PPA for conky-manager has no Release file?

[Silent Observer]

I'm trying to install conky-manager in order to add conky to my (installed last weekend) Kubuntu 20.04.1. I've used conky a lot in the past, but apparently the syntax of the .conkyrc file has been changed, and my old one produces a less than stellar result after an automatic conversion attempt during conky startup.

In order to accomplish this, as recommended by this article, I've executed

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mark-pcnetspec/conky-manager-pm9

The following automatic update, and all subsequent invocations of sudo apt update, however, have generated

E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/mark-pcnetspec/conky-manager-pm9/ubuntu focal Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

As far as I can understand the referenced man page, this isn't something I can or should fix from my end, it needs to be corrected by the PPA maintainer. The article linked above was titled as "for 2020", so presumably this isn't a fossil PPA. Is there an alternate source for an up-to-date conky-manager, or a reasonably secure way to get it from this one?

[Silent Observer]

Okay, apparently the PPA given in the above referenced article is out of date in some way; I found another article on installing conky that gave a Linux Mint repo that works.

[claydoh]

To be clear, the Linux Mint Türkiye folks have created an Ubuntu PPA, on Ubuntu's Launchpad

it is usually a good idea to check a PPA's info page to see if they have things for the current *buntu releases. Many, many of the 'cheap' Linux hints and tricks type of websites like the one you found are poorly updated or edited. Or simply not reliable for use as main sources for info, unfortunately.
It used to be enough to look at the date the article was published on, but these days they seem to have gotten smarter and 'update' these pages too keep them recent

[Silent Observer]

I'm just happy I could get conky-manager installed -- now I need to figure out why it won't recognize the (new syntax) conky.config I downloaded that almost replicates my old one, and/or learn the new syntax to edit things like background transparency and text/display piece color so it'll be visible on my various (changed from time to time) wallpapers.

[Snowhog]

My experience with converting an old conky configuration file to the new format/syntax, was disappointing. The conversion was not perfect at all. Seems that the conky developers/maintainers don't have, or won't create, a proper syntax converter. That's a shame, because one is left with only one choice, really, and that's to try and create a configuration file using the new syntax such that you end up with the Conky display that you had, and presumably, still want.

[Silent Observer]

Converters never seem to get the attention they need to work properly. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise in an environment where "upgrade" means "spend a weekend installing clean and the next week reinstalling all your preferred software, too."

My preferred conky is pretty simple, and I found one to download that's about 85% what I want -- but now I can't get conky-manager to see the downloaded one to give me a foot in the door for editing it.

[chimak111]

My preferred conky is pretty simple ...

^^^
If you still have your original .conkyrc, you could upload it here for people to try and edit it (without relying on a connky manager) into the .conf format.

Alternatively, again bypassing the conky manager, you could start the conky you downloaded with

conky -c /path/to/whatever.conf

[acheron]

E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/mark-pcnetspec/conky-manager-pm9/ubuntu focal Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

To be clear, this means that the PPA maintainer has not uploaded any packages to the PPA for focal. Hence the PPA has not created apt repo files apt expected to find in a PPA that is valid for focal.

And yes, it is a really rubbish obscure error message to present to an end user.

[Silent Observer]

^^^
If you still have your original .conkyrc, you could upload it here for people to try and edit it (without relying on a connky manager) into the .conf format.

Alternatively, again bypassing the conky manager, you could start the conky you downloaded with

conky -c /path/to/whatever.conf

I'll try to remember to do that when I get home from work -- running late this morning due to forgetting to turn my alarms back on after the long weekend.

To be clear, this means that the PPA maintainer has not uploaded any packages to the PPA for focal. Hence the PPA has not created apt repo files apt expected to find in a PPA that is valid for focal.

And yes, it is a really rubbish obscure error message to present to an end user.

And that's been my biggest complaint about Linux over the past nine years: it's aimed at geeks rather than ordinary folks who want a system that's neither Windows nor Mac. In fairness, the same error from Microsoft would be twice or three times as long, reference a KB entry, and still be meaningless to most end users (couldn't tell you about Mac; haven't had more than five minutes consecutive on a Mac since the '90s), and for genuine bugs the Linux world is often faster getting them fixed (when we don't find out that a developer or team has abandoned the project).

[Silent Observer]

Thanks, @chimak111, starting conky with the -c switch lets it run with no error message -- now I just need to fix the network name (changed again since Mate 16.04?) and default text colors (or figure out how to put a partial transparency background behind it).

Here's what I've been running for the past couple years, I'd welcome an update to current syntax if anyone has the time and interest.

