Author Topic: Check your GMail with CheckGmail - panel tray tool, no brainer - step by step  (Read 2115 times)

Offline AndrzejL

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Quote
Disclaimer:

*** IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW MY HOW-TO MAKE SURE YOURE FOLLOWING IT TO THE WORD ***

I know that this application works. I have been using / testing it for long time before I wrote this howto.

If its not working for you let me know but expect that the first question always will be "Did you do exactly what I wrote?"

Sometimes the applications can be problematic. When I am writing a howto it means 3 things:

1) I am using this application myself for a longer period of time.
2) I am recommending it to You as something that works under the condition of following my exact directions.
3) I got rid of the problems by using workarounds and the application works as a charm for me.


Andy


Hi Everyone!

I will try to show you how to configure CheckGmail panel tray tool so it would inform you about new mail

The things I love about checkgmail:

1. Checks your gmail account every XX seconds
2. Notifies you about new mail with

   a) Sound
   b) Tiny and descreet pop-up window (appears for X seconds and disappears)
   c) Tray icon changes

3) Gives you direct access to your gmail accout by just clicking on the Checkgmail icon
4) Informs you about

   a) How many unread mesages you have
   b) Who is the sender of the message
   c) Subject of the messages
   d) First line of the message content

5) Its not downloading / opening any messages just informs you about them

Even tho sometimes I will use konsole window in this how-to I will explain every single step as this manual is written for the newbies mostly.

Do not be affraid of the CLI (Command Line Interface) it can make life easier... lot easier...

There are few things I assume you have done before following this how to:

  1. Read forum rules and all 3 links from my signature (below this post):
  2. Install pclinuxos
  3. Configure internet connection
  4. Fully upgrade the system
  5. Setup graphical server (XWindow System)
  6. Reboot

Once all those things are done follow me:

I - Installing CheckGmail:

  1. Open konsole window and get root privilages:

   A. Type in
Code: [Select]
su and press [ENTER]
   B. Type in roots password and press [ENTER]
   C. Type in
Code: [Select]
apt-get install --yes checkgmail and press [ENTER]

  2. Wait till the install process is finished

  3. Once you have CheckGmail installed go back to normal user mode and close konsole

   A. Type in
Code: [Select]
exit and press [ENTER]
   B. Close the Konsole window



EDIT by davecs -- see next post if you are playing with KDE4 at the moment

II - Creating icon for CheckGmail / Autostarting CheckGmail

  4. Create checkgmail shortcut icon

   A. Right click on the Desktop
   B. Choose Create New



   C. Choose Link to Application



   D. New window will come up:

      a. Type in CheckGmail in the name box
      b. Click on the blue gear icon



      c. Type in ema in the search box and click on the email icon



      d. Click on the Application tab and type in
Code: [Select]
checkgmail --no_cookies in the Command: box.



      e. Click OK and notice that somewhere on the desktop your new checkgmail icon was created.

  5. Autostarting CheckGmail after kde is loaded

   A. Right click on the new CheckGmail icon on your desktop and choose Cut from the menu



   B. Open konqueror and in the address bar type in /



   C. Click on the View button in the konqueror's menu bar

   D. Make sure that Show hidden files option is ticked



   E. Navigate to this place /home/yourlogin/.kde/Autostart (yourlogin should be replaced with your user's login)



   F. Right click inside this folder and choose Paste File from the menu



   G. Notice that your CheckGmail icon from desktop was moved to the Autostart folder



   H. Open konsole, type in
Code: [Select]
reboot and press [ENTER] - this will restart your computer



III - Configuring CheckGmail

  5. Notice that a new icon appears in the panel tray after kde is loaded



  6. Right click on this new icon and choose Preferences



  7. CheckGmail Preferences will appear

  8. Adjust the settings to suit your needs



   A. Username             : type in your gmail login
   B. Password             : type in your gmail password
   C. Save password        : tick this box
   D. Language             : choose your language from the list
   E. Comand on tray click : /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox %u
   F. Comand on new mail   : play -v 0.4 /path/to/wav/file/Gmail-Notify.wav

      a) play is a console media player
      b) -v 0.4 is a volume of the played track
      c) /path/to/wav/file/ is a path to the wav file (sound that you want to use as a gmail notification sound)
      c) Gmail-Notify.wav is the music file with wav extention

   G. Comand on no mail    : didnt found anything that I could use in here...
   H. Check GMail every    : GMail will be checked for new mail every XX seconds (5, 10, 30) type any value you want
   I. 24 hour clock        : Tick or untick it depending on what youre used to (11 am / 11 pm or 11 and 23 o'clock)
   J. Archive also marks   : If you archive a message in your gmail account it wont be shown as unread
   K. Custom icons         : I wouldnt touch this... Can be messy
   L. Show new mail pop-up : Here you can set how long a little window with a new mail info will be seen on your desktop
   M. Set tray background  : Change the colour of the tray icon background so it wouldnt spoil your panel with white square



  9. OK the CheckGmail preferences box

 10. Click on the CheckGmail icon

 11. Firefox should come up and log you straight into your GMail account

 12. Create new message and send it to yourself

 13. Reboot your system to test the settings after startup



Hope this helps somebody someday.

