Continuation of the Karmic Win series — part 1 was about installation and initial setup.
One thing I noticed right away when I first started poking around in Karmic Koala was the little envelope icon in the upper-right corner, by the network monitor and sound volume.
Clicking on it shows “Empathy, Evolution Mail”. Evolution Mail I recognized; it’s the mail client that’s been distributed with Ubuntu for a long time. (Intended to work as an Outlook replacement) Empathy I was unfamiliar with, though. I poked around some more and found that Empathy is an instant messenging client.
Cool.
In the past, when I was on Hardy Heron, I would use a Prism app for gMail / gTalk. It was pretty lightweight, but if we can integrate it even more closely with the desktop, that’s all the better.
Now if you recall, we’ve discussed before about linking the Evolution calendar to Google Calendar. That was my original intent, but in the back of my mind I recalled that gMail has recently made POP/IMAP access available, making gMail even more attractive as an email host. The wheels are churning… oh, and what’s that I see in Empathy? Google Talk? hmm….
Empathy & Google Talk Integration
This is quite easy.
If you’re a Google Apps user, you’ve probably used (or are at least familiar with) google talk. It’s a run of the mill IM client. When used inside of gMail there are some extra features (in-line video playing, for example), but as IM clients go, it’s decent.
Clicking on that envelope, and then on Empathy, will bring up the screen pictured here. (You may have to click on “Add an Account” or something first) Select “Google Talk”, then click “Create”. Provide your credentials, then click “Close”.
that’s it. Done.
Clicking on the envelope, then on “Empathy” again will show a window with some familiar names in it. You can change the preferences to show off-line people as well (in case your friends, like my wife, like to remain invisible all the time). I don’t believe it does inline video playing, but it will at least show the icon photos next to the people’s names, if they have photos defined.
You can change your status in Empathy by clicking on the very top-right corner of the screen, where it says your username (you would normally click there to log out or restart). There is now a “Set Status” option, where you can change your gTalk status to “Offline” or “Invisible” or “Away”, etc. I have not yet found any way to change the text status “currently watching Buffy” or “doing dishes again”. Perhaps that’s in the future.
Evolution & Google Calendar Integration
These instructions haven’t changed, please refer to my previous post for more info:
http://blog.amhill.net/2009/06/01/linux-ftw-day-4-back-to-work/
If you do decide to go all out and use Evolution for email as well (see below) you may find the calendar feature useful. Please note that since you are subscribing to the web calendar, you cannot do two-way synchronization just yet using this method. It may be possible to integrate that in some other way, but I’ve not yet discovered it.
At the very least, though, it will provide you with alerts and schedules for your dates that are listed on your gCal. Not bad at all.
Evolution & Gmail over POP / IMAP
This is by far the coolest new thing I’ve found.
Ok, for starters, you have to login to gMail on the web. Then click on “Settings” (top right corner of the website), then click on “Forwarding and POP/IMAP”. Click image to embiggen.
If you receive tons of email you will probably want to do POP instead of IMAP. If you know what IMAP is, then you’ll know whether or not you want to use it. (If you don’t know what it is, then don’t worry about it. 
)
In that second block, labeled “POP Download” select one of the “Enable” options from the first group. I recommend the “Enable POP for mail that arrives from ____” option. Downloading all mail would be bad unless your account is VERY new. (Remember, if it’s archived it’s still technically there!)
In the second group, select “archive GMail’s copy” from the drop-down list. GMail has a ridiculous amount of space, and one of its strengths is to take advantage of its sophisticated organization / search capabilities. Deleting it from the server when you download it kind of defeats that purpose. The auto-archive feature is nice though — it keeps it out of your inbox in gMail, but you don’t lose it forever.
Now, open up Evolution by clicking on that envelope then selecting “Evolution”. It should prompt you to create a new account. Here is the information you need (taken from gMail’s official directions):
Screen: Identity
Type your full name, email address, and optionally fill out the optional information.
Screen: Receiving Email
First, select “POP” from the drop-down list for “Server Type”. In the “Configuration” group, type “pop.gmail.com” (without quotes) for “Server”. Your username is your full gmail address. Select “SSL Encryption” for “Security”. Optionally, click the “Remember Password” checkbox, and be sure that “Password” is selected for “Authentication Type”.
Screen: Receiving Options
Check the first box (“Check for new messages every…”) and choose whatever interval your Obsessive-Compulsive nature dictates.
Do NOT check “Leave Messages on Server” – this is handled by the “archive” function of gMail that you selected earlier. Do NOT check “Delete after…”, for the same reason. Leave “Disable support…” unchecked.
Screen: Sending Email
Select “SMTP” for “Server Type”. The server address for “Server Configuration” is “smtp.gmail.com” (without quotes). Check the box next to “Server requires authentication.” Select “SSL Encryption” for the “Security” option. In “Authentication”, select “Login” for “Type”, and type your full gmail address for “Username”. Optionally, select “Remember Password”.
Screen: Account Management
For “name” call this account whatever you like — something descriptive, ideally. (ie. “gMail”)
That’s it!
Send yourself a test message just to be sure — press Ctrl+N within Evolution to create a new message. Address it to your gMail address, and type a subject and body, then click “Send”. Check your email by clicking “Send/Receive” and you should see that message show up in a minute or less. Log into gmail and check your archives to make sure a copy of that test message is present.
Notifications
As long as that little envelope is up there, you will be notified when you receive new messages and people will be able to contact you on your IM client. You can configure more email addresses and IM clients as you see fit, and they’ll all work together.
Up Next
Tomorrow will be getting Rhythmbox set up with mp3 / AAC / mp4 codecs, setting up last.fm, and getting plugins loaded.