Ubuntu – Kget, Skype, and Vuze are not showing up in the panel

11.04unity

I have been having trouble with Unity. kGet, Skype and Vuze all give me the same problem. I can launch them once and after that if I close the Window I won't be able to get the application back. Killing the process and opening again is the way around I found. But I want to find if it's possible to fix it.

I don't even get the notification Icon for Vuze and Skype. How do I get them. If I get them I most probably be able to access the still running but hidden applications.

My com.canonical.Unity.Panel looks like this:

['JavaEmbeddedFrame', 'Mumble', 'Wine', 'Skype', 'hp-systray', 'scp-dbus-service']

Best Answer

That is probably because in Natty the system tray is disabled by default. You can however "whitelist" applications. These applications will then show up in the top left corner of your screen right next to your other application indicators where they used to be.

To whitelist an application you can use dconf-tools.

sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

Alt + F2 and type dconf-editor

Go to com.canonical.Unity.Panel (desktop -> unity -> panel) and change systray-whitelist.

Add the applications you want to whitelist. For example for skype add , 'Skype'.

Some information on how to debug this is here:

How do I know what to whitelist to allow my application into the system tray?

Edit:

I got another idea. Try to add "notification area" to your panel. I was able to reproduce the same behaviour. Having Skype in the whitelist but the tray icon did not show up. It's probably because in your panel is only the "indicator applet complete" which has problems showing even whitelistet applications (using the classic desktop).

Change the notification's mouse- over behaviour

Almost what you asked for, and possibly what you might like, a tiny, very light background script (no noticeable load to your system whatsoever, if no notification runs, it will only wait/check for one to appear) that will change the mouse-over effect of the notifications from fade:

to disappear (close):

This will only take effect if the mouse is moved from outside the area into the notification area, to make sure you won't miss the notifications if your mouse already is in the notification area if the message is launched.

How to use

The script needs xdotool
```
sudo apt-get install xdotool
```
copy the script below into an empty file, save it as manage_notifications.py
Test-run the script by the command:
```
python3 /path/to/manage_notifications.py
```
with the script running, open a terminal window and run the command:
```
notify send 'This is a test'
```
now move the mouse to the notification. Instead of fading, it should disappear.
If all works fine, add it to your startup applications: Dash > Startup Applications > Add the command:
```
/bin/bash -c "sleep 15 && python3 /path/to/manage_notifications.py"
```

The script

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import time

w = int([s.split("x")[0] for s in subprocess.check_output(
    ["xrandr"]).decode("utf-8").split() if "+0+0" in s][0]
        )

def get_mouse():
    loc = subprocess.check_output(["xdotool", "getmouselocation"]).decode("utf-8").split()[:2]
    return [int(n.split(":")[1]) for n in loc]

while True:
    time.sleep(1)
    try: 
        subprocess.check_output(["pgrep", "notify-osd"]).decode("utf-8")
        curloc1 = get_mouse(); t = 1
        while t < 10:
            time.sleep(1)
            curloc2 = get_mouse()
            test1 = curloc1[0] > w - 400 and curloc1[1] < 400
            test2 = curloc2[0] > w - 400 and curloc2[1] < 400
            if all([test1 == False, test2 == True]):
                subprocess.Popen(["pkill", "notify-osd"])
                break
            curloc1 = curloc2
            t = t+1
    except:
        pass

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Wicd Tray Icon Missing in Unity System Tray – Fix

Ubuntu – Configure Unity notifications to close on click

Change the notification's mouse- over behaviour

How to use

The script

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