My *nix world

Alternative to Xfce calendar panel

I don't want to install and use the Xfce calendar plugin, because 99% of time I don't need it (so why should I keep the laptop memory busy all the time with something that I rarely use?)

As alternative I just found out that Linux utils comes with a application called simply "cal". So at the console you can type just "cal" and then something like the text bellow will be shown:

January 2012
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31

@Edit: I am lazy so I don't even want to open the console and to type 'cal', like suggested above.

Q: How can I use the same calendar but easier?
A: Use the bash script below and define a keyboard shortcut (such as Ctrl+Alt+C or something available) to call this script:

#! /bin/bash
ICON_RES="scalable"
ICON_EXT=".svg"
day="$(date +%_d)";
title="$(date +'%B %Y')"
time="$(date +'%H:%M:%S')"
flatcal=$(cal);
msg=${flatcal//$day/$day};
notify-send "Calendar ($time)" "${msg}" -i "/usr/share/icons/Tango/${ICON_RES}/apps/date${ICON_EXT}"

Here is the result:

xfce calendar panelIf you would ask why somebody should bother to reinvent the wheel where there are plenty of applets/widgets out there, the answer is simple: why not learning something by reinventing the wheel? And maybe it's not about reinventing but improving the concept.

Now, if you think that this article was interesting don't forget to rate it. It shows me that you care and thus I will continue write about these things.

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Alternative to Xfce calendar panel

Eugen Mihailescu

Founder/programmer/one-man-show at Cubique Software
Always looking to learn more about *nix world, about the fundamental concepts of math, physics, electronics. I am also passionate about programming, database and systems administration. 16+ yrs experience in software development, designing enterprise systems, IT support and troubleshooting.
Alternative to Xfce calendar panel

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