Google Mail Notifications on Linux
2007-09-01 18:07:40
Google have made many of their applications available for Linux, even Google Earth, but unfortunately there is not yet an official Google Talk client. While the instant message functionality of Google Talk can be obtained using Gaim, this does not give full access to all of Google Talks features. This page shows how to enable pop-up balloons to notify you of when you have new Google Mail messages, just like in Google Talk.
Getting Started
This guide may work on other systems, but is currently targeted for
only Ubuntu Edgy Eft. To install in this method you will need to enable the
“universe” Ubuntu repository (check the Ubuntu wiki for instructions
on how to do this).
Installation
Installation can be done entirely using the Gnome graphical utility's.
To get started, open the System menu, then the Administration sub menu and click
“Synaptic Package Manager”. You may be asked to enter your Ubuntu
login password.
Click the “Search” button and enter “checkgmail” into the first textbox, then press Search. You should see a short list of possible applications. Located the checkgmail package and mark it for installation, as shown in the image.
You may see a dialog which explains what other packages are needed, just click “Mark”.
When you're finished, click “Apply” on the toolbar. You should see a summary of changes, review the list then click Apply to install. Once this has finished, close all windows.
Now, run the notification applet for the first time by pressing Alt and F2 at the same time, and entering the path /usr/bin/checkgmail.
You should now see a preferences page. Enter your Google user name (and password, although you can leave this blank and be prompted each time your computer starts). You can also edit other options, but the defaults should be fine.
If you left your password blank you will be prompted by the following window when starting the application.
The Google Mail notification applet is now installed
and ready, but it wont start up by itself. To achive this, open the System menu,
then Preferences and finally the Session manager. Switch to the startup programs
tab and click new.
And enter the following:
Click OK, then close. The notification applet will now start automatically whenever you log into your desktop. You should see similar to the following upon recieving an email to your Google account:
