How to manage time from the console with ding

Managing our time properly is a challenge that we face every day. It is no secret to anyone that the use of alarms that tell us that we must perform certain activities increases our productivity.

To solve the need to manage time, we generally use $ sleep 4231; beep, but, there is also a solution that allows us to manage time from the console, which is known as ding.

What is ding?

Thing is a tool of open source, cross-platform (Linux, OS X, Windows), written in Python by Liviu Pirvan, that allows us to manage time in the short term. For this, it makes use of beeps generated through the motherboard of our computer, so that even if the speakers are muted, the alarms generated will continue to be heard.

This great tool it works from the console, even from ssh sessions. It's compatible with python2 y python3, easy to install and without external python dependencies.

How to install ding

Installing ding is easy, we must have installed python2 or Python3 and then run the following commands:

$ pip install ding-ding

You can also download the file ding.py and run it with the following command:

$ ./ding.py in 1s

How to use ding

The use of ding is simple, the basic commands to activate the alarm are the following:

# Por rango de tiempo
$ ding in 2m
$ ding in 2h 15m
$ ding in 2m 15s

# En horas establecidas
$ ding at 12
$ ding at 17:30
$ ding at 17:30:21

You can apply ding for cases like the following:

• Do you want to start working, after looking DesdeLinux, without worrying that you will spend a long time browsing our blog. Set a 20 minute timer:

$ ding in 20m

• You need to visit your girlfriend at 17:00 and you want to have time to get dressed (I think 15 minutes is enough):

$ ding at 16:45

• Apply the pomodoro technique

$ alias pomo="ding in 25m"
$ pomo

Whatever you use it for, this tool will undoubtedly allow you to be more productive and, above all, continue to make good use of the console.