Linux Desktop Hacks

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Chapter 4, Related to X

#26 Never Miss Another Reminder

HACK

Now copy these fonts to the Linux machine and extract them into either the

system font directory or .fonts in your home directory. As outlined in the

previous section, be sure to run the

ttmkfdir tool to create the font informa-

tion file, and add the font path to XFree86.

HACK

#26

Never Miss Another Reminder Hack #26

Flash your reminders on your desktop on top of any applications you are

running.

Did you know you can display pop-up messages on top of X Windows, even

if you’re using multiple virtual desktops? This trick can come in handy when

a pop-up dialog box or messages in a terminal window simply aren’t suffi-

cient to get your attention. And it can be fun, too. This hack explores the

power of X11 On-Screen Display (XOSD), and then uses it to set reminders

that will pop up on-screen at the preset time.

XOSD allows you to print messages, symbols, and even progress bars

directly on-screen, on top of anything else you have displayed on your desk-

top. Think of it as the equivalent of the volume control meter that pops up

on many televisions when you adjust the volume.

Use your distribution’s preferred installation method to install XOSD. The

package name usually includes the term XOSD. If you have yum set up

properly, you can log in as root and install it on Fedora Core (and some

other RPM-based Linux distributions) with this command:

# ...