Mumbles 0.4 is Out!

Mumbles 0.4 is Out

Download and Installation instructions for 0.4 can be found here.

New to this Release:

New Plugins

  • mumbles now has plugins for Gaim, Pidgin, Rhythmbox, Firefox*, Thunderbird*, and custom notifications.

*Firefox and Thunderbird plugins require a DBus extension. Please see the extras page for more information.

Theme Support

  • mumbles 0.4 introduces theming ability. This release comes with 6 standard themes and the ability to support custom themes.

mumbles-send script

  • mumbles-send is a script included with mumbles that allows sending of custom notifications. See the download page for an example of how to use mumbles-send.

Growl Network Notification Support

  • When started with Growl Network Notification support, mumbles can receive notifications over the network using the Growl network protocol. mumbles-send can also send Growl network notifications. Use mumbles with your Mac, or just send notifications to another computer running mumbles with Growl Network Notifications enabled. See the Growl section of the mumbles preferences pane or run ‘mumbles –help’ (or ‘mumbles-send –help’) for information about enabling and configuring Growl Network Notification support.

Daemon mode

  • Want to just run mumbles in the background without a panel applet? Run ‘mumbles -d’ to start in deamon mode.

Click Handling

  • mumbles now supports click handling. Right clicks close the notification and the Firefox plugin opens the downloaded file on left click.

Bug fixes and code improvements

  • What’s a release without them?

I hope you dig it.

  • Let me know what you think, what you’d like to see and whatever else is on your mind. I have some tutorials ready to roll out so check back here for updates on using the new features in mumbles 0.4 including: writing a plugin, creating custom themes and how to unleash the awesomeness that is network enabled notifications!

9 Comments to 'Mumbles 0.4 is Out!'

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  1. Diogo said,

    I was thinking how linux could not have a cairo based notification system yesterday! Nice project! hope it could get even better and better. I was thinking, can it be compatible with programs that use libnotify? maybe by creatind a dbus session with the same name and this stuff. Is it possible?

  2. dot_j said,

    Diogo,

    Thanks for the feedback.

    I would like to work out how to integrate with libnotify - it’s at the top of my list for things I would like to see addressed in version 0.5. For now, I have been trying to stay a little outside of the realm of libnotify as those notifications tend to be different from the kinds shown in mumbles (more system level than application level). And I think it makes sense to have these two types of notifications displayed in different ways. That said, I think mumbles could benefit from having the option to use libnotify (or at least themed in a similar way) and the ability to control how you receive all of your notifications. If you have any further comments or ideas about it, please let me know.

  3. Keykero said,

    Very impressive, easy to install, and works as nicely as my Growl/Adium setup on OS X. Using Feisty.

  4. dot_j said,

    Glad to hear it Keykero. As a Growl user, be sure to check out Growl network support (run ‘mumbles –help’ for more information about usage). Mumbles is now able to send to, as well as receive messages from, your Growl machine (and other linux machines running mumbles). There will be a tutorial most likely sometime next week about how to use the feature, so be sure to check back for more information.

  5. rodgersan said,

    Nice, I really hate libnotify and each app is using it differently. I like mumbles but it is quit young. I have some suggestions and questions to submit:

    About the default theme: i think it should use the system font and color
    Apps icons: using own apps icons is more logical
    User access: moving or copying themes and plugins to a no root folder ~/.mumbles
    A better way to hide the panel applet like mail-notifcation/gnome-bluetooth do
    A tangoish icon? :)

    I don’t see mumbles in the avahi service browser, is it normal?
    Are libnotify notifcations shut off when mumbles is running?

    Regards,

  6. dot_j said,

    rodgersan -

    I am planning on adding default system font/color settings in the next release. I agree that it should be the default theme. The current default just happens to be the first bit of “artwork” I did for the project.

    I also take your point about the icons. Though, in order to support custom icons for plugins, I think it makes sense to keep the current icon handling in place and allow the plugin to default somewhere if there are problems opening/finding the system icons.

    Mumbles does support plugin and themes directories in ~/.mumbes. I will be publishing tutorials about both throughout the next few weeks - keep an eye out.

    You can also hide the panel applet by starting mumbles in daemon mode. Start mumbles with the ‘-d’ flag to hide it from the panel. Also try ‘-h’ for other options.

    I tried to keep the project’s color scheme tango compliant. How well I did is certainly open for debate. I’m not too skilled in the graphic art department, so I am always looking for contributions there - both in icons and themes.

    Currently, there is no avahi support in mumbles. To be honest, I know very little about it. I did a bit of reading after you asked the question and it certainly peaked my interest. If you have suggestions for what you would like to see implemented, please don’t hesitate to let me know and/or start a thread in the forum.

    Mumbles does not interfere with libnotify. See the FAQ and other comments for discussion about libnotify & mumbles’ future.

    It’s true that mumbles is still quite young, but I hope it’s in a state where we can start focusing on better integration with the Gnome Desktop. And I think your suggestions are all a great start towards making that happen.

    Thanks,
    dot_j

  7. rodgersan said,

    Thanks for your replys and precisions, I hope we will have a solid compositing popups system as osx has with growl. Theming and new technologies support are (in my opinion) a good way to keep it better than libnotify.

    Keep up the good work!

  8. Chris said,

    Hi, I’ve just found your great project. Linux definitely will benefit from this project.

    I’m running Ubuntu 8.04 via Parallels on my MacBook, and upon trying Mumbles 0.4, I found the notification display was messed up. (Email me if you’d like to see screenshots). By forcing MumblesNotify.py to use an RGB colourmap only, I was able to make the display work properly. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that I’m not running any compositor (plain VGA graphics driver only). I though you might be interested, in case anyone else has this issue.

    I will watch this project. It has a lot of promise.

  9. Dimitris Zenios said,

    I am impresses with your software.In fact i was thinking of creating something for linux like growl but then i found your application.What i would like to see in mumbles is notifications for system calls.For example when a usb stick has been inserted

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