If you use my Debian book (mirrored in plain HTML here), you’ll know it’s just an introduction, not a full user guide. There are too many options with something as big as Debian’s collection of software. Most newbies have no idea what to look for if they decide to turn this into a regular desktop system.
One of the things missing from the XFCE desktop is an integrated PIM. It does include at least a calendar with reminders you can configure. It’s under the Office section of the main menu and is called “Orage Calendar.” Once you activate this, it runs in the notification area with a barely-readable calendar icon. Anytime you click that icon, it pops open a small calendar window. From the menu of this you can poke around and find ways to program an event and reminder by clicking File > New. You might not guess that without being told what the “New” is for. So long as you don’t log out, the underlying reminder service keeps running, taking very little power. But this doesn’t integrate with much of anything else.
There are a handful of preferred apps for the XFCE desktop, but in terms of PIM, nothing all that useful just yet. So I recommend you use Thunderbird email with the Lightening extension. This gives you access to a fully integrated PIM that isn’t hard to migrate when Debian upgrades (typically every two or three years). Instead of installing from the Debian repository, I recommend you download the current generic Linux build. It runs perfectly well on Debian and you can install it in your HOME folder where the Mozilla upgrade process runs without needing a root password.
It’s pretty much the same procedure I used to describe installing Seamonkey in chapter 8 of my book. Check your Download folder and use bunzip2 along with the tar command. Once extracted, simply move the “thunderbird” folder over into your HOME folder instead of /usr/local/ (no root credentials needed). From there, you can create a new launcher either on the desktop or on either panel. When you use the dialog to start searching for the link and icons, it’s all inside the “thunderbird” folder with the same layout as for Seamonkey and Firefox.
Once you launch Thunderbird, you might need to be aware that setting up your account(s) will be bit of a fight to prevent it grabbing your details and setting up the IMAP protocol if you would prefer POP to download your email directly. Also, you can’t put your passwords in until you actually try to connect to your server, so be ready to do that and decide if you want the check the box to have Thunderbird save the passwords. I won’t detail the whole process here because, if you aren’t that savvy, then Debian isn’t for you. The point is that, once it’s set up, use the menu system and look up the add-ons and extensions available. One of them is Lightening, a calendar plugin. This thing does install in Seamonkey, but you can never get it to display in the interface. The integration isn’t consistent from one version of Seamonkey to the next, so you’ll need to use Thunderbird.
Once Thunderbird is restarted, you’ll find a new set of menu entries to configure and use the calendar. You would do well to check all the options in Thunderbird, as the defaults aren’t always sane. If you need to mirror things on another Linux box (say, a Debian laptop), look in your HOME folder for a “thunderbird” directory with a dot in front of it: .thunderbird. That’s where all your settings and mail are saved. Simply copy the whole thing over to your other Linux machine and drop it into the HOME folder there. Once you have Thunderbird installed there, it should open with all the exact same stuff as on your Debian box.
The notifications in Thunderbird only work when Thunderbird is running. If you make it a habit to check your email first thing, you’ll get the day’s reminders from the Lightening extension. If you think you need a more automated reminder, use Orage in parallel with Lightening.
What else do you need? Ask.
