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July 8, 2008

Christer Edwards
nonic
Ubuntu Tutorials : Dapper - Gutsy - Hardy - Intrepid
» Improve Application Startup Times With Preload

If your computer habits are anything like mine you probably have a set of applications that you use nearly every time you log in to the machine.  Let me guess.. Firefox?  Pidgin perhaps?  Thunderbird or Evolution?  You may have more or less, but it is common for a user to use the same applications regularly.  Wouldn’t it be nice if those commonly used applications could startup faster?  That is possible with a tool called “Preload”.

Installing Preload

The preload service is available through the main Ubuntu repositories, and can be installed by clicking the link below or running the command:

sudo aptitude install preload

A few things to note now about using Preload.  First, this will not improve boot time.  Preload monitors recurring applications and, after establishing a pattern, will preload those binaries into memory at startup.  Given that it also has to establish a pattern you may not see a performance increase immediately.  Give it some time though, you’ll start to see a difference soon enough!

Other Points of Interest

by Christer Edwards at 9:55 AM under evolution , firefox , pidgin , preload , thunderbird , ubuntu (Comments)
May 17, 2008

Christer Edwards
nonic
Ubuntu Tutorials : Dapper - Gutsy - Hardy - Intrepid
» How To Manager Multiple Outbound Addresses In Evolution

I was just setting up Evolution again and went through the steps of setting up my personal account and my Ubuntu account.  I’ve heard some people run into problems doing this considering the Ubuntu account, on the incoming side, is bound to your default address in Launchpad, but you still need to send mail out.  Here is how I did it.

note: as you’ve likely noticed I don’t do a lot of screen shots on this blog primarily because I can’t ever get the formatting to look the way I’d like.  As you see below some of the text is not properly displaying under each picture, but tries to display to the right.  I’ve been fighting it for hours.  I finally decided to just post as-is.  If you have any suggestions on WP formatting with graphics let me know.

Creating an Outbound-Only Account in Evolution

  1. To create a secondary account to be used for sending mail (one that does not require receiving), we’ll need to open the Preferences Window, which is found in Edit > Preferences.

  2. Click “Add”, which will open the Account Assistant for creating new email account settings.  Click “Forward” on the first introductory window.

  3. Fill out the Identity information, ie; Full Name and your outbound email address.  In this case I am using my ubuntu.com address.  Click “Forward”.

  4. On the “Recieving Email” step we will set the Server Type to “None”, and click “Forward”.

  5. On the “Sending Email” step we will populate your SMTP settings.  In my case I am using my gmail account as the outbound SMTP server.  Click “Forward”.

  6. On the “Account Management” step we will give this account a unique name.  In this case “Ubuntu”.

  7. Click “Forward” and then “Apply” and you should be finished.

You can then repeat these steps for the total number of accounts that you need send-access with while the reply-to still goes elsewhere.  I’ve been using this setup for my Ubuntu account for a few years now and its simple enough, and quick to setup.

The steps are slightly different if you’re using Thunderbird.  Maybe I can get that installed here soon and walk through those steps as well.  Enjoy.

Random Posts

by Christer Edwards at 8:18 PM under email , evolution , smtp , @ubuntu.com (Comments)
November 8, 2007

Will Smith
no nic
Explorations
» Evolution vs. Thunderbird

I think that we have all used various mail clients in our time. I am just a fan of the conversations and labeling that comes with gmail, and I use their web interface most often. But, there are still those times when a mail client will be best, like when you want to sign your email with your gpg key.
So I have been using evolution because it came with ubuntu, and I actually like it quite a bit. But my friend Trevor swears by Thunderbird so, I thought that I would give it a shot. Thunderbird is clean, easy to use, pretty easy to configure, and seems to work rather well. I like the way that the labeling feature works in it. But then that is all, email is the beginning, middle and end of Thunderbird. What about my calender, tasks, reminders, etc.? One of my only real reasons to use these clients is the calender and Mozilla hasn't even made an attempt. I just can't get over this. Nearly ever other client that I have ever used has some sort of calender function. And Evolution is integrated into the gnome desktop, making reminders, tasks, schedules, quick and accessible.
Continuing on, I can't sign an email with my gpg key unless I install something else. Evolution has that built in.
In short, I will stick with Evolution. I would love to see Thunderbird have a full client that would rival Outlook, getting M$ Windows users to have a little more open source on their system.
When it all comes down to it though, all I hear is that I should use Mutt.

by Will Smith at 12:13 AM under evolution , thunderbird