Anteriormente ya había posteado como instalar conky en Gnome, pero a petición de @chilicuil, re-posteo ahora usando conky colors. Descargamos el Source y extraemos el fichero comprimido.

En la misma página de descarga dan las instrucciones de como instalarlo, pero a mi siempre se me ha facilitado hacerlo de la siguiente manera:

1) Como ya sabemos los usuarios Debianeros y Ubunteros, simplemente:

azimov@jaem~$ sudo  apt-get  install  conky  (sin el sudo para Debian)

2) Creamos un fichero en nuestro directorio personal al que nombraremos  .conkyrc (Le antecede un punto, ya que será archivo oculto).

3) Agregaremos las lineas que darán la vista a nuestro conky  (Yo usé esta configuración modificada a mi gusto, pero también pueden usar otras mas que encontrarán en conky-screenshots.

 # Use Xft?

use_xft yes

xftfont Droid Sans:size=8

xftalpha 0.8

text_buffer_size 2048

# Update interval in seconds

update_interval 1

# This is the number of times Conky will update before quitting.

# Set to zero to run forever.

total_run_times 0

# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)

own_window yes

own_window_transparent yes

own_window_type override

#own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

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

double_buffer yes

# Minimum size of text area

minimum_size 200 0

maximum_width 200

# Draw shades?

draw_shades no

# Draw outlines?

draw_outline no

# Draw borders around text

draw_borders no

# Stippled borders?

stippled_borders 0

# border margins

border_margin 5

# border width

border_width 1

# Default colors and also border colors

default_color white

#default_shade_color black

#default_outline_color white

own_window_colour white

# Text alignment, other possible values are commented

#alignment top_left

#alignment top_right

#alignment bottom_left

#alignment bottom_right

alignment middle_left

# Gap between borders of screen and text

# same thing as passing -x at command line

gap_x 35

gap_y 0

#gap_x 35

#gap_y 50

# Subtract file system buffers from used memory?

no_buffers yes

# set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase

uppercase no

# number of cpu samples to average

# set to 1 to disable averaging

cpu_avg_samples 2

# number of net samples to average

# set to 1 to disable averaging

net_avg_samples 2

# Force UTF8? note that UTF8 support required XFT

override_utf8_locale yes

# Add spaces to keep things from moving about?  This only affects certain objects.

use_spacer none

TEXT

SISTEMA ${hr 2}

${voffset 2}${font OpenLogos:size=16}J${font}   ${voffset -6}Kernel:  ${alignr}${kernel}

${font StyleBats:size=16}A${font}   ${voffset -2}CPU: ${cpu cpu0}% ${alignr}${cpubar cpu0 8,60}

${font StyleBats:size=16}g${font}   ${voffset -2}RAM: $memperc% ${alignr}${membar 8,60}

${font StyleBats:size=16}j${font}   ${voffset -2}SWAP: $swapperc% ${alignr}${swapbar 8,60}

${font StyleBats:size=16}q${font}   ${voffset -3}Actividad: ${alignr}${uptime}

PROCESOS ${hr 2}

${voffset 4}${color #FFFFFF}${font Webdings:size=16}2${font}   Nombre:       PID         CPU    MEM

${color lightgrey} ${top name 1} ${alignr}${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1} ${top mem 1}

${color lightgrey} ${top name 2} ${alignr}${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 2}

${color lightgrey} ${top name 3} ${alignr}${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 3}

${color lightgrey} ${top name 4} ${alignr}${top pid 4} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 4}

${color lightgrey} ${top name 5} ${alignr}${top pid 5} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 5}

${voffset 4}${color #FFFFFF}${font Pie charts for maps:size=14}7${font}   ${voffset -2}Memoria:      PID         CPU    MEM

${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 1} ${alignr}${top_mem pid 1} ${top_mem cpu 1} ${top_mem mem 1}

${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 2} ${alignr}${top_mem pid 2} ${top_mem cpu 2} ${top_mem mem 2}

${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 3} ${alignr}${top_mem pid 3} ${top_mem cpu 3} ${top_mem mem 3}

${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 4} ${alignr}${top_mem pid 4} ${top_mem cpu 4} ${top_mem mem 4}

${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 5} ${alignr}${top_mem pid 5} ${top_mem cpu 5} ${top_mem mem 5}${color #FFFFFF}

