If you need a simple timer with notifications in Linux Mint you can check this appler:
This timer app with visual and sound notifications can help you:
- doing frequent breaks from the PC
- Pomodoro sessions
- reminders
1. Installing a Simple Timer Tool
To create desktop notifications with the timer app, you need to use Linux Mint Cinnmon Edition. Then you can add from Applets:
- Right click on the panel
- Applets
- Tab Download
- Search for - Timer with notifications
- Download it
- Tab Manage
- Enable the Applet
2. Create and Customize Time Intervals
You can set a customer intervals for breaks.
For example, to set a 6-minute timer:
- Right click on the Applet
- Configure...
- Tab Preset Times
- Edit the times or add new ones
3. Change Sound
To change the default sound:
- Right click on the Applet
- Configure...
- Tab - Sounds
- Change teh Sound Settings
P.S. Only ogg
files are accepted. If you need to convert mp3 to ogg file then you can use: SoundConverter
4. Change Panel Icon Color
If you want change panel icon color, edit stylesheet.css
. This is preferable for light or transparent wallpapers:
File path
~/.local/share/cinnamon/applets/cinnamon-time@jake1164/3.4/stylesheet.css
Example
.timer-running .system-status-icon {
color: orange;
}
5. Setup Music Reminders Crontap
If you prefer to use terminal and custom script for music reminders than you can use script like:
5.1 Script to run random songs
#!/bin/bash
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR="/run/user/1000"
#MUSIC=/mnt/x/Music/
MUSIC=/mnt/x/Music/Hits
cd $MUSIC
#ls |sort -R |tail -1 |while read file; do
# echo "$MUSIC$file"
# rhythmbox "$MUSIC$file" & sleep 5m
#done
FILE_NAME=$(find $MUSIC -type f -iname "*.mp3" | shuf -n1)
echo $FILE_NAME
rhythmbox "$FILE_NAME" & sleep 5m
killall rhythmbox
You need to save the file on your computer.
5.2 Create cron job
Now we need to create cron job which will execute the script at a given interval:
Type in terminal:
crontab -e
and then add:
# time for break
55 9-18 * * * DISPLAY=:0 /home/user/Scripts/cron/motivation.sh
Resources
- Start motivation/relaxation video at given hour - If you need to learn basics of bash you can check this article. You will learn also how to setup regular notifications by using
crontab
. - Linux Mint: How to Check Cron Logs (crontab -e)