[Bug]: Black instead of Transparent Background and flickering

[costispavlou]

What happened?

i've found my long lost conky that i configured to use to my liking.
I would like the background to be transparent as it was back then.
I have a new installation on rpi bookworm x64 with conky installed.

conky shows with a black background.
Also it flickers every couple of seconds.

I've searched for hours for a solution and read countless issues here both open and closed to no result.
since it might be very simple for someone to explain what I'm doing wrong, I beg for your assistance.
thanks in advance

Version

1.18.3-1

Which OS/distro are you seeing the problem on?

Raspberry Pi Bookworm

Conky config

# -------------------- Conky's Run Time Parameters -------------------- #

update_interval 2.00                    # Conky update interval in seconds
total_run_times 0                       # Number of updates before quitting.  Set to zero to run forever.
no_buffers yes                          # Subtract file system buffers from used memory?
cpu_avg_samples 2                       # Number of cpu samples to average. Set to 1 to disable averaging
net_avg_samples 2                       # Number of net samples to average. Set to 1 to disable averaging

# -------------------- Conky's General Look & Feel -------------------- #

# --- default values --- #
default_color white                      # Default color and border color
default_bar_size 0 6            # Specify a default width and height for bars.
default_gauge_size 25 25        # Specify a default width and height for gauges.
default_graph_size 0 25         # Specify a default width and height for graphs.
default_outline_color green     # Default border and text outline color
default_shade_color yellow      # Default border and text shading color

# --- predefined colors - http://www.kgym.jp/freesoft/xrgb.html --- #
color0 FFFFFF                           # white
color1 54FF9F                           # light green
color2 FFCCCB                           # firebrick
color3 696969                           # dim gray
color4 D3D3D3                           # light gray
color5 2F4F4F                           # dark slate gray
color6 FFEC8B                           # light golden rod
color7 54FF9F                           # sea green
color8 FF8C69                           # salmon
color9 FFE7BA                           # wheat

# --- window layout & options --- #
own_window yes                          # Conky creates its own window instead of using desktop
own_window_type normal          # If own_window is yes, use type normal, desktop, or override
own_window_transparent yes      # Use pseudo transparency with own_window?
own_window_colour grey          # If own_window_transparent is no, set the background colour
double_buffer yes                       # Use double buffering (reduces flicker)
use_spacer right                        # Adds spaces to stop object from moving
maximum_width 700                       # Maximum width of window in pixels
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

# --- window placement --- #
alignment top_right

# --- borders, margins, and outlines --- #
draw_graph_borders yes          # Do you want to draw borders around graphs
border_inner_margin 9           # Window's inner border margin (in pixels)
border_outer_margin 5           # Window's outer border margin (in pixels)
gap_x 10                                        # Gap between borders of screen and text (on x-axis)
gap_y 24                                        # Gap between borders of screen and text (on y-axis)
border_width 10                         # Window's border width (in pixels)

# --- Text --- #
draw_outline no                         # Do you want to draw outlines
draw_shades no                          # Do you want to draw shades
draw_borders no                         # Do you want to draw borders around text
uppercase no                            # set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
use_xft yes                                     # use the X FreeType interface library (anti-aliased font)
xftfont Monospace:size=8:weight=bold    # Xft font to be used

# -------------------- Conky's Displayed System Monitoring Parameters -------------------- #
TEXT
# Title / Banner message
${font Arial:size=20}${color7}RPi${color Ivory} KWS ${alignr}${time %H:%M}${font}
${color0}Uptime: $color$uptime ${alignr}${time %A} ${time %B} ${time %d}, ${time %Y}
$color
# General system information
${color1}SYSTEM INFORMATION ${hr 2}$color
${color0}System: $color$nodename ${alignr}${color0}Serial No.: $color${execi 99999 grep Serial /proc/cpuinfo | awk '{ print $3 }'}
${color0}Kernel: $color$kernel ${alignr}${color0}Arch: $color$machine
${color0}MAC Address: $color${execi 99999 cat /sys/class/net/eth0/address }