###########################
# http://www.NoobsLab.com #
#    - Conky settings -   #
###########################
update_interval 1
total_run_times 0
net_avg_samples 1
cpu_avg_samples 1
if_up_strictness link

imlib_cache_size 0
double_buffer yes
no_buffers yes

format_human_readable

#####################
# - Text settings - #
#####################
use_xft yes
xftfont Ubuntu:size=8
override_utf8_locale yes
text_buffer_size 2048

#############################
# - Window specifications - #
#############################
own_window_class Conky
own_window yes
own_window_type conky
own_window_argb_visual yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

alignment top_right
gap_x 25
gap_y 40
minimum_size 182 600
maximum_width 182

default_bar_size 60 8

#########################
# - Graphics settings - #
#########################
draw_shades no

default_color cccccc

color0 white
color1 77507b
color2 white
color3 5C3566

TEXT
${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}SYSTEM $stippled_hr${font}
##############
# - SYSTEM - #
##############
${color0}${font Poky:size=14}S${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -8}Kernel:  ${alignr}${color2}${kernel}${color}
${goto 32}Uptime: ${alignr}${color2}${uptime}${color}
# |--CPU
${voffset 2}${offset 2}${color0}${font Poky:size=14}P${font}${offset -19}${voffset 9}${offset 1}${cpubar cpu0 4,18}${color}${voffset -16}${goto 32}CPU1: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${cpu cpu1}%${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${cpugraph cpu1 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}CPU2: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${cpu cpu2}%${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${cpugraph cpu2 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}CPU3: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${cpu cpu3}%${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${cpugraph cpu3 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}CPU4: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${cpu cpu4}%${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${cpugraph cpu4 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}CPU5: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${cpu cpu5}%${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${cpugraph cpu5 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}CPU6: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${cpu cpu6}%${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${cpugraph cpu6 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}CPU7: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${cpu cpu7}%${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${cpugraph cpu7 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}CPU8: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${cpu cpu8}%${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${cpugraph cpu8 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
# |--MEM
${voffset 2}${offset 1}${color0}${font Poky:size=14}M${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -7}RAM: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}$memperc%${color}${font}
${voffset 1}${offset 1}${voffset 2}${color0}${membar 4,18}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -2}F: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color2}${memeasyfree}${color}${font} U: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color2}${mem}${color}${font}
#############
# - CLOCK - #
#############
${voffset 4}${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}DATE $stippled_hr${font}
${voffset -10}${alignc 46}${color2}${font Arial Black:size=30}${time %H:%M}${font}${color}
${alignc}${time %d %B %Y}
##########
# - HD - #
##########
${voffset 4}${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}HDD $stippled_hr${font}
${offset 27}${font Ubuntu:style=normal:size=8}${color}DISK Root
${offset 29}${font Ubuntu:size=7,weight:normal}${color}Used: ${fs_used /}
${offset 122}${diskiograph 8,60 666666 666666}
#${offset 55}${diskiograph 8,60 666666 666666}
###############
# - NETWORK - #
###############
${voffset -4}${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}NETWORK $stippled_hr${font}
# |--wlx0026f28cbfee
${if_up wlx0026f28cbfee}
${voffset -5}${color0}${font Webdings:size=17}”${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -5}Up: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${upspeed wlx0026f28cbfee}${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${upspeedgraph wlx0026f28cbfee 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}Total: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color2}${totalup wlx0026f28cbfee}${color}${font}
${voffset 2}${color0}${font Webdings:size=17}“${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -5}Down: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${downspeed wlx0026f28cbfee}${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${downspeedgraph wlx0026f28cbfee 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}Total: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color2}${totaldown wlx0026f28cbfee}${color}${font}
${voffset 2}${color0}${font Poky:size=14}Y${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -2}Signal: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${wireless_link_qual_perc wlx0026f28cbfee}%${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${wireless_link_bar 8,60 wlx0026f28cbfee}${color}
${voffset 2}${color0}${font Webdings:size=16}¬${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -8}Local IP: ${alignr}${color2}${addr wlx0026f28cbfee}${color}
${goto 32}Public IP: ${alignr}${color2}${execi 10800 ~/.conky/conkyIp}${color}
# |--enp4s0
${else}${if_up enp4s0}
${voffset -5}${color0}${font Webdings:size=17}”${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -5}Up: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${upspeed enp4s0}${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${upspeedgraph enp4s0 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}Total: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color2}${totalup enp4s0}${color}${font}
${voffset 2}${color0}${font Webdings:size=17}“${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -5}Down: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${downspeed enp4s0}${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${downspeedgraph enp4s0 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}Total: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color2}${totaldown enp4s0}${color}${font}
${voffset 2}${color0}${font Webdings:size=16}¬${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -4}Local IP: ${alignr}${color2}${addr enp4s0}${color}
${goto 32}Public IP: ${alignr}${color2}${execi 10800 ~/.conky/conkyIp}${color}
# |--PPP0
${else}${if_up ppp0}
${voffset -5}${color0}${font Webdings:size=17}”${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -5}Up: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${upspeed ppp0}${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${upspeedgraph ppp0 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}Total: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color2}${totalup ppp0}${color}${font}
${voffset 2}${color0}${font Webdings:size=17}“${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -5}Down: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${downspeed ppp0}${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${downspeedgraph ppp0 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}Total: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color2}${totaldown ppp0}${color}${font}
${voffset 2}${color0}${font Webdings:size=16}¬${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -4}Local IP: ${alignr}${color2}${addr ppp0}${color}
${else}${voffset 4}${offset 4}${color0}${font Wingdings:size=20}N${font}${color}${voffset -6}${goto 32}Network Unavailable${voffset 14}${endif}${endif}${endif}

