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Is there a way you can disable or customize the notification bubbles on Lucid?

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6 Answers

Yes you can, using a tool called Notify OSD Configuration.

If you want to disable them rename the file

sudo mv /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.Notifications.service{,.disabled}

To re-enable:

sudo mv /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.Notifications.service{.disabled,}

You need to restart your computer after either one of these changes for them to take effect.

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This tool presume that you patch your original notify ost libraries, and you cannot disable them. I wouldn't recommend this. –  OpenNingia Nov 16 '10 at 12:46
@OpenNingia, using a patched NotifyOSD is necessary because the default doesn't allow any configuration. Edited my answer to show how to disable them entirely. –  Alvin Row Nov 16 '10 at 18:04
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You can also turn off particular notification.To turn off pidgin notification,Open pidgin-->Tools--->Plugins

Uncheck libnotify popups there..

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To turn off notify-osd notifications,type the following in terminal and restart your system.

sudo mv /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.Notifications.service /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.Notifications.service.disabled

To disable rythmbox song pop up notification:

Go to:

Edit -> Plugins

and uncheck the Status Icon plugin.

Another way:

Edit --> Plugins

Select Status Icon, click the configure button

Choose the never shown option for notifications.

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Thanks. However, the one piece of software I would really want to disable notifications for is Banshee, but there doesn't seem to be any options for that at all, unless I'm really missing something. –  Mussnoon Nov 18 '10 at 16:07
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To alter these settings, install gconf-editor from the software-center.

Scroll to / ▸ apps ▸ nm-applet and check disable-connected-notifications and disable-disconnected-notifications settings there. Check the attached image for clarifications.

enter image description here

As For the VLC, you need to visit VLC Preferences (Press Ctrl + P, or access it from tools Menu)

And Disable SysTray Popup when Minimized (Hover the move over that option and read the descripton)

enter image description here

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To disable the Notification bubbles you can remove the 'Notification Area' item from the panel. Just right click on the notification area item and select 'Remove From Panel'.

UPDATE: The Notification Area will be no more from Ubuntu 11.04

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I don't want to get rid of the notification area entirely, but only the bubbles. –  Mussnoon Nov 16 '10 at 6:31
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The question

How to turn off the pop up notification in 12.04?

was redirected here but this question's context is framed for lucid 10.04 which uses notification-daemon and not Pangolin 12.04 which uses notify-osd (On Screen Display) to make pop-up bubbles.

This can be seen in the 12.04 system file (NB 10.04 predates this):


with notifying content uniquely specific to either the Unity or Gnome default interface:

[D-BUS Service]
Exec=/bin/sh -c 'if
     [ ! -x /usr/lib/notification-daemon/notification-daemon ] ||
     [ "$GDMSESSION" = guest-restricted ] ||
     [ "$GDMSESSION" = gnome-classic-guest-restricted ]
     [ "$GDMSESSION" = default -a
          "$(basename `readlink /etc/alternatives/x-session-manager`)" =
                gnome-session ] ||
     [ "$GDMSESSION" = ubuntu ] ||
     [ "$GDMSESSION" = ubuntu-2d ];
  then exec /usr/lib/notify-osd/notify-osd;
  else exec /usr/lib/notification-daemon/notification-daemon; fi'

What follows is explicitly for the 12.04 redirected question.

The complete stack of pending notifications can be disabled and cleared using a terminal window
(Ctrl+Alt+T) and entering

killall notify-osd

after which notifications resume.

To disable for an arbitrary length of time use:

dbus-monitor "interface='org.freedesktop.Notifications'" |             \
grep --line-buffered "member=Notify"                     |             \
sed -u -e  's/.*/killall notify-osd/g'                   |             \

This crude solution can be stopped by closing the terminal window or typing Ctrl+C.

Change "member=Notify" to customize the desired selection of notifications for purging.

For more control see:
Can org.freedesktop.Notifications.CloseNotification(uint id) be triggered and invoked via DBus?

Other techniques are documented in the references.


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go to package manager and remove pop-up notification ;; it will auto install another that the system needs .BUT will not show a pop-up window when a new song comes on . did this to mine mint 16 mate.

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