Ubublogger's Blog

And another 2p on Unity

ubublogger — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:36:31 +0000

People have already written a lot about Unity.
And now I can’t resist the temptation to spill my thoughts here, too.
First of all, I really like the way it looks. It’s just plain sexy, there’s no denying that.
But it’s not all about looks: while I like the main idea, I really don’t get why they didn’t use more standard elements for the Lenses: the search bar is broken for me most of the time and the scrollbars look way different than the rest of Ubuntu. But I mustn’t complain, seeing this is only alpha software.

One thing I was really pleased to see however, is this: the global menu behaviour for dual monitors is finally right and fixed. A menu now displays on the monitor where the app is opened. This is truly a lifesaver for me and it is these little fixes that make Ubuntu and hopefully in due time, Unity, simply the best!

It’s been a while…

ubublogger — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:22:50 +0000

It’s been a while since my last post, and as you may have already noticed, I have stopped working on the libnotify/messaging menu extension for Thunderbird. There are a couple of reasons for this: one is that I don’t really have the time any more. I have just started studying Physics and Astronomy in Leiden and it is more challenging than I thought at first.
Moreover, I have started a company and we’re building websites. Starting a new company is a really fun process but it does really take a lot of (investigation) time and I’ve never signed so many pieces of paper in my life.
Another reason is that I have made the switch to Evolution and I like it. It may sound overly cliché, but it really seems more evolved somehow than Thunderbird: a clean interface, integrated calendar etc.
So, you wonder, is this the end of messaging menu support for Thunderbird? The answer is: not at all. Several people, I believe also over at Mozilla, have been busy coding so I can stop my efforts knowing that there are worthy alternatives.
Though I can’t help feeling a little bit nostalgic and even guilty too.

And another one!

ubublogger — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:40:56 +0000

Well, two actually, but 1.2 was quickly followed by 1.3. That’s right, a new version of Thunderbird Indicator again!
If you install it from the PPA a file is automatically installed under /usr/share/indicators/messages/applications, meaning that you’ll be able to launch Thunderbird from the messaging menu, just like Empathy, Gwibber and Evolution.
Sadly, I haven’t figured out how to “minimize it to the messaging menu”, but I’m still investigating.

New version: 1.1!

ubublogger — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:32:07 +0000

Today I have released a new version of Thunderbird Indicator (or Indicators for Thunderbird if I have to believe Mozilla). This version sports the following bug fixes:

Create the fifo in the /tmp dir, make sure the python file is executable (upstream bug in Thunderbird 541420)
Delete the fifo file if Thunderbird closes
Append random number to fifopath and display addon description
Massive code revamp, indicators work way better now, code is cleaner
Clear all indicators when a new message is received
Update to support version 3.2a1pre

Also, it is now installable via my PPA! Here are the install instructions:
Open a terminal and enter:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ruben-verweij/thunderbird-indicator
and then:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install xul-ext-indicator
Now restart Thunderbird and the addon should be installed. You will now receive automatic updates every time a new version is released.
Please continue to file bugs, I will try to fix them all and I’m really grateful for all your suggestions on how to improve the addon.
Edit: the .xpi can be found here.
Edit 2: I’m working on supporting Lucid too in the PPA, I haven’t figured out yet how it is done but I soon will.

Looking for an alternative…

ubublogger — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:05:58 +0000

In my latest post, I pointed out that I was going to port Thunderbird Indicator (was Libnotify for Mozilla) to ctypes. However, it seems that ctypes is not fully implemented in Thunderbird and that it lacked the functionality I need. Therefore, it seems I have to look for an alternative. In the meantime, I will work on improving the Python code and trying to solve the fifo file mess.

New version coming soon, help is welcome

ubublogger — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:35:07 +0000

There is a new version coming of Libnotify for Mozilla! Here is what I am planning to change:

Create a package for Ubuntu
Port the messaging/indicator menu part to ctypes
Change the name: apparently the term ‘Mozilla’ is protected and in order to be installable from addons.mozilla.org, it has to disappear from the name.

