Everybody has some limit on download volume. I can go to a text screen and use vnstat but i want a small box on the xubuntu desktop showing me how much has been downloaded on ppp0 since i last reset the counter.

Is this any use to you,

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/tbbmeter.html

Sorry - some of us mortals do have download volume limits and other limitations - else we would not be here in the first place. There is also gnomes system monitor but it is a) too big b) shows lots more info including graphs in real time - I just want number of MB downloaded (through in my case ppp0) since last reset or specified day of the month. Thanks and i am sure there must be others who are punished if they go over their limit either financially or with speed reductions.

Have not got those options as I am on mobil broadband and do not have wired options at this site hence limted sources. The gkrellm option sounds good but unable to make thee usage display permanent and updating. the superKaramba has displays that I need but they are not connected to my ppp0 interface hence do not measure anything.

Been round a few times but gkrellm seemsv the easiest to get working using a setup string of $T\b\c\f$L$Om - not too sure what each means but it shows on the graph the text eg NET 125.1M which is the cumulative monthly Tx
+Rx for the interne since 23rd day of the month which is the beginning of my billing period - bit frightning watching the number going up ,up,up. some helpful info at https://listsw.umbuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2005-February/022857.html. conky is more complicated to set up and did not actually show net volme for some reason but may have potential when i have a few spare weeks to find out why it did not move from 0. david