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Ashwin Nanjappa
Asked: 2013-04-09 18:44:49 +0800 CST

Any app that tells me to take regular breaks from working?

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Various health reports indicate that sitting for too long working on the computer is not good for health. I need an app that can tell me to take a break, for example once every hour of continuous work.

It would be optimal if it can automatically detect how long it has been since my display was last unlocked or logged in and count from that time. When I take a break, I will lock the display and unlock it when I'm back.

Is there any such app for Ubuntu which help the user take regular breaks?

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9 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    WorkRave is probably what you want

    Workrave is a program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). The program frequently alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts you to your daily limit.

    break

    More screenshots

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  2. You could use notify-send + crontab.

    Open the terminal and run
    $ crontab -e

    Then paste the code below
    0 * * * * DISPLAY=:0.0 XAUTHORITY=~/.Xauthority notify-send "Go take a break."
    save the file and exit.

    That's all. You will receive the notification Go take a break every hour. You can change the message to whatever you want.

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  3. Looks like DrWright is what you need.

    It's not available in the main repos, but it does have a PPA (info from omgubuntu.co.uk):

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:drwright/stable 
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install drwright
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  4. Here is PPA for drwright, latest Ubuntu - Trusty/Utopic: 

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:muravjov-il/ppa 
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install drwright
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  5. I created a small application in Go language, Timer it has no dependencies at all, just put it in your $PATH and add it in auto startup, it'll show notifications per hour and also tell you to sleep if it is a weekday and post 11PM

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  6. BreakTimer is an alternative that I've recently made. It's pretty customizable and integrates well with most desktop environments. It's available on the ubuntu software store as a snap as well as other formats here.

    As you suggested would be useful - it will intelligently restart break countdowns when you come back after having been away from your computer.

    It's also free and open source, with all the source available on github - http://github.com/tom-james-watson/breaktimer-app.

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  7. If you use xfce (xubuntu) the Time Out plugin does this very well.

    See http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/panel-plugins/xfce4-time-out-plugin

    To install: sudo apt-get install xfce4-time-out-plugin

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  8. You may find Safe Eyes a sexy alternative to Workrave and other similar tools.

    Install Safe Eyes:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:slgobinath/safeeyes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install safeeyes

    enter image description here For more details, please check this AskUbuntu answer or the official website: http://slgobinath.github.io/SafeEyes/

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  9. Lock Screen Timer

    Lock Screen Timer is a small bash script I wrote to solve this question in Ask Ubuntu: Application that will lock screen after a set amount of time for Ubuntu

    To adapt for work rest periods the audible beep can be removed as it would be distracting:

    #          ogg123 '/usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/stereo/phone-outgoing-calling.ogg' ;

    Place a # on line to comment out the command.

    The pop-up bubbles warning that screen will be locked can be changed from:

       case $MINUTES in 1|2|3|5|10|15|30|45|60|120|480|960|1920)

    to:

       case $MINUTES in 1|2|5|15|30|60|120|180|240|300|360)

    Another simple change would be to not to implement the spinning pizza in the systray as shown in the link's animated screen.

    A more complicated change would be a set Monday to Friday schedule for rest times. For example auto-launching by cron and locking screen at 10am, 12pm and 2pm. The advantage of this change is user won't have to key in the number of minutes until the next break. The disadvantage is the user can't key in the number of minutes until the next break.

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