This release sports the basic set of features that you can expect from Specto’s goals. We consider this release an ALPHA release. That means Specto works very well for us and we are providing this to you in the hope that it will be useful to you, but we are not guaranteeing that it it will be perfect just yet. At the time of this writing, there are four (4) known bugs in the bug tracker.
We decided to do the first release in time for Ubuntu Linux’s “Feisty Fawn” version freeze (February 8th). This way, “Feisty” users can provide us with some feedback.
Packages for Ubuntu are already available, and might also appear in Feisty’s universe soon. If you want to provide packages for your favorite distribution, feel free to contact us. Thanks to all for your awesome contributions, this release seriously rocks!
What is new in this release:
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Threading! The user interface will not block anymore
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Network-manager support. Yes, that means that if it is installed and running, Specto will be aware of your network connection!
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The user interface can now entirely be translated into your native language. Gentlemen, start your dictionaries! (hint: the word “watch” has roughly the same meaning as the Latin word “observator”)
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The tray icon is not persistent by default (configurable)
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libnotify “toasts” are now done in a less hackish way. On the user-visible side of things, they are now “attached” to the tray icon.
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Process watch: you can be notified when a specific system process starts or ends
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Ellipsized text: the notifier window’s width will not “jump around”
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You can export the watches.list from the file menu
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Specto remembers the ascending/descending column sorting order
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As a security feature, you cannot add or edit watches while a refresh is going on.
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SSL support for POP3 and IMAP mail watches
Known issues in this release:
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You cannot “import” a watches.list from the file menu
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There is not much information provided. You will not know who sent you an email, or what exactly changed in a website. This will come eventually. Or maybe sooner than we expect if someone wants to tackle the challenge!
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We have some really hacky/ugly code. Feel free to correct us 🙂
- Issues: #1, #3, #27, #29
What will be next?
- A really huge code cleanup
- Hopefully, more information provided by watches?
You can check out my main website, find me on Twitter or Mastodon or subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Comments
One response to “Specto 0.2 released”
I like Specto, it`s really cool and has much more potential!
(like rss-search and notification, calendar-events, Instant Messenger.., Apt-get-repository update, statistics and logfiles. It would be great if it could integrate with KDE’s “workflow” and GNOME’s “Atomato” or “S-Flux” – tools that strive to bring Apple’s “Automator” to linux.)
So keep up the good work.