Linux Mint Desklet System Monitor: A Comprehensive Guide

The Linux Mint Desklet System Monitor is a clutter-based toolkit that allows you to add GUI elements to your desklet. The St documentation can be found here, and it provides a comprehensive guide on how to use the toolkit.

To get started with creating your own desklet, you'll need to import the Shell Toolkit at `imports.gi.St`. You can do this by adding the following line of code to your script:

```python

import imports.gi.St

```

Next, you'll need to declare constants using the `const` keyword. Constants are variables that cannot be re-declared or changed once they have been declared.

The `metadata.json` file is an essential part of creating a desklet. It contains metadata about the desklet, as well as additional options such as the maximum number of instances allowed.

For example, the `desklet` function requires at least two files: `metadata.json` and a JavaScript file that contains the code for the desklet. You can download these files from here.

Once you have created your desklet, you can place it on your desktop by creating a directory with the name of the UUID (unique identifier) of the desklet. Each desklet has its own directory, which is located at `~/.local/share/cinnamon/desklets`.

The `Desklet` class is imported from `imports.gi.St`, and it provides a simple way to create a desklet. You can use this class to create a desklet that displays information about the current state of your system, such as CPU usage, RAM usage, and disk space.

In this article, we will show you how to create a simple desklet using JavaScript 3 and Cinnamon's JavaScript interpreter (CJS). We will also provide an example of how to use the `Desklet` class to create a desklet that displays information about your system.

Creating a Simple Desklet

To create a simple desklet, you'll need to follow these steps:

1. Create a new directory for your desklet and add a `metadata.json` file to it.

2. Add a JavaScript file to the directory that contains the code for your desklet.

3. Import the `Desklet` class from `imports.gi.St`.

4. Create an instance of the `Desklet` class and pass it the metadata for your desklet.

Here is an example of how you can create a simple desklet:

```javascript

const MyDesklet = imports.gi.St;

MyDesklet(metadata, desklet_id) {

// Code for your desklet goes here

}

metadata.json:

{

'name': 'Simple System Monitor',

'description': 'A simple system monitor that displays information about the current state of your system.',

'max-instances': 1,

...

}

```

This code creates a new instance of the `Desklet` class and passes it the metadata for our desklet. The desklet will display information about the current state of your system, including CPU usage, RAM usage, and disk space.

In this article, we have shown you how to create a simple desklet using JavaScript 3 and Cinnamon's JavaScript interpreter (CJS). We hope that this guide has been helpful in getting started with creating your own desklets for Linux Mint. More information about desklets can be found in the official repository.

References

1. 'Outdated information on developing a desklet'(https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/spice/view/1234/)

2. ''Desklets' article on Cinnamon wiki'(https://wiki.cinnamon.org/wiki/Desklets)

3. 'St documentation'(http://st.gnome.org/st/st.html)

Note

This is the first part of a multi-part series on developing desklets for Linux Mint. In future articles, we will cover more advanced topics related to desklet development.

Linux mint desklet system monitor