desklet · v1.7.0 · GPL-2.0+
Color Timer Clock
Clock, timer, and chronometer cards whose colors follow a schedule.
Why this exists
Why this exists
The color is not decoration. It is the signal. Each card has a job.
One glance tells me the state of things. That is the whole idea.
The clock shows when AI providers run their low-traffic discounts: set the stops to match the window and you know when it is cheap to run. The timer counts down to credit resets, so you know when the budget comes back. The chronometer runs sprints: green for the first half hour, amber sliding to red over the next hour and a half, blue once two hours are up. Blue means take a break.
A schedule is just rows of times and colors. Blend smoothly between stops, or hold each color and jump at the next one. The clock wraps over midnight so late shifts are covered, a running timer survives a restart, and text picks its own shade so every card stays readable.
Under the hood
- Colors blend piecewise-linearly in RGB, so a red to blue ramp passes through purple
- Timer and chronometer schedules hold the last stop’s color beyond the final row
- Every card control has keyboard focus, a pressed state, an accessible name, and a tooltip
desklet v1.7.0 GPL-2.0+
Features
What it does
- Up to three responsive cards; narrow widths wrap, nothing hides
- Per-card color schedules, smooth or stepped ramps
- Clock card with an optional IANA timezone
- Timer with play, pause, reset, and 60 second nudge buttons
- Optional desktop notifications for timer finish and schedule stops
- Chronometer with pause, resume, and optional hundredths
- Text and border colors adapt to the card background for contrast
Settings
The schedule is the interface
Every card has its own list of time and color stops, edited in plain rows. These settings are the real ones; the band below is a schedule you might set on the clock card.
Color Timer Clock Settings
Cards
Show clock card
Show timer card
Show chronometer card
Clock card
Smooth color transitions Blend gradually between schedule stops; off holds each color until the next stop
Timer card
Timer minutes The default duration the timer restarts from
Show a notification when the timer finishes
Chronometer card
Show hundredths of a second Adds a .ss fraction while the chronometer runs
Display
Time format (strftime)
Desklet width Cards share the width and wrap onto more rows when needed
Color schedules
One list of time and color stops per card Restores the clock, timer and chronometer schedules to their default stops
A day on the clock card
06:00 Deep blue 09:00 Paper 12:30 Amber 17:00 Copper 21:00 Ink
Clock 15:42
Next
17:00
At 15:42 the card sits between the 12:30 amber and 17:00 copper stops, so its background is the blend of the two: #cd6e17. Text picks a readable shade for the background, and the Next chip previews the upcoming stop with its color sample.
Gallery
Screenshots
Install
Add it to Cinnamon
No root needed. Everything lands in your home directory. The rm -rf before each copy is the upgrade path; your settings live elsewhere and survive.
curl -fLO https://github.com/RobertAlexanderH/cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet/releases/latest/download/cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet.zip
unzip cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet.zip
rm -rf ~/.local/share/cinnamon/desklets/cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet@curbsoftware
cp -r cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet@curbsoftware/files/cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet@curbsoftware ~/.local/share/cinnamon/desklets/cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet@curbsoftware git clone https://github.com/RobertAlexanderH/cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet.git
cd cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet
rm -rf ~/.local/share/cinnamon/desklets/cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet@curbsoftware
cp -r files/cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet@curbsoftware ~/.local/share/cinnamon/desklets/cinnamon-color-timer-clock-desklet@curbsoftware Restart Cinnamon (Alt-F2, type r, Enter), then add the desklet from Cinnamon Settings.