gtubeclock -- simple gnome nixie tube clock

gtubeclock is a basic clock using the artwork from Bob Borries' 
Tube Clock applet for Konfabulator, with Bob's permission. A similar
clock based on Bob's artwork is included in SuperKaramba, but I wanted
something I could build on Solaris without too many dependencies.

gtubeclock is designed mainly for looks, not special functions.
You can choose 12 vs. 24 hour mode, and you can choose between two sizes:
full size, and a smaller scale of your choosing (but I think making it smaller 
loses a lot of the charm of the art).

gtubeclock can use additional art sets. They are specified by a configuration
file, and you can choose which to use at runtime. I created an alternative
art set called "newclock" which is ugly, but it demonstrates the concept.

If you want to contribute art, let me know! 

To see some real nixie tube clocks, try the gallery at
http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/nixiegallery.html.

INSTALLATION

Note: if you previously used version 0.1, the location of the images
has changed. You can delete the old images (from 
${prefix}/share/gtubeclock/pics/tubeclock). The images will be
installed into the new location when you install this version.

You should be able to use the normal 'configure; make; make install' steps.
Check README.solaris for my notes on building it under Solaris.

The artwork gets installed in ${prefix}/share/gtubeclock/pixmaps/tubeclock.
If you run tubeclock and you get lots of assertions saying something
like "GDK_IS_PIXBUF (pixbuf) failed" then the artwork is probably not
readable. I'll be working on making this more flexible and adding
more error checking.

What this really means to you is that specifying --prefix=/some/dir 
to configure may be really important to you. The default is /usr/local.
Some people have different standards, or you might not want to or be able to
install this as root. If you use --prefix=$HOME, it'll put the gtubeclock
binary in $HOME/bin and the images in $HOME/share/gtubeclock/pixmaps/tubeclock.

gtubeclock was developed using glade. The 'autogen.sh' process is ugly,
with lots of warnings that would stump the average user. But, it seems
to work, and the distributed tarballs do not require autogen.sh to be
run. I have tested it in Red Hat 9, and Solaris 10 with a bunch of packages
from blastwave.org (see README.solaris).

USAGE

There's no man page yet. Use the --help option to list available
command-line arguments. There are several gnome-standard options,
and a few application-specific ones:

	-t or --12hour  select 12-hour display
	--24hour	select 24-hour display (the default).
			if you select both --12hour and --24hour you'll
			get 24-hour mode.
	-s or --smallsize  select small-size mode (see below)
	-f=nn.x or --factor=nn.x select small-size mode and choose the scaling
			factor (see below)
	-a or --sticky	display in all desktops (make sticky)
	-w or --windowed  display as a standard window with borders.
			note that half size & bordered is currently ugly.
	-x=position	specify x position
	-y=position	specify y position
	-L or --listlooks  show the available "look and feel" choices
	-l xxx or --look=xxx  sets the look & feel to xxx.
	-d or --debug	displays debugging messages to stdout.


Once gtubeclock is started, click any mouse button anywhere
in the window for the menu. The menu lets you toggle between 12 and
24 hour mode, toggle between full and half size, toggle between
window-bordered and shaped mode, toggle between sticky (all desktops) or non-sticky
(single desktop) mode, or quit. Note that when changing
some of these options, it may take up to 1 second for the change to take
effect (the display is only updated at most once per second). 

Note that if your window manager supports it, gtubeclock will be borderless.
Most window managers will let you move windows by holding down a key such
as alt while you drag the left button. Also, usually you can bring up
your window manager's window menu by holding down a key such as alt
and right-clicking in the window.  Or, start gtubeclock with the -w
option (or toggle on "show borders" mode in the menu), move it around,
and then toggle off "show borders" in the menu. Some window managers
may move the window slightly when you hide the borders, though, especially
if the window is near the edge of the screen. And, finally, new in 0.4
I have attempted to add a 'move' menu item, but it's not fully functional
yet, and this may go away in the 1.0 release.

New in version 0.9: the "half size" option has been replaced by a more generic
"small size" option. The DEFAULT scaling factor is set by adding/changing the
"small_scale" entry in the gtubeclock.settings
file (location is system-dependent, but it is shown in the "help->about" screen)
The image size is DIVIDED BY the scaling factor you specify (if you put a scaling
factor < 1.0, which would result in enlarging the image, it's currently reset to 2.0,
the default). You can specify any number > 1.0, for example 1.33 would give you 
an image 75% of full-size (1/1.33); 2.0 would give you half-size, 3.0 would give you
1/3 size. You can also specify the scaling factor on the command line, overriding
the default. Note that specifying the scaling factor (with -f or --factor) does NOT
automatically select small size as well. If you want the clock to start small, you
need to specify BOTH -s and -f=xxx. Otherwise, you can toggle the size on in the menu.

New in version 0.9.1: I have added a few options to handle functions that would
normally be handled by the window manager, but had not been working when using
the default "no border" mode. -x and -y can be used to specify the position of
the clock, and now the position will be saved when you save your gnome desktop.
You can also choose "all desktops" mode (via the menu or with the -s/--sticky
command-line option) to have the clock show up on all your virtual desktops, and
you can use this in a clumsy way to move the clock to a different desktop.

