SimpleStarter - simple application starter as appindicator

Letzte Änderung: 07.07.2011
On newer Ubuntu versions you have to install python-appindicator manually or this script won't start.

After the change to Unity in Ubuntu 11.04 I used sshlist a lot. It's a nice replacement for sshmenu, implemented as Appindicator. Unfortunately sshlist supports only ssh in the Gnome Terminal (as supposed I guess), but I also need rdesktop and PuTTY for some work. So I thought, it would be nice to extend the original script to use this programs too. I modified sshlist, called it simplestarter and release it now under GPL3. Anil, author of sshlist, gave me his agreement to do so; thanks for that.

The steps to use it are simple:

  • Copy file simplestarter.py to /usr/local/bin and make it executable
  • Edit file .simplestarter in your home directory to add menu entries (see below for an example)
  • Launch simplestarter.py
  • Or better yet, add it to gnome startup programs list so it's run on login

The result is a nice menu like this one:

SimpleStarter Example

The syntax of the config file is really simple:

NAME|COMMAND|ARGS

ARGS can be empty. To insert a separator, add a line which only contains "sep". Empty lines or lines starting with "#" will be ignored. The example file for the menu in the screenshot is this one: 

# Example file ~/.simplestarter
Show top|gnome-terminal|-x top

sep

# A few SSH sessions
SSH server1|gnome-terminal|-x ssh -p 123 server1
SSH server2|gnome-terminal|-x ssh -p 456 server2
SSH server3 (long name)|gnome-terminal|-x ssh neo@server3

sep

# Use rdesktop to connect to Windows Servers
Win-Server 1|rdesktop|-T "Win-Server 1" 1.2.3.4
Win-Server 2|rdesktop|-T "Win-Server 2" 1.2.3.5
Win-Server 3 (with many arguments)|rdesktop|-g 1320x680 -T "Win-Server 3" -x l -P -r sound:local 1.2.3.6

sep

# PuTTY
PuTTY-Session 1|putty|-load SavedSession1
PuTTY-Session 2|putty|-load SavedSession2

Download: https://cloud.bheil.net/s/WxkqajAnRWf9z83

UPDATE 11.07.2011:

I've added a simple feature called "Labels". This are non-clickable menu items. You can use them to categorize your entries. The usage is as simple as label:This is a label!. This will add a label with the caption "This is a label!".