# CPU information
${color1}CPU ${hr 2}$color
${color0}CPU Temperature: $color${acpitemp}°C
${color0}Frequency: $color$freq MHz ${alignr}${color0}Avg. Load: $color $loadavg
${color0}CPU Usage:$color $cpu% ${color7}${cpubar}$color
$font${color0}Core1 $color ${cpu cpu1}% ${color}${cpubar cpu1}$color 
$font${color0}Core2 $color ${cpu cpu2}% ${color}${cpubar cpu2}$color
$font${color0}Core3 $color ${cpu cpu3}% ${color}${cpubar cpu3}$color 
$font${color0}Core4 $color ${cpu cpu4}% ${color}${cpubar cpu4}$color
${cpugraph DimGray DarkSlateGray}$color

# Memory and swap space untilization
${color1}MEMORY & SWAP ${hr 2}$color
${color0}RAM Usage: ${color}$mem / $memmax
$memperc% ${color7}${membar}$color
${color0}Swap Usage: ${color}$swap / $swapmax
$swapperc% ${color}${swapbar}$color

# File System utilization
${color1}FILE SYSTEM ${hr 2}$color
${color0}SD Card:$color ${fs_used /} / ${fs_size /}
${fs_used_perc /}% ${color7}${fs_bar /}$color
${color0}Read: $color$diskio_read/s${alignr}${color0}Write: $color$diskio_write/s
${color}${diskiograph_read 20,100 90EE90 FF3333 scale -t}$color${alignr}${color}${diskiograph_write 20,100 90EE90 FF3333 scale -t}$color

# Network utilization
${color1}NETWORK ${hr 2}$color
${color0}Wired (${addr eth0}) ${alignr}Wireless ${color}(${addr wlan0})
${color0}Download:$color ${downspeed eth0}/s ${alignr}${color0}Upload:$color ${upspeed eth0}/s
${color0}Total:$color ${totaldown eth0} ${alignr}${color0}Total: $color${totalup eth0}
${color}${downspeedgraph eth0 25,120 DimGray DarkSlateGray} ${alignr}${upspeedgraph eth0 25,120 DimGray DarkSlateGray}$color
#${stippled_hr 2}
#${color0}Wireless (${addr wlan0})
#${color0}Down:$color ${downspeed wlan0}/s ${alignr}${color0}Up:$color ${upspeed wlan0}/s
#${color0}Total:$color ${totaldown wlan0} ${alignr}${color0}Total: $color${totalup wlan0}
#${color0}${downspeedgraph wlan0 25,120 000000 00ff00} ${alignr}${upspeedgraph wlan0 25,120 000000 ff0000}$color

# Top running processes
${color1}TASK MANAGER ${hr 2}$color
${color0}Processes:$color $processes  ${color0}Running:$color $running_processes
${color0}CPU Usage$color
${color3} NAME              PID    CPU %   MEM$color
${color1} ${top name 1} ${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1} ${top mem 1}$color
 ${top name 2} ${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 2}
 ${top name 3} ${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 3}
 ${top name 4} ${top pid 4} ${top cpu 4} ${top mem 4}
 ${top name 5} ${top pid 5} ${top cpu 5} ${top mem 5}

${color0}Mem Usage$color
${color3} NAME              PID    CPU %   MEM$color
${color1} ${top_mem name 1} ${top_mem pid 1} ${top_mem cpu 1} ${top_mem mem 1}$color
 ${top_mem name 2} ${top_mem pid 2} ${top_mem cpu 2} ${top_mem mem 2}
 ${top_mem name 3} ${top_mem pid 3} ${top_mem cpu 3} ${top_mem mem 3}
 ${top_mem name 4} ${top_mem pid 4} ${top_mem cpu 4} ${top_mem mem 4}
 ${top_mem name 5} ${top_mem pid 5} ${top_mem cpu 5} ${top_mem mem 5}

# Print the tail of the Linux message log
${color1}LOG FILE ${hr 2}$color
${color0}Linux RPI Message Log$color
${color4}${font Monospace:size=8}${execi 30 tail -n3 /var/log/messages | fold -w50}$color$font

Stack trace

No response

Relevant log output

No response

[lineage-of-roots]

@costispavlou
Worked fine for me. Transparent and no flicker.
Might be a hardware issue, or the compositor on your Raspi OS.
Is something like compton/picom running? Is it set up properly?

[Caellian]

Flickering and lack of transparency make me 90% sure you don't have a compositor installed (compton/picom). Your settings are ok, although they use the old format and could use updating (but that's not the cause).

Let us know if you have a compositor, and if not, whether the issue is resolved when you install it.