Andy
« Last Edit: July 14, 2009, 12:18:23 PM by davecs »

Offline Ɗα√ϵς§

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If you are using KDE4, stage "II" will not work. When you try to create a link to application on the desktop, it will be owned by root, and you won't be able to edit it!!

The solution is to open PC > System > File Tools > Konqueror (Super User Mode)

You can the navigate to /usr/share/templates/.source and do the right click there to create the Link to Application and edit it as per the main post. When you've done this, drag it to your desktop and copy it there. The copy will be owned by your user! You may have to right click on it again to ensure it is executable, then move it to your ~/.kde4/Autostart folder.

Otherwise everything here works.

The command I used to execute on new mail is:

play -v 2.0 /usr/share/sounds/KDE-Im-New-Mail.ogg

The 2.0 (as opposed to 0.4) is the volume and will vary according to how loud the sound file is perceived to be.

davecs
PCLinuxOS has no wealthy sponsors and can only survive with your donations! Don't wait it might be too late.

Running PCLOS on Athlon II/250 with 2Gb Ram using ASUS M2N68-AM Plus Mobo with Nvidia GF7600GT graphics, and Samsung NC10 Netbook

Offline AndrzejL

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If you are using KDE4, stage "II" will not work. When you try to create a link to application on the desktop, it will be owned by root, and you won't be able to edit it!!

The solution is to open PC > System > File Tools > Konqueror (Super User Mode)

You can the navigate to /usr/share/templates/.source and do the right click there to create the Link to Application and edit it as per the main post. When you've done this, drag it to your desktop and copy it there. The copy will be owned by your user! You may have to right click on it again to ensure it is executable, then move it to your ~/.kde4/Autostart folder.

Otherwise everything here works.

The command I used to execute on new mail is:

play -v 2.0 /usr/share/sounds/KDE-Im-New-Mail.ogg

The 2.0 (as opposed to 0.4) is the volume and will vary according to how loud the sound file is perceived to be.

davecs


WOW! Thanks for the tip!

So basicly in KDE4 when you create a shortcut to application (as a user) on your desktop you dont own the shortcut? Weird... I would say it must be a bug or something... or maybe a security feature? I dont know.

Yeah -v is the volume and the file could be a *.wav or *.ogg probably even *.mp3 and others...

Thanks again.

Andy

Offline Ɗα√ϵς§

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WOW! Thanks for the tip!

So basicly in KDE4 when you create a shortcut to application (as a user) on your desktop you dont own the shortcut? Weird... I would say it must be a bug or something... or maybe a security feature? I dont know.

Yeah -v is the volume and the file could be a *.wav or *.ogg probably even *.mp3 and others...

Thanks again.

Andy

Probably a bug. On my KDE3 partition, I can also use kcheckgmail, but on kde4, our version isn't ready, so I had to use a non-kde application, and checkgmail fit the bill. I found the bug and the workaround because I'm a stubborn old .............
PCLinuxOS has no wealthy sponsors and can only survive with your donations! Don't wait it might be too late.

Running PCLOS on Athlon II/250 with 2Gb Ram using ASUS M2N68-AM Plus Mobo with Nvidia GF7600GT graphics, and Samsung NC10 Netbook

Offline AndrzejL

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WOW! Thanks for the tip!

So basicly in KDE4 when you create a shortcut to application (as a user) on your desktop you dont own the shortcut? Weird... I would say it must be a bug or something... or maybe a security feature? I dont know.

Yeah -v is the volume and the file could be a *.wav or *.ogg probably even *.mp3 and others...

Thanks again.

Andy

Probably a bug. On my KDE3 partition, I can also use kcheckgmail, but on kde4, our version isn't ready, so I had to use a non-kde application, and checkgmail fit the bill. I found the bug and the workaround because I'm a stubborn old .............

Truth is I never liked kcheckgmail thats why I chose checkgmail.

Thanks for sharing that with us!

Andy