OT: Linux Alarm Clock Suggestions?

[nivok]

*Cron mp3 Alarm Clock* 



Pre requirements:

    
- cron

- bash

- find

- mplayer

   

mplayer will probably the only one you need to get, it's available
'here' (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/dload.html) (I
compiled/installed from source I believe, it wasn't super hard just
follow the instructions)



*Step 1:* 

-In terminal:- 


Code:
--------------------
    crontab -l
--------------------
 

mine for example:


Code:
--------------------
    sbolende at linuxbartonator:/etc$ crontab -l

  no crontab for sbolende

  sbolende at linuxbartonator:/etc$
--------------------
 

thus I have nothing scheduled but I DO have access to crontab



*Step 2:* 

-In terminal:- 


Code:
--------------------
    find -/path/to/search/- -name "*.-ext-" -print >>-/path/to/playlist/file-
--------------------
 

mine for example:


Code:
--------------------
    find /mnt/Public/Music\ Library/ -name "*.mp3" -print >>~/.playlist
--------------------
 

-/path/to/search/- = /mnt/Public/Music\ Library/ (this is where I keep
my iTunes on a samba share)



-ext- = mp3 (because I want to find mp3 files



-/path/to/playlist/file- = ~/.playlist.  This where I want to save the
.playlist file, in my case I wanted it in ~/ (my home path)-- the
period infront is there simply to make it hidden (not klutter up my
home folder



*Step 3:* 

in your favorite editor (I prefer vi) create a file and save as "alarm"
in ~/ with this content:!/bin/sh


Code:
--------------------
    #!/bin/sh

  mplayer -really-quiet -shuffle -playlist ~/.playlist
--------------------
 

-then, In terminal:- 

chmod 700 ~/alarm

(this makes it read/write/_execute_)...the #!/bin/sh tells it to run it
as a terminal command



now to test it, type 
Code:
--------------------
    ~/alarm
--------------------
  (press q to stop it)



STEP 4:
-In terminal:- 


Code:
--------------------
    crontab -e
--------------------
  (this launched joe for me -- have to ctrl+o then ctrl+x to
write/quit)

I then entered my scedule:


Code:
--------------------
    30 13 * * 1-5 ~/alarm
--------------------
 

This is the guts to telling cron what you want it to do. So what does
all the above gibberish actually mean? A crontab entry consist of seven
fields separated by spaces. Each field is detailed below…

    
- minute–This controls what minute of the hour the command will run
  on, and is between 0 and 59

- hour–This controls what hour the command will run on, and is
  specified in the 24 hour clock, values must be between 0 and 23 (0 is
  midnight)

- dom–This is the Day of Month, that you want the command run on,
  e.g. to run a command on the 19th of each month, the dom would be
  19.

- month–This is the month a specified command will run on, it may be
  specified numerically (0-12), or as the name of the month (e.g. May)

- dow–This is the Day of Week that you want a command to be run on,
  it can also be numeric (0-7) or as the name of the day (e.g. sun).

- cmd–This is the command that you want run. This field may contain
  multiple words or spaces.

   



So, this crontab entry executes the command alarm at 1330 (1:30p.m.)
every day of every month that falls on Monday through Friday.  (I have
to be at work for 4pm)



This was adapted from
http://grimthing.com/archives/2004/01/23/cron-mp3-alarm-clock/ for use
with ubuntu, hope this is useful or actually works for some of you



cheers


-- 
nivok