There are a number of possible applications that can take care of this task. In this article I am going to illustrate a few of those tools for you so you can choose which one is the right one for you.  So, without further adieu, let’s get on with the installation and usage. NOTE: All of these tools can be found and installed using the new Ubuntu Software Center. For more information on that tool, take a look at my article “The new Ubuntu Software Center“.

Gmail Notifier

Figure 1

The Gmail Notify  is a very innocuous panel applet that also pops up warnings when you have calendar event notifications set up . The setup of this applet is simple. When you first run the Gmail Notifier a windows will appear (see Figure 1) where you enter your Gmail username/password and configure any options you want. But ultimately all this little applet does is reside in your panel and checks your Gmail Account for new email and pops up alerts.

Make sure, during the configuration, you set your Browser path or when select “Go To Inbox” from the right click menu, no action will be taken.

This entry in the Gmail Linux desktop apps is one of the less flashy, but also less intrusive as, say, the Prism take on desktop Gmail.

Check Gmail

This entry in the desktop Gmail space is one of my favorites. One of the main reasons why I like this one so much is that it only takes a simple mouse over on the panel applet to see a full listing of your Gmail inbox. Now, before you even try to start this application up there is a problem. Out of the box the Check Gmail applet will not be able to log into your account. You will go batty trying to make sure you type in your password correctly. The problem is the executable file in /usr/bin. I’m not sure why the developer has not fixed this (the error has been known since 2007), but here’s the fix:

wget http://checkgmail.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/checkgmail/checkgmail
sudo mv checkgmail /usr/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/checkgmail

Figure 2

Once you have done that, Check Gmail will be able to log into your account. Once logged in you will see a tiny red and white applet in your panel that you can right click to get a menu of items to select from (see Figure 2) or you can hover your mouse over to see the first few emails in your inbox and the first couple of upcoming events in your calendar (see Figure 3).

Figure 3

If you do a single left click on the icon your browser window will open for you to log into Gmail. If you right click and select Compose Mail you will also be first taken to the sign in page. Even if you configure Check Gmail to save your password you will still have to sign in to your account before you can read or compose. This is a bit of a frustration and should not be a default behavior. This even happens if you already have a Gmail window open that is authenticated to your account.It would also be nice if you could set the background of the pop up to be transparent so it would be a bit less intrusive, but the application is very usable.

Gmail Prism

What would be a listing of Gmail Apps without including an actual web-based app. I mentioned Prism in my article “Install Prism on Linux for easy to use web apps“. You will find the Prism app listed in Synaptic as Google Mail or Prism for Google Mail. Very little needs to be said about the Prism app other than it’s nothing more than a stripped-down browser window that logs you into your Gmail account. There is no applet to remain out of your way – just a window.

Which is best?

From my experience (and for my preference) Check Gmail gets the vote. Although it has some issues that must be overcome before it will work, once it is working it is the usable of the Gmail applications available. If you rely on Gmail, and check it regularly, you would do well to at least give one of the above a try.

Related posts

• Two Quick Email Tips To Save The Day (19)
• Offline Gmail Buzz (12)
• Gmail UI For Thunderbird (3)
• Are You Up For An Email Client With Unique Features? Read On! (16)
• Yahoo to offer unlimited Email Storage (8)

Thanks to the Mozilla Labs there is Prism. Prism is unlike other proprietary solutions like Silverlight. Prism is basically a way to split web apps from the browser and run them directly on the desktop. Although not always as small as, say, a Google Gadget, Prism tools are far more functional and do not strip features from the tools you use. For example, if you are using the Prism Google Document tool, you will have a fully functioned instance of whatever app you are using. In this tutorial you will learn how to install Prism and some of the apps as well as configure shortcuts for your menu.

Installing

As you would expect, Prism can be found in your distributions’ repository. So to install, follow these steps:

1. Open up your Add/Remove Software tool.
2. Search for “prism” (no quotes).
3. Select Prism (and any apps you will want installed) for installation.
4. Click Apply to install.

Once installed you have a number of options available to you for starting applications. If you look in your Internet sub-menu in your Application menu you will most like find a number of Prism-enabled applications already there. You will also find an entry for the Prism tool itself. This tool is really the best place to start if your app isn’t found in the menu.

If, however, the app you want to use is found in the Internet menu go ahead and fire it up. You will notice that the Prism-enabled apps look and feel exactly as if they were in your browser – minus the browser menus, toolbars, address bars, etc.

But if you do not find the app you want to use worry not, most likely you will be able to get it working through Prism. Let’s use an Apple Web app as an example. If you take a visit to the Apple web application site you will find numerous applications you can use. Let’s use the DataCalc app as an example. When you visit the DataCalc page you will find the app URL – this is the URL you are going to use for the Prism app.

Figure 1

Now, go to the Internet sub-menu and click on the Prism entry. This will open up a blank Prism window with a smaller configuration window (see Figure 1). Enter the DataCalc URL in the URL text area and enter

Figure 2

DataCalc for the Name. Finally click the checkbox next to Desktop to add a clickable icon to your desktop. Click the OK button and the icon will appear on your desktop and a Prism window will appear with your web app running (see Figure 2). NOTE: You may have to set the icon as Trusted when you double click it. This will not only enable the icon to be clickable, it will also change the icon appearance. When you close out this Prism App, all you have to do to restart it is to double click the icon.

I have yet to find a means to add a Prism app menu entry when the app is installed in this manner. All Prism apps that are installed via Synaptic will have menu entries.

Final thoughts

We all know the desktop is trying desperately to evolve into a web app-based cloud. If you’re interested in getting a feel for what this is like, give Prism a try.

Related posts

• The reinventing of the Operating System (16)
• Opera Will Reinvent The Internet On June 16 (13)
• Mozilla Prism 1.0 Beta (8)
• Lotus Symphony on Linux: Install a part of “IBM’s Smart Work” (8)
• Google Docs Shares Documents Without Permisson (3)

Mozilla Prism (via Download Squad) can be downloaded and installed as a portable standalone application or as a Firefox web browser extension. Running the standalone application will open a configuration menu where the user enters the url of the web service that should be run on the computer desktop. Additional settings can be configured including shortcut creation, selection of a icon and the elements that should be displayed in the Prism interface (with our without navigation bar, status messages or navigation keys).

The service will automatically start after the configuration finishes. It can later be launched from the shortcut location that has been defined during configuration.

The interface looks like a minimized version of the Firefox web browser without all toolbars and elements. This is a distraction free way of providing web services on the computer desktop. The main benefit besides being able to launch web applications by clicking on a shortcut is that users can do less harm in comparison to the normal web browser interface where they can change settings or navigate to different pages.

A bookmarklet is available to create Prism applications on the fly. There are also official and user created application bundles available for various web services.

Several options – including proxy support and font selection – are only available if the “show status messages and progress” option is enabled during setup.

Related posts

• Page Bookmarks (2)
• Open Random Website In Firefox (4)
• Great Summary Summarizes Web Pages (3)
• Firefox Web Browser Add-On Suggestions (3)
• Firefox Showcase Tab Management Extension (1)