More Conky goodness

To make dealing with Conky easier, open a Terminal window, then copy and paste the following into it (one at a time):

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install conky-manager

You now have Conky Manager listed under Accessories in the Menu :) run the program. In the top row of icons, click Open theme folder. Create a text file and paste your conky script of choice in it. This is mine:

background yes
use_xft yes
xftfont Sans:size=8
xftalpha 1
update_interval 1.0
total_run_times 0
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type normal
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
double_buffer yes
minimum_size 200 700
maximum_width 400
draw_shades yes
draw_outline no
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
default_color green
default_shade_color black
default_outline_color white
alignment top_right
gap_x 12
gap_y 12
no_buffers yes
text_buffer_size 1024
uppercase no
cpu_avg_samples 2
override_utf8_locale no

TEXT
${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}SYSTEM ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}$sysname $kernel $alignr $machine
Host:$alignr$nodename
Uptime:$alignr$uptime
Battery Status: $alignr$battery

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}PROCESSORS ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${cpugraph cpu1}
CPU1: ${cpu cpu1}% ${cpubar cpu1}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}MEMORY ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}RAM $alignc $mem / $memmax $alignr $memperc%
$membar

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}DISKS ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}/ $alignc ${fs_used /} / ${fs_size /} $alignr ${fs_used_perc /}%
${fs_bar /}
SWAP $alignc ${swap} / ${swapmax} $alignr ${swapperc}%
${swapbar}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}TOP PROCESSES ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${top_mem name 1}${alignr}${top mem 1} %
${top_mem name 2}${alignr}${top mem 2} %
$font${top_mem name 3}${alignr}${top mem 3} %
$font${top_mem name 4}${alignr}${top mem 4} %
$font${top_mem name 5}${alignr}${top mem 5} %

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}NETWORK ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}IP address: $alignr ${addr wlan0}
ESSID: $alignr ${wireless_essid wlan0}
${downspeedgraph wlan0}
DLS:${downspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totaldown wlan0}
${upspeedgraph wlan0}

ULS:${upspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totalup wlan0}

Save your text file, then restart the program. There are settings to make Conky autorun and more. A very useful program.

How to make programs autorun

Here is something I found interesting: new method

Dropbox won't finish installing

So, I click Menu >> Internet >> Dropbox to install Dropbox.

It loads up to 100%, but never finishes. Here is how to fix it: (from forum)

Open a Terminal window and type:

sudo apt update
press <ENTER>

enter your super user password, and press <ENTER>
wait

sudo apt upgrade press <ENTER>
wait
sudo apt dist-upgrade
press <ENTER>

wait

reboot

Then try reinstalling Dropbox again, should work.

Peppermint 5 here we go!

So today I finally got around to installing Peppermint 5. I formatted my entire hard drive, so I am no longer dual booting Windows XP (which means that at this point I need to fire up my desktop if I need Coreldraw or my Canon Lide 90 scanner).

I am currently downloading LibreOffice and I still need to set everything up. At least Conky is installed already :)

So, unetbootin helped me (once again) to create a live flash drive, after downloading the Peppermint 5 ISO from www.peppermintos.com This truly is a wonderful little program.

Installation was uneventful, as expected. My Broadcom wifi card still needs proprietary drivers. This means I need to plug into the router when installing, afterwards click on Menu -> Preferences -> Additional drivers. Here you need to enable the wifi driver. Wifi works again, whoop whoop.

While Googling, I found http://www.binarytides.com/better-linux-mint-17-cinnamon/ and I started working my way through the list. Pepperflash is installed by default, which is great. When installing ms-tt-corefonts I had a strange blue window with white text in it. I could not get past this window, so I Googled some more. Finally found a page that said "press TAB, then ENTER", which worked and  was able to complete that installation and load more software.

Conky is back on, (Audacity, Deluge, UGet, VLC and a few others too), I need to install Dropbox next. I have a new approach to Dropbox: I move stuff that I am not actively working on into my OneDrive or Google Drive, this means when I reinstall it does not take as long to sync.

Will post an update as soon as I am ready.

Where am I now?

I went very quiet after the articles on Peppermint 4's release.

I am now working as a sales consultant at a large computer sales store. I hope to make time to install Peppermint 5 soon and start blogging about that. So far I am still running Peppermint 4, just have not had time to do much about it.

I still can't run Corel Draw in Linux, and my scanner still is not Linux compatible... but some things probably won't change.

I am also downloading the new Linux Mint, which I hope to get to after Peppermint 5.

Wish me luck