The XApp family keeps growing

Linux Mint reveals two brand-new desktop apps

Two new apps are coming to Linux Mint later this year: a new calendar and eBook reader.

Plus, the Ubuntu-based Linux distribution has redesigned its (overlooked) document hub, Library, to make it easier to find and manage documents scattered across you device from one place.

Both new apps join the XApp Project, Linux Mint’s collection of home-grown, cross-desktop GTK apps (which now has a new website wearing the popular Claude design aesthetic).

Clockenstien is Mint’s new Calendar app

Clockenstein is Linux Mint’s new calendar app but, lest anyone scream in horror at the terrible name, the user-facing label is just Calendar. It replaces GNOME Calendar in Linux Mint’s default software lineup (about time – it was an older, pre GTK4/libadwaita build).

Now a calendar is a calendar. It needs to let you see and browse dates, add events, create calendars for different tasks – things that Linux Mint’s clockenstein can do from the off.

But integration with online services is important since most of us move between devices during the day. So calendars can be entirely offline and kept local, or sync to/from online providers like Google Calendar or through CalDAV via cloud services like Nextcloud.

Clem says the goal was make sure it was always obvious when remote calendars aren’t working and in-sync, so users can tell if something is up. Failing silently isn’t helpful if there’s an important event you assume you’ll get a reminder about, but never do.

“Down in the laboratory, there’s a little more going on”, says Lefebvre.

A background daemon is used to keep remote calendars in sync and check for any upcoming events that have reminders enabled. If there’s an issue, events stay visible but become read-only – you can’t edit or add – until connect is back online.

Reminders are handled via a notification agent. They get shown on the desktop at the appropriate time so you can action or snooze or be reminded later. Backend interfaces allow other desktop environments to interact or replace the notification agent.

Book Reader ePub viewer

The new Book Reader (xepub) app is designed (surprise) for opening ePub files. It looks to offer a clean reading experience, that Linux Mint’s Clement Lefebvre says is ‘similar’ to a Kindle or a Kobo. It also keeps track of where you are in a book so when you re-open it, you can resume reading.

Features wise, it will offer what you’d expect: chapter and page navigation, full-text search and bookmarks, as well as adjustable page zoom and font options. An annotations feature lets you highlight selections of text, with a colour, and add notes.

Finally, an internal look-up system lets you select a word and ferry it to a search engine (wikipedia, dictionary, etc) to find out more about it.

Library gets a dust off

Linux Mint has also redesigned its Library document manager, which you may know by the package name thingy.

Documents are now grouped by file type, rather than the app that opens them. So, for instance, you can see just your PDF files in one view, rather than finding them scattered amongst all files the the default document viewer XReader handles.

Common file types are listed in the Library sidebar, but you choose what’s shown and in one order. And, more usefully, you can create your own custom groups that contain a mix of different file types, and even specify them from specific folders.

When can I get the new apps?

Linux Mint’s new Book Reader and Calendar apps will make their official debut in Linux Mint 23, expected to arrive towards the end of the year. That release will also ship with the new and improved Library app too.

Plus, other changes the team has revealed and teased to date (and, no doubt, a few still to come).

If you don’t want to wait, the source code is up on GitHub (each linked in their respective paragraphs above). You can check them out (pun klaxon) to test, and file any issues you find or glaring feature requests you may have.

Exciting stuff!