[solved] click to view appointments and tasks

[AbeFreeman]

Hi! The clock says "click to view appointments and tasks" but all I get is a calendar, with no option to add notes etc. The gnome manual tells me that double clicking on a date will open "Evolution", but I checked, and Evolution is not installed. When I went to install it, it tells me that it's an email client. I already am using Thunderbird, and can't imagine a better email client.

So........ Is there an application that I can install that really only does what I want: allows me to add appointments and tasks to the calendar, and will give me some kind of reminder on the desktop when I want it to, so I don't forget to do stuff?
In my humble opinion, this is something that should be included in the mint package, since the "click to view appointments and tasks" message leads one to believe that there might actually be a way to ADD appointments and tasks, so that there are some to view when you click.
Thanks.

[Silent Warrior]

I don't use Evolution either (Thunderbird + Sunbird at the moment), but I understand Evolution has a calendar extension. I assume that's what is being referred to. Having both installed side-by-side shouldn't cause much more discomfort than the extra space used, but if you want the calendar-functionality, I think you kind of have to go that way, or find a way to install Lightning. I haven't managed to find either Lightning nor Sunbird through official channels, so I downloaded Sunbird straight from Mozilla instead. It doesn't have any desktop integration, though, so I have to remember to keep it open (Ha!) to get any notifications.
Maybe KDE's Korganizer is what you're after? Of course, you'd probably need to switch desktops to KDE, but...

[AbeFreeman]

Thanks. I installed evolution, and it seems to be what I want (if I ignore the email server), but for some reason my reminders don't come up on the screen like they're supposed to. Maybe it means they come up in the evolution window if, as you say, I remember to keep it open and look at it often enough. Ha!

[Dave68]

I like Evolution and replaced Thunderbird in both of my Mint Installs (Gnome and XFCE). Mostly for the Calendar. I can also get my POP3 Mail vs the IMAP. A few tweaks here and there, and you've got a fantastic replacement for Outlook for a lot less disk space.

You might check in Edit->Preferences and see if there is something in there that might be of use to you. Go down to the Calendar tab and look at Alarms. I always keep my Evolution running in the Background, so this hasn't been a problem for me.

Hope This Helps,
Dave

[Raydog]

If anyone is interested, the Lightning extension (1.0b1) for the version of Thunderbird included in Mint (3.0.6) is available on the Mozilla ftp site:

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/calendar/lightning/releases/1.0b1/linux-i686/

Why Ubuntu or the Mint team don't include it on the repository, I don't know. Then again I'm a noob around here.

Maybe someone will find this useful.

[AbeFreeman]

But would lightning have the same problem as sunbird: ie. no desktop integration? If so, that would explain why it isn't included in the package.

[Raydog]

But would lightning have the same problem as sunbird: ie. no desktop integration? If so, that would explain why it isn't included in the package.

Neither Thunderbird nor Lightning have desktop integration (AFAIK). They have their own "pop-up" alerts.

The reasons I use them is that I'm familiar with them, they're multi-platform, and I'm absolutely addicted to Lightnings "Today pane" (Events and Tasks always visible on the right side of my desktop).

Edit: By the way you can set up POP3 in Thunderbird it just wants to set IMAP by default.

[AbeFreeman]

You might check in Edit->Preferences and see if there is something in there that might be of use to you. Go down to the Calendar tab and look at Alarms. I always keep my Evolution running in the Background, so this hasn't been a problem for me.

Thanks Dave, it works fine now.