How to enable popups after every one hour for exercise/break?

Question

I want to take a break from my system after every one hour. How to enable Popups(I mean Pop ups, not notifications). OS: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Unity DE

Answer 1

You can add a cron job to run once every hour:

crontab -e

Add this line (if you have xcowsay installed):

0 * * * * env DISPLAY=:0 /usr/games/xcowsay -t 0 "Coffee Break!"

To install xcowsay:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install xcowsay

Screenshot:

Answer 2

Also, you may want to consider the package workrave. It can be set to lock the screen after an hour (or any other time period) and suggest exercises.

Answer 3

I use and enjoy workrave (in MATE this is included in the Software Boutique, else sudo apt-get install workrave, or Workrave).

It is fairly customisable. You can set up micro-breaks, rest breaks and daily limits, all of which can be edited to your preference, and enabled or disabled depending on your needs. You can also enable or disable the ability to skip a break, and how many times you are allowed to skip, which I find useful if I'm really in the zone or just about to finish a task. There are also helpful exercises you can prompt with each break to help reduce the risk of repetitive strain injury.

I have mine setup as one of the Startup Applications, so I have to make an effort to ignore it.

The only thing I really miss is that it used to have a "reading mode", where the timer would count down even without keyboard strokes or mouse input. This was very useful while doing research or to have consistent breaks throughout the day. As it is, I set the timer slightly lower than I want the work session to be, and that usually accounts for my thinking breaks.