I'm using Ubuntu 13.10 (and 14.04 on another computer) with Unity. Conky doesn't work like I expect. This is my config:

alignment top_right

background yes

border_inner_margin 0

border_width 0

top_cpu_separate yes

default_color ffffff

default_outline_color 000000

#default_shade_color 999999

double_buffer yes

draw_borders no

draw_graph_borders yes

draw_outline yes

draw_shades no

gap_x 0

gap_y 30

maximum_width 222

minimum_size 222

own_window yes

own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

own_window_transparent yes

own_window_argb_visual yes

own_window_argb_value 0

own_window_type override

own_window_class conky-semi

show_graph_scale yes

total_run_times 0

update_interval 5

text_buffer_size 1024

use_xft yes

xftfont Ubuntu:size=8

In this config Conky have black background, not disappear when showing or clicking desktop. If I change own_window_type to 'desktop' Conky runs with transparency but if I click on desktop it disappear (but still working). If I change own_window_type to 'normal' it have transparency and doesn't disappear on clicking on desktop but it minimize when I click on show desktop button and doesn't recover (still running).