Dear Cigarette

2009-03-22T02:31:00.000-07:00

Dear Cigarette,

With you between my fingers, I know that I can fuck my life up any way I choose to. Thank you for that comfort. And now, just like everything else I love, I shall burn you.

Configuring Conky on Ubuntu 8.10

2009-03-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

Vikrant from System Administration introduced me to Conky - a lightweight system monitor utility for Linux and i must admit i was very impressed by what i saw . Below is a short introduction and my notes about Conky

Conky is a free software system monitor for the X Window System. It is available for Linux, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD.
Conky is highly configurable and is able to monitor many system variables including the status of the CPU, memory, swap space, disk storage, temperatures, processes, network interfaces, battery power, system messages, e-mail inboxes and much more
Unlike system monitors that use high-level widget tool-kits to render their information, Conky is drawn directly in an X window which allows it to consume relatively fewer system resources when configure

Installing Conky on Ubuntu 8.10
* Conky is available in Ubuntu repositories and can be installed by running :

apt-get install conky

Configuring Conky

Before you start the program, you need to have a .conkyrc file, which contains all the settings that control the behavior and appearance of Conky . THis file should be present within your home directory . For eg a location could be /home/ubuntuadmin/.conkyrc

Several settings determine Conky's appearance. You can decide if you want Conky to have a border, a background color, a transparent window, and even what it displays. By default, Conky displays many things that you might not need. You can change what Conky displays by modifying the .conkyrc file.

.conkyrc

The .conkyrc file has a simple format. The variables that determine Conky's behaviour are described first. The second part of the file begins with the line TEXT. Here you'll find a list of various items that Conky displays, such as CPU temperature, network traffic, and memory usage. To remove any item that Conky displays by default, you need to edit here

The Below is my .conkyrc

# set to yes if you want Conky to be forked in the background
background no

cpu_avg_samples 2
net_avg_samples 2

out_to_console no

# X font when Xft is disabled, you can pick one with program xfontsel
#font 7x12
#font 6x10
#font 7x13
#font 8x13
#font 7x12
#font *mintsmild.se*
#font -*-*-*-*-*-*-34-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
#font -artwiz-snap-normal-r-normal-*-*-100-*-*-p-*-iso8859-1

# Use Xft?
use_xft yes

# Xft font when Xft is enabled
xftfont Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:size=8

own_window_transparent no
#own_window_colour hotpink
# Text alpha when using Xft
xftalpha 0.8

on_bottom yes

# mail spool
mail_spool $MAIL

# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 1
# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_hints undecorated,below,skip_taskbar
own_window_type override

# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes

# Minimum size of text area
minimum_size 260 5
maximum_width 260

# Draw shades?
draw_shades no

# Draw outlines?
draw_outline no

# Draw borders around text
draw_borders no

# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders no

# border margins
border_margin 4

# border width
border_width 1

# Default colors and also border colors
default_color white
default_shade_color white
default_outline_color white

# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
#alignment top_left
#minimum_size 10 10
gap_x 15
gap_y 70
alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
#alignment bottom_right