[chimak111]

I looked at your conky and couldn't follow the network section (and so I dropped that). But the rest, simplified a bit and without the images, would look something like this in the new format:

conky.config = {
update_interval = 1,
total_run_times = 0,
net_avg_samples = 1,
cpu_avg_samples = 1,
if_up_strictness = link,

double_buffer = true,
no_buffers = true,

format_human_readable = true,

use_xft = true,
font = 'Ubuntu:size=18',
override_utf8_locale = true,
text_buffer_size = 2048,

own_window = true,
--own_window_class = 'conky',
own_window_argb_visual = true,
own_window_transparent = true,
own_window_hints = undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager,
own_window_type = 'override',

alignment = 'top_right',
gap_x = 25,
gap_y = 90,
--minimum_size 182 600
--maximum_width 182

--default_bar_size = 60 8,

draw_shades = false,

default_color = 'cccccc'
}

conky.text = [[
${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=18}SYSTEM $stippled_hr${font}
${voffset 8}Kernel:  ${alignr}${kernel}
Uptime: ${alignr}${uptime}
${voffset 8}${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=18}CPU $stippled_hr${font}
${voffset 8}CPU0: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=18}${cpu cpu0}%${font} ${alignr}${cpugraph cpu0 18,60 ffffff}

${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=18}MEMORY $stippled_hr${font}
RAM: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=18}$memperc%${font}
(F: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=18}${memeasyfree}${font} U: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=18}${mem}${font})

${voffset 4}${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=18}DATE $stippled_hr${font}
${voffset -10}${alignc 46}${color orange}${font Noto:style=Bold:size=30}${time %H:%M}${font}${color}
${alignc}${time %d %B %Y}

${voffset 4}${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=18}HDD $stippled_hr${font}
${font Ubuntu:style=normal:size=18}DISK Root
${font Ubuntu:style=normal:size=17}Used: ${fs_used /}
I/O: ${offset 122}${diskiograph 18,60 666666 666666}
]]

I had to play around with "own_window_type". That bit's always been dodgy for me.

BTW, "cpugraph" or "cpubar" will remain mostly 100% empty unless something very CPU-intensive is in progress. And having each core with its empty graph didn't seem too useful so I went with cpu0.

The image below shows the part of your conkyrc I "converted":

[Silent Observer]

I run BOINC tasks -- Milkyway on CPU and Einstein on GPU -- so seeing the CPU graphs is helpful as an early warning that something isn't right (empty means Milkyway has stopped for some reason -- as it should when certain other programs are running -- and full means it hasn't stopped as it should when playing a game or in browser). I can probably fix that part.

The network section has three conditional displays -- one for wifi, one for ethernet, and one for dial-up (could probably dispense with the last, since I don't even have a POTS modem for this machine any more, I don't think, nor a telco landline). The sections are identical except for connection name, each inside an "if_up"; here's just the one for what Kubuntu calls, in public, "Wired Connection 1":

# |--enp4s0
${else}${if_up enp4s0}

# upload speed, bargraph, and total

${voffset -5}${color0}${font Webdings:size=17}”${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -5}Up: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${upspeed enp4s0}${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${upspeedgraph enp4s0 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}Total: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color2}${totalup enp4s0}${color}${font}

# download speed, bargraph, and total

${voffset 2}${color0}${font Webdings:size=17}“${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -5}Down: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color1}${downspeed enp4s0}${color}${font} ${alignr}${color2}${downspeedgraph enp4s0 8,60 77507B 5C3566}${color}
${goto 32}Total: ${font Ubuntu:style=Bold:size=8}${color2}${totaldown enp4s0}${color}${font}

# IP addresses

${voffset 2}${color0}${font Webdings:size=16}¬${font}${color}${goto 32}${voffset -4}Local IP: ${alignr}${color2}${addr enp4s0}${color}
${goto 32}Public IP: ${alignr}${color2}${execi 10800 ~/.conky/conkyIp}${color}

This displays the transfer speed, up and down, total transferred (since last boot or since conky start, I'm not certain), a bargraph for each, and LAN and public IP addresses.