Finding a versatile Gmail notifier for my laptop seemed to be not so difficult and, after a first quick search, I selected a bunch of software I believed interesting. But when I tested them I was not satisfied by they behaviour especially because they didn’t have many of the features I wanted.
First of all I started installing the Gmail software I found in the Screenlets repositories on my Ubuntu but it was not able to update itself. Probably the firewall denied to the screenlet to communicate externally. I didn’t want to spend much time (sic) on the research of a Gmail notifier so I decided do uninstall it.
My second option was Popper and reading the program description I believed tha t was really the right one but.. after the configuration I was not impressed by the final flexibility and interaction this software offers. Just to know, for a quick configuration you need Popper configurator that is in the
The next step was represented by KCheckGmail that is for KDE and runs properly also on Gnome but, in this case, the program is not updated with the last Gmail configuration parameters and so it is nice but useless..
Then I tried with Gmail Notify. The configuration is quick and easy but it offers poor results. I mean that you have just the subject of new emails and no possibility to visualize them with a simple mouse click if you haven’t previously done the login of your Gmail account using the browser.
Finally I installed cGmail through the Ubuntu Software Center and I found what I was looking for: a simple program which let me know about new emails and let me open them with a click. The graphic interface is basic but after a couple of hours wasted on searching an effective solution I was satisfied!
Last but not least, if you don’t want to install a Gmail notifier directly on your Ubuntu, consider to install the add-on Gmail Watcher on Firefox.
Please, if you have better solution and you want to share them with us, don’t hesitate to comment this post. Thank you!
I usually update my Firefox as soon as possible but often, especially after installing the new version 5 on a Ubuntu 11.04 platform, I had to lose many add-ons that I previously selected and used daily. To avoid this problem I found some tips on the web and I tested all of them with different results.
Solution 1
– download the .xpi file from its official Firefox add-on webpage using the right mouse button (Save Link As) on 
– unzip the .xpi file with Archive Manager and open install.rdf using a Text Editor;
– find this line: em:maxVersion and change the value from e.g. 4.0.* to 5.0.*;
– click on 
icon in the Firefox Add-ons Manager, select “Install Add-on From File…” and follow the visual instructions.
Unfortunately this solution didn’t work always during my tests
Solution 2
– open a new Tab on Firefox and type: about:config;
– agree to the warning message;
– search all the lines with the string extensions.checkCompatibility and set the values to false
– restart Firefox and enable or install your “old” add-ons.
Solution 3 – The easy one!
– open a new Tab on Firefox and click on Tools –> Add-ons;
– search for the Add-on Compatibility Reporter and install it;
– restart Firefox and you will be able to install all the old add-ons.
Sometimes you will discover that installing “old” add-ons doesn’t mean that they really run on Firefox 5 but, in my experience, more than the 70% of them will be good for the new version. Have fun!!
Technorati Tags: Firefox, install, Firefox 5, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 11.04, tutorial
This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we posted a brief review about Foxmarks, a simple but effective add-on for Firefox which can seriously help you to manage, save and restore your bookmarks. In the past, we wrote some reviews about Online Bookmark Manager, Febe and Cleo but, at the moment, we truly believe that Foxmarks is the most flexible between all of them. It is cross-platform (or multiplatform if you prefer), easy to use and very intuitive thanks to its interactive wizards. Foxmarks can be used to simply sharing your bookmarks with your friends or as a professional tool to sync profiles via web between all your PCs. Last but not least, I would like to focus your attenyion on mobile.foxmarks.com which allows you to access bookmarks on all your web-enabled devices. Recommended!
This week, in our Freeware Page, we have posted a brief review about one of the most interesting Firefox add-on we have found in the Mozilla website: Sage. This particular add-on allows you to easily read and manage all your favorite web feeds directly using Firefox. Sage contains also a feed discover who allows you to find RSS simply typing a keyword, moreover it is possible to import and export your web feeds through the OPML format. The graphics is very enjoyable and complete and after few minutes you forget the RSS reader you have used till now. Something to try!
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