I've been using Conky for a couple of months, and I keep it minimal. Not counting labels, it is 10 lines and two small graphs. There are a few useful metrics, e.g. RAM usage, disk space, and the mpd functions.

now, if we could have a theme where each window button would show two bars:
CPU usage bar
RAM usage bar
as a background and the name to be as overlay.

that would make much of the things on conky obsolete...

Man can only dream

Actually, I do take it back a bit. I love the default config of Conky, and I've just tweaked it a bit to include more info.

Now, if one uses it on a pure black background with something on the other side to offset it, the result works rather well.

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i was astonished how conky can be made to work on the console too - quite flexible huh?

I used to use conky to monitor things like CPU, RAM, network, etc. But for the past year or two this is all I use it for (top left obviously). Notice that the screenshot is from January, my desktop hasn't changed.

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Skaendo, I remember your screenshots from earlier in the year. Nice. For me, I think I purely enjoy the mono font and the geeky terminal look in Conky at the moment, if that makes sense. The only useful information for me is the CPU usage [which is already displayed in the panel].

I'm definitely a fan of keeping the same desktop setup for months on end. When I ran Debian I hardly changed my setup apart from the odd wallpaper. When I ran W7 in the mid 2010s I didn't change my desktop at all for 1-2 years, as far as I can remember now.

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I just don't come across too many wallpapers that I like. My test rig sees wallpaper changes more than my daily driver just because I usually have the same setup and it is nice to see things change every once in a while. My HTPC (Windows 7) has the same wallpaper/desktop for over 2 years now, and my build rig just uses the default XFCE wallpaper.

Here is a shot of my HTPC (MSI 880G-E45)

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There's something to be said for keeping a wallpaper the same for a long time, after all, how often does one spend gazing at one's wallpaper? Well, that all depends what the wallpaper is. I am also excessively picky about wallpapers, I normally find about 1 in 1000 that I like enough to try out, and the odds decrease when it comes to finding something that I want to keep long-term.

Nevertheless, one site I've found invaluable for wallpapers is Wallhaven. However, I don't necessarily recommend going there because it's addictive. I have found a lot of excellent artwork there though.

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I never see my wallpaper unless I just booted up. I have too many things open to see the background, so mine is always set to whatever KDE's default is :shrug:

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My Desktop - 14.2 xfce (plus various plugins)

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Is that Conky running on the right side of your desktop?

Nope. gkrellm

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Desktop of one user. KDE4, lightly customized, a wallpaper that pops, display setting changed from 1920x1080 to 1280x720

TKS

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Desktop of another user. KDE4, even less customized than the user in my previous post, a wallpaper that still pops yet soothes, display setting default 1920x1080

TKS

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Third desktop. KDE4, customization level between the two users in my previous posts. Dynamic wallpaper of constellations and earth centered on my country, actual night/day updated periodically (every minute? every degree of rotation?), display setting default 1920x1080

TKS

Edit: just to add that for wallpapers I just took from choices in Desktop Settings - Globe for this user, Image for the previous users.

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