HD ${hr 2}

${voffset 4}${font Pie charts for maps:size=14}7${font}   ${voffset -5}Root:

${voffset 4}${fs_used /}/${fs_size /} ${alignr}${fs_bar 8,60 /}

${font Pie charts for maps:size=14}7${font}   ${voffset -5}Home:

${voffset 4}${fs_used /home/azimov}/${fs_size /home/azimov} ${alignr}${fs_bar 8,60 /home/azimov}

${if_existing /media/disk}${font Pie charts for maps:size=14}7${font}   ${voffset -5}USB:

${voffset 4}${fs_free /media/disk}/${fs_size /media/disk} ${alignr}${fs_bar 8,60 /media/disk}

${endif}

RED ${hr 2}

${if_existing /proc/net/route wlan0}

${voffset -6}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}O${font}   Up: ${upspeed wlan0} kb/s ${alignr}${upspeedgraph wlan0 8,60 F57900 FCAF3E}

${voffset 4}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}U${font}   Down: ${downspeed wlan0} kb/s ${alignr}${downspeedgraph wlan0 8,60 F57900 FCAF3E}

${voffset 4}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}N${font}   Upload: ${alignr}${totalup wlan0}

${voffset 4}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}T${font}   Download: ${alignr}${totaldown wlan0}

${voffset 4}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}Z${font}   Señal: ${wireless_link_qual wlan0}% ${alignr}${wireless_link_bar 8,60 wlan0}

${else}${if_existing /proc/net/route eth0}

${voffset -6}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}O${font}   Up: ${upspeed eth0} kb/s ${alignr}${upspeedgraph eth0 8,60 F57900 FCAF3E}

${voffset 4}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}U${font}   Down: ${downspeed eth0} kb/s ${alignr}${downspeedgraph eth0 8,60 F57900 FCAF3E}

${voffset 4}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}N${font}   Upload: ${alignr}${totalup eth0}

${voffset 4}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}T${font}   Download: ${alignr}${totaldown eth0}

${endif}${else}${if_existing /proc/net/route eth1}

${voffset -6}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}O${font}   Up: ${upspeed eth1} kb/s ${alignr}${upspeedgraph eth1 8,60 F57900 FCAF3E}

${voffset 4}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}U${font}   Down: ${downspeed eth1} kb/s ${alignr}${downspeedgraph eth1 8,60 F57900 FCAF3E}

${voffset 4}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}N${font}   Upload: ${alignr}${totalup eth1}

${voffset 4}${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}T${font}   Download: ${alignr}${totaldown eth1}

${endif}${else}

${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=14}4${font}   Red No disponible

${endif}

MUSICA ${hr 2}

${if_running amarok}

${voffset -6}${font Devil Inside:size=16}r${font}${voffset -3}   ${exec dcop amarok player title} - ${exec dcop amarok player artist}  ${color adadad}${exec dcop amarok player album}

${else}${if_running python /usr/lib/exaile/exaile.py}

${voffset -6}${font Devil Inside:size=16}r${font}${voffset -3}   ${execi 10 exaile --get-title} - ${execi 10 exaile --get-artist}

${endif}${else}${if_running rhythmbox}

${voffset -6}${font Devil Inside:size=16}r${font}${voffset -3}   ${exec rhythmbox-client --no-start --print-playing-format %tt} - ${exec rhythmbox-client --no-start --print-playing-format %aa}  ${color adadad}${exec rhythmbox-client --no-start --print-playing-format %at}

${endif}${else}

${voffset -6}${font Devil Inside:size=16}r${font}${voffset -3}   No se esta reproduciendo nada

${endif}

Guardamos y cerramos...

4) Dentro del directorio que descargamos se encuentran las fuentes que usaremos, las cuáles copiaremos al directorio /usr/share/fonts

azimov@jaem~$ sudo  cp  -r  ~/conky_colors/fonts/conkycolors   /usr/share/fonts

5)Ejecutamos conky

azimov@jaem~$ conky  ó  ALT+F2 y tecleamos conky

Como se ve, la instalación no es muy compleja, pero si queremos ahondar más en este tema podemos revisar conky a fondo parte 1 y parte 2.

Espero que éste post haya servido de ayuda.