If you are one of many Linux users who likes working with Terminal, especially long-running commands for example compiling software, downloading large files, converting files, and so on, you probably need Undistract Me. It notifies you when any command finishes that took longer than ten seconds to finish.


Undistract Me is very useful for Terminal addict because watching long-running command is boring. With this application you can spare your time to answer emails, watch video, play game, or something else. When the running command is completed, a notification will be displayed on the screen (as the picture above). Undistract Me works with Bash shell which is the default Terminal emulator in Ubuntu.

Install Undistract Me on Ubuntu
Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin and Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal can install Undistract Me easily by adding the below PPA:
  • sudo add-apt-repository ppa:undistract-me-packagers/daily
  • sudo apt-get update
  • sudo apt-get install undistract-me
Make It works
Once Undistract Me has been installed, there is one more thing to do, that's adding the below code to your ".bashrc" file:
  • if ! [ -z "$BASH_VERSION" -o -z "$PS1" -o -n "$last_command_started_cache" ]; then
  • . /usr/share/undistract-me/long-running.bash
  • notify_when_long_running_commands_finish_install
  • fi
If the above code is hard to read, please click here to see it on pastebin. Simply add the code to the end of ".bashrc" file. Once added, close all running Terminal or simply reboot if you are not sure and type "sleep 11" to test Undistract Me.

You're done! Now, every command which takes more than ten seconds to finish will notifies you when they're finished.

Regards :)