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by itvision·3y ago·view on hn ↗
I cannot imagine my life without systray, sorry.

At the moment I have a metric ton of apps in it (I use pretty much all of them):

* System Volume * CPU/Wi-Fi module temperatures * Clipboard manager * Screenshot manager * Ingress/Egress traffic values (KB per sec) * Current CPU frequency * Battery charge indicator * Network Manager applet which shows Wi-Fi signal strength * Audacious Audio Player * BlueTooth (Blueman) applet * Weather conditions + temperature * Keyboard layout indicator * Time

Remove the system tray from me and my workflow is finished. I will no longer be able to use/manage my devices effectively.

2 comments
Caring about cpu/wifi temp/frequency/network traffic/battery level seems antiproductive. If the computer is slow 1 time a week, open something to investigate that.

Windows 10 mapped clipboard manager to win-v popup window, works well.

My hardware often works literally for over a decade. If being frugal and taking care of your devices is "antiproductive" for you, I'm a little bit concerned but it's up to you anyways.

Maybe you live in a 1st world country and earn $15K monthly and you can replace your laptop every month. Good. I can afford one every few years at best.

Win+V works here in XFCE as well only it shows over 35 recent entries as opposed to maybe 5 in Windows 10.

All my laptops are at least 3 years old, if not 7. My Nexus 7 is 9 years old, still use it every day.

Taking care of something that doesn't need taking care of seems to be a waste of time though. If the computer gets too hot, it'll slow down until it's not by itself.

Unrelated to system trays:

You might like gkrellm. It handles all those things, but outside the system tray. I used it for decades, and can't find a decent replacement.

I still use gkrellm, but I would much prefer it lived in the system tray, or if tray was gone on the right of the top panel. However, if having a common standard for a system tray is not happening it is even less likely for a common panel interface/API.

As for systemd services. I see tray's role not as a background task runner, but as a way to show tiny GUI elements in unobtrusively.

I used it briefly over two decades ago and I stopped for one single reason: it requires screen estate, it's an actual window. Meanwhile my task bar is visible at all times.