A nice feature of Apple's OSX is definitely the app dock. And if Apple can make it, then the Open-source community can do this as well! There are two application docks I have tried so far, Avant Windows Navigator (AWN) and Cairo Dock. I will describe both shortly:
- AWN is a easy to use and install application dock. It's available from the Package Manager or you install it yourself. There is only one but, I tried AWN a couple of time now on different distro's and it's not one of the very stable dock around. For some reason, it never work flawless and that's why I have looked around for a good alternative.
- Cairo Dock was the alternative I have been looking for. It's made by some French developers and the whole website is in French, except for the Wiki page's. But still, even for a French site, you will succeed with finding the right package. After you have installed the software, you can find the program in the System Tools section. I will now describe how to install this great program and some nice features I came across.
Cairo Dock installation instructions
The best way to install Cairo Dock, is using the Package Manager. Before you can find this software in the Package Manager, you'll have to do the following from the Terminal or add the "deb http://" lines in the "repositories" section in the Package Manager:
Edit your sources.list (sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list) and add the following line:
For Gutsy Gibbons
deb http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu gutsy cairo-dock
For Hardy Heron
deb http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu hardy cairo-dock
For Intrepid Ibex
deb http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu intrepid cairo-dock
Ok, now every thing is setup to install Cairo dock. You can decide for your self how you want to start the installation:
Package Manager
Lauch the Package Manager and click on "refresh". Now you can search for "cairo". Select every package which has to do with the CairoDock (cairo-dock and cairo-dock-plug-ins)
Command line
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins or if cairo-dock-plug-ins can't be found, try cairo-tdock-plugins
After installation has been completed, go to he Ubuntu menu in the "System Tools" section. Here you will find CairoDock. Launch it and you will see something that looks like the following screenshot. The LaunchBar on the screenshot has already been customized.
Ok, now the question is: Does CairoDock automaticaly start up? In my case, the answer was no. And I think I was not the only one, but the solution is very easy though. Like everything in Linux ;-)
Go to the "Preference" section in the Gnome menu. Here you will find a option "Sessions". In this screen you will be able to add CairoDock. Have a look at the screenshot and copy the settings.
Ok, now every thing is setup to install Cairo dock. You can decide for your self how you want to start the installation:
Package Manager
Lauch the Package Manager and click on "refresh". Now you can search for "cairo". Select every package which has to do with the CairoDock (cairo-dock and cairo-dock-plug-ins)
Command line
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins or if cairo-dock-plug-ins can't be found, try cairo-tdock-plugins
After installation has been completed, go to he Ubuntu menu in the "System Tools" section. Here you will find CairoDock. Launch it and you will see something that looks like the following screenshot. The LaunchBar on the screenshot has already been customized.
Ok, now the question is: Does CairoDock automaticaly start up? In my case, the answer was no. And I think I was not the only one, but the solution is very easy though. Like everything in Linux ;-)
Go to the "Preference" section in the Gnome menu. Here you will find a option "Sessions". In this screen you will be able to add CairoDock. Have a look at the screenshot and copy the settings.
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