Typing breaks in GNOME

input-keyboard-100For quite a while now I’ve used the drwright application to configure typing breaks. Once every so often, the desktop would refuse keyboard input and tell me to go and walk around for a few minutes instead. This helps to prevent RSI and other problems.

Since Fedora 19, though, drwright is no longer usable. No matter, I switched to Workrave as that is a similar application although with more tweakable options than I needed.

But now in Fedora 20 (currently in Beta) the problem of not being able to adjust configuration settings has affected Workrave as well! This time it’s a different bug, but not being able to right-click and get a context menu on the icon makes it pretty hard to use.

Doesn’t anyone else set typing breaks?


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13 responses to “Typing breaks in GNOME”

    1. Tim avatar

      Thanks, I’ll check it out.

  1. Adam Williamson avatar

    “Doesn’t anyone else set typing breaks?”

    Sure. I take one whenever it’s time for a slug of liquor.

  2. Neville A. Cross avatar

    My mom has several health issues which requieres to her to take breaks. I have her computer stuck on Fedora 14 because of the lack of this feature. It was under universal access category. It is a health issue, not a productivity feature. Thanks for voicing this, I think we need to be bold on this feature.

    Étienne, I will check your link, thanks.

  3. Will Thompson avatar

    At least in Debian, Workrave ships with a Gnome Shell extension which embeds the applet into the top bar. I have been a much happier user since discovering and enabling it.

    1. Tim avatar

      Thanks, I hadn’t spotted that. Unfortunately the extension does not support the version of gnome-shell in Fedora 20 (3.10.2). I’ll have to look into that.

  4. Will Thompson avatar

    Naturally… If you’re lucky, it’s just a matter of adding a version to the manifest.

    That reminds me that I should test my own extensions with 3.10.x. Gotta love that upgrade treadmill!

  5. mbooth avatar
    mbooth

    Have you tried the pomodoro gnome shell extension?

    # yum install gnome-shell-extension-pomodoro

    1. Tim avatar

      Thanks, no, I hadn’t.

    2. Tim avatar

      OK, I have now, and it resulted in a completely broken desktop session after the first break.

      Have you tried it?

  6. mbooth avatar
    mbooth

    Oh dear, I have only used it on only F18 and F19 🙁

    The gnome shell API breaks way too often.

  7. mbooth avatar
    mbooth

    Looks like there was a new release of gnome-shell-extension-pomodoro recently, I will try and update it for F20 and rawhide soon.

  8. Gustavo Noronha avatar
    Gustavo Noronha

    I use it (from extensions.gnome.org) and it works well for me in Fedora 20.