HOWTO: Led notifcation for new mail/messages/calls

[Pedric]

Hi,

Do you want to have one of your notebook/laptop LEDs light up when you got new mail, new instant messages or blink when there's an incoming call? Then this one is for you:

1. Figure out what triggers your LED
If detected properly, turning a LED on or off is as easy as writing 1 or 0 into a special file ("LED control file") that is being generated by the kernel, such as

/proc/acpi/asus/mled

for ASUS laptops. Google for "your-laptop-model linux led" and search /proc/ for candidates. Test them with e.g.

echo 1 > /proc/acpi/asus/mled

2. Get plugins/extensions for your programs

1. Mozilla and Mozilla Thunderbird: http://moztraybiff.mozdev.org/ An extension for Mozilla and Mozilla Thunderbird to notify you about new mail, includes a tray icon. It detects many LEDs automatically, and if it fails to do for you, set the "mail.biff.hw_indicator_file" preference to match your LED control file.
2. Pidgin: http://koti.mbnet.fi/simom/pidgin/led-notification/ A new message notification plugin with a GUI option to change the path to the LED control file.
3. Other programs (such as e.g. skype): Some programs allow you to configure a script that is executed when an event such as in incoming call or a new message arrival occurs. You can then paste the following lines into a new file:
   

   #!/bin/bash
   for ((i = 0; i < 6; i++)) do
      echo 1 > /proc/acpi/asus/mled;
      sleep 0.5;
      echo 0 > /proc/acpi/asus/mled;
      sleep 0.5;
    done

   (while replacing "/proc/acpi/asus/mled" with the path to your LED control file)
   Save it as mledBlink, make it executable using
   

   chmod +x mledBlink

   test if it's doing what it's supposed to do
   

   ./mledBlink

   and set the program to run it when there's an incoming call or message. In the skype 1.4 beta, this option is somewhat hidden in "Options -> Notifications -> Incoming Call Ringing -> Advanced View -> "Execute the following script:" (NOT "Execute the following script on any event").
   

   ~/mledBlink

   does the trick. You can customize mledBlink to blink longer or more often to suite your needs by changing the for loop limit (6) and the sleep duration between on and off (0.5).

Other programs are under investigation...

Have a lot of fun!