These things were pointed out to me by Chris Coulson (except for the naming thing) who is a desktop team member for Canonical and is working on providing indicator menu integration for Thunderbird by default for the Natty Narwhal release.
But I can’t do this all on my own, so I need your help! Particularly the name is hard, so if you have a suggestion, please leave a comment.

New bug fix release: Libnotify for Mozilla version 0.2.1

ubublogger — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 13:08:56 +0000

Version 0.2 turned out to be not quite as stable as I thought after all.
Therefore, I have released a new version that hopefully fixes most of the bugs reported against version 0.2.
Please keep sending me suggestions/bugs/feedback, it helps me a great deal and motivates me to fix things too!
Anyways, here is the changelog:

Fix incorrect locale setting
Add option not to display notifications for new RSS messages (no notification by default)
Add option to not use the Notify-OSD bubbles (used by default)
Fix small mistakes in the code

The new version can be downloaded here (it is coming to addons.mozilla.org soon, too).

New version of Libnotify for Mozilla: 0.2-stable

ubublogger — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 10:56:27 +0000

Today I have released a new version of Libnotify for Mozilla, namely version 0.2-stable. You’ll notice the “stable”, I consider it not experimental any more, but more on that later. A picture says more than a thousand words, so here you go:

Displaying Notify OSD notification and the Indicator Applet

And here is a mini changelog:

Brian Mattern has revamped the python code that controls the Indicator Applet part, so that should work better now (no more double entries!).
Code for folder checking was never reached, that is now corrected.
Updated translations and added the possibility to translate the python file responsible for the Indicator Applet.

The xpi of the new version can be downloaded via Launchpad here. To install, just save the file somewhere on your computer and open up Thunderbird. Go to “Tools”->”Add-ons” and click on “Install…”. Then select the .xpi file, install it, restart Thunderbird and enjoy!
If you have any suggestions, please tell me either via the comments or via the Launchpad bug tracker.

P.S.:
You’ll notice the feature to hide Thunderbird to the Indicator Applet has not been implemented yet. It has one clear reason: I currently don’t know how to do it!
So, if you could help me out, please send me a comment and I’ll get in touch with you.

There were also some mutterings on Launchpad about whether this project is still being actively developed. I can assure you it is, but this is just a hobby project of me and I seem to have a non-virtual life too.

Easily convert code branches to ppa coming to Launchpad

ubublogger — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:19:00 +0000

I just wanted to share this awesome new feature with you which is coming to Launchpad soon: http://micknelson.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/build-from-branch-coming-soon/. You can now easily convert your code branches to a ppa without using dput etc. The video shows it’s a really easy process, and you can configure for which release the packages should be build. It looks awesome and I can’t wait to try it out!

New version of Wallpaper Stacks Creator: 0.3!

ubublogger — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:08:08 +0000

I have released the new version of Wallpaper Stacks Creator. Firstly, let’s start with a screenshot:

Wallpaper Stacks Creator 0.3

There have been numerous bug fixes and new features, including:

Support for opening and editing existing wallpaper stacks (xml file)
Show image previews in the file selector and in the list
Allow selection of multiple images in the file selector at once
And many more features including an about dialog, the ability to close a stack, an ‘unsaved changes’ warning etc.

Still have no idea what it’s for? Here is a short description:
Wallpaper Stacks Creator aims to be an easy way to create the necessary files to create a wallpaper stack as seen in the Appearance menu in Ubuntu. In short, it allows you to configure a wallpaper slideshow for Ubuntu or another GNOME based operating system.

For a complete list of changes, click here. Many thanks go to Christian Weiske for filing a lot of bugs and new feature request.

For easy installation, use this PPA: Wallpaper Stacks Creator PPA.

BTW: I’m releasing a new version of libnotify-mozilla soon, too.