktop widgets.
If someone could just tell me to set this value to that, that value to that and that was it - then i would definitely go for that.
What i did instead was to install btop, that way i can keep on overview of the system resources within the terminal. For anyone coming across this post at a later time and would like to try btop:
