Notes on ScopePort

If I was ever forced to use Microsoft Windows for professional work again there would be some things that I would really miss. Of course I could work with it and I would get my work done. I am not one of those Windows haters who say that they could never work with Windows, but I think I would tend to search for those little icons and menu points that make my work more comfortable every day. Today I want to show you two of those applications or more precisely GNOME applets.

Hamster
Hamster is a little time tracking application that runs in GNOME panels. You just click on Hamster and enter a short description of what you are doing. Hamster now tracks how long you are working on this task until you start another task or stop tracking of the current task. This is extremly useful if you have to maintain a log of your tasks at work. http://projecthamster.wordpress.com/

Avahi service discovery
Avahi is used for service discovery in a network. It is an implementation of Zerconf. Learn more about Zeroconf here. The Avahi service discovery applet can show you all Zeroconf services in your network. For this example I enabled the iTunes DAAP music sharing of Rhythmbox (a Zeroconf technique) on my workstation and clicked the discovery applet on my notebook. The Rhythmbox service on my Desktop was discovered immediately. You can find dozens of different services for music shares, file shares, printers, NTP or even version control. The applet is available in many distribution repositories. (Ubuntu: sudo aptitude service-discovery-applet)

I have been looking for a really clean and easy to use Twitter client for a long time. I recently tried out Gwibber and it seems like I found what I wanted: Gwibber is easy to use, fast and focuses on the important things.

You can tweet by using the little input box at the bottom. You get a little bubble notification at the bottom left of your screen if somebody you follow tweets. (This can be disabled.) Gwibber stays in your tray if close it.

How to install Gwibber on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid

1. Create a file “/etc/apt/sources.list.d/gwibber.list” and add the Gwibber repository:

# File: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gwibber.list
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gwibber-team/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/gwibber-team/ubuntu intrepid main

2. Update your local repository information cache and install Gwibber: (aptitude update, aptitude install gwibber)

3. Start Gwibber from your applications menu (Section “Internet”)

4. Add Gwibber to your GNOME autostart. This can be done in the GNOME session manager:

Gwibber also supports some other services that I did not try out:

• Digg
• Facebook
• Jaiku
• Pownce
• Flickr
• Identica

You can find out more on the Gwibber Launchpad site.

from my flickr.