This guide will lead you through installation and basic configuration of the most recent release of Pygenda on Debian-like Linux distributions (that is, ones that use apt for package management). It is intended for users who want to install/run/test Pygenda.
(If you have a Gemini PDA with Gemian installed, see the Gemini PDA quickstart.)
If you want to contribute to or modify Pygenda, then you probably want to get the latest version from GitHub (which is usually a little ahead of the latest release). This guide may be useful to refer to for initial configuration.
Note that Pygenda is alpha software, and as such has lots of missing/incomplete features as well as bugs. It is released for testing and feedback purposes, but you may also find it useful.
This guide has been tested on a Raspberry Pi 2 running Raspberry Pi OS 2023-05-03, updated with patches to 2023-10-06 (based on Debian Bullseye, 32-bit), with Python3 3.9.2-3 and libgtk+3 3.24.24-4+rpt12+deb11u3.
The following commands install dependencies for Pygenda. Note that you will need to be connected to the Internet, since these download packages.
Enter the following commands in the command prompt (requires password):
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3
sudo apt install python3-pip
sudo apt install libgtk-3-0
sudo apt install fonts-dejavu
sudo apt install python3-gi python3-cairo python3-icalendar python3-dateutil python3-tzlocal python3-num2words
(Note: I'm using the apt versions of the Python3 module dependencies here. This is for better compatibility (hopefully) with other operating system components. If you are already using different versions of these modules, you may want to stick with those versions. Alternatively, you may want to keep the Pygenda module dependencies separate from the OS modules by running Pygenda in a Python virtual environment.)
Enter the following command to download and install Pygenda from the PyPI repository:
pip3 install --user pygenda
Test Pygenda runs:
python3 -m pygenda
Pygenda should start in a window. This may not be what you want, but this can be changed (see the next section). For now we're just checking that it starts.
Enter the following to edit the Pygenda user.ini file:
mkdir -p ~/.config/pygenda/
nano ~/.config/pygenda/user.ini
(You can use vim or emacs or something other than nano if you want.)
This should open an empty file. You have some choice about what to enter here, depending on your preferences. Here's a reasonable basic configuration that you can select from or modify as required:
[global]
24hr = True
[startup]
# Fullscreen UIs are often preferable on handheld devices.
# The fullscreen and maximised are two possible options for this.
# Their behaviour might differ depending on the UI of the device.
maximize = True
fullscreen = False
[todo_view]
list0_filter = UNCATEGORIZED
list1_title = Shopping list
list1_filter = shopping
# ...and so on for additional todo lists: list2_title, list2_filter etc.
# listN_title gives the todo list name as displayed in the UI.
# listN_filter gives the tag to use internally in the icalendar data.
(Lines starting with a # are comments, so can be changed or omitted.
For other settings, see defaults.ini.)
Save the file and exit. (In nano: ctrl+o, confirm filename, ctrl+x.)
Now you can start Pygenda again, and your options should take effect.
Depending on your device, you may find the font sizes, window size, or
scroll-bar widths are not appropriate. These can be customised with a
~/.config/pygenda/pygenda.css file:
nano ~/.config/pygenda/pygenda.css
Some ideas for a Raspberry Pi desktop:
/* Make default window slightly larger */
.view, #view_loading {
min-width:700px;
min-height:400px;
}
/* Smaller font sizes for Year View grid */
.yearview_day_label, .yearview_month_label {
font-size:10pt;
}
.yearview_daycell {
font-size:7pt;
}
For more ideas, see the default pygenda.css. For an example for a mobile device, see gemini.css.
If you have installed Pygenda "locally" (in your user directory), as described above, you can create a soft link to the pygenda.desktop file from the user's ~/.local/share/applications directory:
cd ~/.local/share/applications
ln -s ~/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pygenda/app/pygenda.desktop
(If you're using a different version of Python3 then change python3.9 to the appropriate version.)
If you want to use Pygenda as an agenda, rather than just testing it, then you should store your data in a server rather than in an iCal file (which is the default). You can either use an Evolution Data Server (EDS) or a local CalDAV server. EDS support is new, but offers advantages such as activating alarms. If you want to use a remote CalDAV server, then you can set that up as a remote source for the local EDS server.
Information about using a CalDAV server is here: CalDAV.md
EDS setup is described below.
First, install EDS and its object introspection packages:
sudo apt install evolution-data-server
sudo apt install gir1.2-edataserver-1.2
sudo apt install gir1.2-ecal-2.0
The default EDS configuration will probably be fine (using "system" calendar and task list) unless you have set up any other calendars.
Now add the following to your ~/.config/pygenda/user.ini file:
[calendar]
type = evolution
entry_type = event
uid = system-calendar
[calendar1]
type = evolution
entry_type = todo
uid = system-task-list
(The above example uses the default "system" calendar and task-list. If you use different ones, provide their uids in place of the values used above.)
You can optionally add a display_name = SOME_NAME line to either
calendar if you want to override the name provided by EDS.
For more details/options, see Evolution_Data_Server.md.
Please email me at pygenda@semiprime.com to let me know you've tried Pygenda. I also welcome bug reports, feature requests, bug fixes, and corrections to the documentation.
To update to the latest release of Pygenda, enter the following command:
pip3 install --user pygenda --upgrade
You can check the latest available version at https://pypi.org/project/pygenda/
To see which version is currently installed, either check the "About" menu in Pygenda, or run:
pip3 show pygenda
If an update breaks something, please let us know about the problem at pygenda@semiprime.com. Then you can go back to an older version using:
pip3 install --user pygenda==0.3.0
(Change 0.3.0 to your desired version.)