Why isn't conky working right in Unity desktop?
Solution 1:
When own_window_type override is used the distortion is caused. Now to clear the distortion one may use own_window_type desktop in the .conkyrc instead of own_window_type override . But this causes other problems like disappearance of conky when trying to work in the desktop(i.e right clicking, opening a menu from panel etc.). Therefore instead of own_window_type override one may use own_window_type dock . This won't let the conky to disappear when working on the desktop. Also to solve transparency issue one may remove the line own_window_transparent yes and then include the following lines in its place:
own_window_argb_visual yes
own_window_argb_value 0
Actually ARGB visual can be used for real transparency to avoid the default pseudo transparency. Therefore even if there are icons in the desktop, they will be visible. Note that ARGB visual can take values 0-255 and a higher value means a greater opacity. Thus distortions can be removed and transparency can be adjusted. Thus the problem is solved. Note that the boxes after the fonts issue(mentioned and seen in the above screen shot)can be removed by removing new lines but new lines may be required for other formatting. Therefore one has no other go but to live with the boxes. Also note that the problem with the boxes is only prevalent in unity. Other desktop environments like Cinnamon don't seem to have the issue.
Credits to these sources:-
- Conky transparency not working
- http://conky.sourceforge.net/config_settings.html
- Help from chatroom .
Solution 2:
I had the same problem with 14.04, after some tests I changed : own_window_type override to own_window_type desktop and now conky is working properly.