My .conkyrc configuration. Works nicely with the XTerm colour scheme (green text on black background). usage: copy this file to ~/.conkyrc, run 'sudo apt-get install conky', then 'conky &'.

.conkyrc

# bacongobbler's conky config
background yes
use_xft yes
xftfont Sans:size=8
xftalpha 1
update_interval 1
total_run_times 0
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type normal
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
double_buffer yes
minimum_size 100 100
maximum_width 400
draw_shades yes
draw_outline no
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
default_color white
default_shade_color black
default_outline_color white
alignment top_right
gap_x 10
gap_y 50
no_buffers yes
uppercase no
cpu_avg_samples 2
override_utf8_locale no

TEXT
${color 00ff00}${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}${time %A}${hr 2}
${color 00ff00}${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}${time %H} ${time :%M:%S}
${color 00ff00}${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}${time %d %b %Y}

${color 00ff00}${font sans-serif:bold:size=8:}SYSTEM${hr 2}
${color 009900}${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}$sysname $kernel $alignr $machine
Host:$alignr$nodename
Uptime:$alignr$uptime
File System: $alignr${fs_type}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}${color 00ff00}PROCESSORS ${hr 2}${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${color 
009900}
CPU0: ${cpu cpu0}% ${cpubar cpu0}
CPU1: ${cpu cpu1}% ${cpubar cpu1}
CPU2: ${cpu cpu2}% ${cpubar cpu2}
CPU3: ${cpu cpu3}% ${cpubar cpu3}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}${color 00ff00}MEMORY ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${color 009900}RAM $alignc $mem / $memmax $alignr $memperc%
$membar

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}${color 00ff00}DISKS ${hr 2} 
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${color 009900}/ $alignc ${fs_used /} / ${fs_size /} $alignr${fs_used_perc /}%
${fs_bar /}
Home $alignc ${fs_used /home/bacongobbler} / ${fs_size /home/bacongobbler} $alignr ${fs_used_perc /home/bacongobbler}%
${fs_bar /home/bacongobbler}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}${color 00ff00}MPD ${hr 2} 
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${color 009900}Now Playing: $alignr ${mpd_artist} - ${mpd_title}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${color 009900}$alignr ${mpd_elapsed} / ${mpd_length}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}${color 00ff00}TOP PROCESSES ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${color 009900}${top_mem name 1}${alignr}${top mem 1} %
${top_mem name 2}${alignr}${top mem 2} %
$font${top_mem name 3}${alignr}${top mem 3} %
$font${top_mem name 4}${alignr}${top mem 4} %
$font${top_mem name 5}${alignr}${top mem 5} %

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}${color 00ff00}NETWORK ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${color 009900}IP address: $alignr ${addr eth0}

$alignr Download
${downspeedgraph eth0}
${downspeed eth0}/s $alignr ${totaldown eth0}

$alignr Upload
${upspeedgraph eth0}
${upspeed eth0}/s $alignr ${totalup eth0}