# Gap between borders of screen and text

# Add spaces to keep things from moving about? This only affects certain objects.
use_spacer no

# Subtract file system buffers from used memory?
no_buffers yes

# set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
uppercase no

# none, xmms, bmp, audacious, infopipe vlc (default is none)
xmms_player vlc

# boinc (seti) dir
# seti_dir /opt/seti

# Possible variables to be used:
#
# Variable Arguments Description
# acpiacadapter ACPI ac adapter state.
# acpifan ACPI fan state
# acpitemp ACPI temperature.
# adt746xcpu CPU temperature from therm_adt746x
# adt746xfan Fan speed from therm_adt746x
# battery (num) Remaining capasity in ACPI or APM
# battery. ACPI battery number can be
# given as argument (default is BAT0).
# buffers Amount of memory buffered
# cached Amount of memory cached
# color (color) Change drawing color to color
# cpu CPU usage in percents
# cpubar (height) Bar that shows CPU usage, height is
# bar's height in pixels
# downspeed net Download speed in kilobytes
# downspeedf net Download speed in kilobytes with one
# decimal
# exec shell command Executes a shell command and displays
# the output in torsmo. warning: this
# takes a lot more resources than other
# variables. I'd recommend coding wanted
# behaviour in C and posting a patch :-).
# execi interval, shell Same as exec but with specific interval.
# command Interval can't be less than
# update_interval in configuration.
# fs_bar (height), (fs) Bar that shows how much space is used on
# a file system. height is the height in
# pixels. fs is any file on that file
# system.
# fs_free (fs) Free space on a file system available
# for users.
# fs_free_perc (fs) Free percentage of space on a file
# system available for users.
# fs_size (fs) File system size
# fs_used (fs) File system used space
# hr (height) Horizontal line, height is the height in
# pixels
# i2c (dev), type, n I2C sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). dev
# may be omitted if you have only one I2C
# device. type is either in (or vol)
# meaning voltage, fan meaning fan or temp
# meaning temperature. n is number of the
# sensor. See /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ on
# your local computer.
# kernel Kernel version
# loadavg (1), (2), (3) System load average, 1 is for past 1
# minute, 2 for past 5 minutes and 3 for
# past 15 minutes.
# machine Machine, i686 for example
# mails Mail count in mail spool. You can use
# program like fetchmail to get mails from
# some server using your favourite
# protocol. See also new_mails.
# mem Amount of memory in use
# membar (height) Bar that shows amount of memory in use
# memmax Total amount of memory
# memperc Percentage of memory in use
# new_mails Unread mail count in mail spool.
# nodename Hostname
# outlinecolor (color) Change outline color
# pre_exec shell command Executes a shell command one time before
# torsmo displays anything and puts output
# as text.
# processes Total processes (sleeping and running)
# running_processes Running processes (not sleeping),
# requires Linux 2.6
# shadecolor (color) Change shading color
# stippled_hr (space), Stippled (dashed) horizontal line
# (height)
# swapbar (height) Bar that shows amount of swap in use
# swap Amount of swap in use
# swapmax Total amount of swap
# swapperc Percentage of swap in use
# sysname System name, Linux for example
# time (format) Local time, see man strftime to get more
# information about format
# totaldown net Total download, overflows at 4 GB on
# Linux with 32-bit arch and there doesn't
# seem to be a way to know how many times
# it has already done that before torsmo
# has started.
# totalup net Total upload, this one too, may overflow
# updates Number of updates (for debugging)
# upspeed net Upload speed in kilobytes
# upspeedf net Upload speed in kilobytes with one
# decimal
# uptime Uptime
# uptime_short Uptime in a shorter format
#
# seti_prog Seti@home current progress
# seti_progbar (height) Seti@home current progress bar
# seti_credit Seti@hoome total user credit

# variable is given either in format $variable or in ${variable}. Latter
# allows characters right after the variable and must be used in network
# stuff because of an argument
#${font Dungeon:style=Bold:pixelsize=10}I can change the font as well
#${font Verdana:size=10}as many times as I choose
#${font Perry:size=10}Including UTF-8,
# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen
#${font Grunge:size=12}${time %a %b %d}${alignr -25}${time %k:%M}

TEXT
${color #0077ff}$sysname $kernel $machine - $nodename

${color #0077ff}Uptime:${color lightgrey} $uptime ${color #0077ff} Load:${color lightgrey} $loadavg

${color #0077ff}${execi 1000 cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep 'model name' | sed -e 's/model name.*: //'} ${color lightgrey}${freq_dyn}Mhz
${color #0077ff}Usage:${color #0077ff} ${color lightgrey}${cpu}% ${color #0077ff}${cpubar}
${color #0077ff}${cpugraph 000000 0077ff}
${color #0077ff}Proces:${color lightgrey} $processes ${color #0077ff}Run:${color lightgrey} $running_processes ${color #0077ff}CPU:${color lightgrey} ${i2c temp 2}C${color lightgrey} ${color #0077ff}MB:${color lightgrey} ${i2c temp 1}C

${color #0077ff}RAM:${color lightgrey} $mem/$memmax - $memperc% ${alignr}${color #0077ff}${membar 5,110}
${color #0077ff}SWP:${color lightgrey} $swap/$swapmax - $swapperc% ${alignr}${color #0077ff}${swapbar 5,110}

${color #0077ff}HD IO: ${color lightgrey}${diskio} ${alignr}${color #0077ff}Temperature: ${color lightgrey}${execi 10 /home/vishal/.bin/hddconky}C
${color #0077ff}${diskiograph 000000 0077ff}

${color #0077ff}Hard Disks:
${color #0077ff} Root ${color lightgrey}${fs_used /}/${fs_size /}${alignr}${color #0077ff}${fs_bar 5,120 /}
${color #0077ff} Home ${color lightgrey}${fs_used /home}/${fs_size /home}${alignr}${color #0077ff}${fs_bar 5,120 /home}
${color #0077ff} Data ${color lightgrey}${fs_used /media/data}/${fs_size /media/data}${alignr}${color #0077ff}${fs_bar 5,120 /media/data}

${color #0077ff}CPU Usage PID CPU% MEM%
${color lightgrey} ${top name 1} ${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1} ${top mem 1}
${color #0077ff} ${top name 2} ${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 2}
${color #0077ff} ${top name 3} ${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 3}
${color #0077ff}Mem Usage
${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 1} ${top_mem pid 1} ${top_mem cpu 1} ${top_mem mem 1}
${color #0077ff} ${top_mem name 2} ${top_mem pid 2} ${top_mem cpu 2} ${top_mem mem 2}
${color #0077ff} ${top_mem name 3} ${top_mem pid 3} ${top_mem cpu 3} ${top_mem mem 3}

${color #0077ff}Network: ${color grey}${addr eth0}

${color #0077ff}Down:${color grey} ${downspeed eth0} k/s $alignr${color #0077ff} Up:${color lightgrey} ${upspeed eth0} k/s
${color #0077ff}${downspeedgraph eth0 27,120 000000 0077ff 180} $alignr${color #0077ff}${upspeedgraph eth0 27,120 000000 0077ff 25}
${color lightgrey}${totaldown eth0} $alignr${color lightgrey}${totalup eth0}

${color #0077ff}Port(s)${alignr}#Connections
${color #0077ff}Inbound: ${color lightgrey}${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count} ${color #0077ff}Outbound: ${color lightgrey}${tcp_portmon 32768 61000 count}${alignr}${color #0077ff}Total: ${color lightgrey}${tcp_portmon 1 65535 count}

${color #0077ff}Inbound Connection ${alignr} Local Service/Port${color lightgrey}
${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 0} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 0}
${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 1} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 1}
${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 2} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 2}
${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 3} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 3}
${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 4} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 4}
${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 5} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 5}
${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 6} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 6}

The Agony Of being Dependent on a Machine

2009-03-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

I never really thought that i would start this blog on a sour note but i think some things were just meant to be .... Not more than 2 hours ago , i lost/misplaced/was robbed of my cell phone #15 ( i think) and i must tell you that its a bloddy pain the a## . Apart from loosing the handset you dearly picked a while ago , you end up loosing all your contacts ..messages and pictures which carry sentimental value of memories captured

In a matter of 20 seconds #15 from my hands to the rickshaw's floor to the road ...YES the road and finally in the hands of my decapitator .It happened so quick that it took me another 10 minutes for the feeling to sink in . By the time the rickshaw stopped and i could manage to get down ....it was GONE !!! ..vanished !!! ,...ROBBED !!! and i was left with a dash of helplessness and a whole lot of rage !!! This makes me think that , has this city come to such a level of selfishness and greed that we simply choose to keep whats rightfully not ours ??? Is chasing the "Amercian Dream" making us stoop to such low levels that we have forgotten that we are not Savages or Pirates but Humans ?? As i write this , lyrics by Chris Adler ring inside my head

"Dark days lead to darker nights
Frozen, out of time.
It dies for blessed ego, the once mighty laid low."

The Social Sysad

Dear Cigarette

Configuring Conky on Ubuntu 8.10

The Agony Of being Dependent on a Machine