Rocket Dock

Rocket Dock features slick animation and custom skins on launch icons. Every item on the dock can be customized with this tool and the look is sharp. There is a pristine interface with a bit of glamour to it and you can easily organize it by dropping shortcuts on it. Download it, launch it and start using it. Be sure to create a desktop icon at first. You may be re-tweaking and then re-tweaking again and a shortcut makes for easy access.

You will see this styled dock at the top of your screen after Rocket Dock is launched. Right-click on an empty space in the dock and choose Dock Settings to customize the dock.

It is similar to the Mac OS X dock. Many options can be set, such as auto-hide so that the dock only appears when you move the cursor to the edge of the screen where the dock is located. You can choose the dock location as well. All of the features can be found in Dock Settings from the context menu.

Nexus

Another amazing multi-level dock system is Nexus. Featuring easy access to applications that you use on a regular basis, Nexus also includes the Leopard theme for tweaking the Windows 7 theme into a Mac Dock. Download Nexus from this link.

The setup is as simple as following the prompts. Extract the .zip file and double-click the application. After installation is complete, the Nexus dock opens at the top of the screen. There is still a Mac dock feel to it, but it is different than the Rocket Dock version. Anything you drag to the dock will remain there and it is easy to scroll through.

Right-click on the Nexus icon to open the context menu. Select Preferences to open the window pictured in the following screenshot. From here, you can adjust all settings and customize to your heart’s content. There are many features to choose from. It seems like the possibilities are endless.

There is a paid upgraded version of Nexus available if you want even more features. In the paid version, there are options for a Multi-Dock System or Multi-Level Docks. Essentially, that is the only difference. All other features are the same.

Rocket Dock is more simplistic and is for users who are not interested in too much customization, but still want to customize the dock to a Mac OS X format. Nexus, on the other hand is for those who want all of the bells and whistles. They are both free, so try them both out and decide which is right for you.

Docky is a little bit different. Docky is really nothing more than a front-end for Gnome Do (for more information on GNOME Do, check out my article “Don’t search, do – with GNOME Do“) that also serves as a really solid doc bar for the launching of applications in a very OS X like fashion.

In this article I will show you how to install and use Docky.

Installation

Because this is a front-end for GNOME Do, I highly recommend you install GNOME Do as well. What is really cool about this, however, is that you do not have to install GNOME Do. You can opt to only install Docky and use it as a simple Doc bar. Of course if you install GNOME Do, you will most likely want to work with Docky via the GNOME Do interface. It seems a bit convoluted, so let’s install both and you will see what I mean.

We’ll install Docky in Ubuntu. You can see how to install Docky in other distributions from the Docky Wiki. In order to install Docky in Ubuntu, follow these steps:

1. Add the correct repository with the command sudo add-apt-repository ppa:docky-core/ppa
2. Update your sources with sudo apt-get update.
3. Install with the command sudo apt-get install docky.

That’s it. If Docky doesn’t start right away you can then hit <Alt>F2 and enter the command docky to start the application.

Using Docky

Figure 1

When Docky starts you might find it overlapping your bottom GNOME panel and it will be in Panel Mode (it will stretch all the way across the bottom of your screen). To move Docky click and drag it to one side or the other. Or, if you like it at the bottom, you opt to delete the bottom GNOME panel instead.) Once you have Docky where you want it, you might want to switch it out of Panel mode. To do this click the Docky icon (the anchor) on Docky to open up the settings window (see Figure 1).

Figure 2

If Panel Mode is checked, uncheck it and Docky will switch from Panel mode to to Dock mode (see Figure 2).

Adding launchers

By default Docky will only contain a few launchers. As far as most of the documentation goes, it would seem all you need to do is open up a GNOME menu, select and item, and drag it to Docky. That doesn’t really work. Instead, here’s how you add launchers to Docky.

1. From the GNOME menu, launch the application you want to add.
2. An icon for the launched application will appear on Docky.
3. Right click the new icon on Docky.
4. Select “Pin to Dock” from the new menu.

Removing launchers

Removing a launcher is simple. Click on the launcher you want to remove and drag it off of Docky. That’s it. You can also organize your launchers by dragging and dropping them where you want them.

Docklets and Helpers

From the Docky settings window you can also add Docklets and Helpers. Docklets are similar to applications you will find in the GNOME notification area (monitors, clocks, etc). Helpers are more along the lines of application controls (Banshee, Pidgen, etc).

Final thoughts

Docky is an easy way to extend the functionality and look of your GNOME desktop. But don’t forget that Docky does function with GNOME Do. In later articles I will show you how to take advantage of this feature.

The Avant Window Navigator is a dock-like bar that rests at the bottom of your desktop that launches applications, holds applets, serves as a window-list, and more. Avant is very easy to install, takes up little to no resources, and is simple to manage. Let’s take a look at installing and setting up this nifty tool.

Getting and installing

Fortunately Avant will be found in your distribution’s repositories. So all you have to do is fire up Synaptic (or your favorite Add/Remove Software utility) and add it. There are a few packages you will want to search for and add (many of these will be auto-selected when you select the main Avant package):

• python-awn
• avant-window-navigator-data
• awn-manager
• libawn-extras0
• libawn0
• avant-window-navigator
• python-awnlib
• awn-applets-c-extra
• awn-applets-c-core
• awn-applets-python-extras
• python-awn-extras
• awn-applets-python-core

It’s a long list but it will give you everything you need. There will be one or two extra dependencies, depending upon your installation, but when the installation is complete you will have everything you need for Avant.

So do a search for “avant” (no quotes) and mark the above for Installation. Click Apply to run the installation. When the install finishes you are ready to start Avant.

Starting Avant

Figure 1

If you are using the GNOME desktop you might want to get rid of the panel on the lower edge of your desktop. What I did was move anything that I use to the upper panel and then delete the lower panel. Now, go to the Applications menu, click the Accessories sub-menu, and then select the Avant Window Navigator entry. This will start up Avant which will appear at the bottom of your desktop (see Figure 1). As you can see (in Figure 1), this dock acts very much like the OS X doc. When you open an application a small icon will appear where you can de-iconify a window. In the image shown I have opened a few applications. These have all be opened from the GNOME Applications menu. But can you add icons directly to the Avant dock so you don’t have to rely on the GNOME menu? Yes. And it’s much like adding any launcher to any bar.

Adding launchers

Figure 2

If you have no windows open, by default, your Avant Window Navigator will only have one icon – the AWN Manager. That is where you do all of the configuration for the dock. In that window (see Figure 2) click on the Launchers “tab”. You will see (in Figure 2) I have already created a couple of launchers for my dock. To do this click the Add button which will open up a small window. In this window you need to configure four pieces of data:

Name: The name of the application

Description: The description of the application.

Command: The command to launch the application. NOTE: Command must be in the users $PATH.

Icon: An icon for the application.

When you choose an icon for the application, the icon must be in a directory the user has permission to use. For example: Google Chrome installs into the /opt directory so any of the application icons are not usable by AWN. To get around that copy the icon you want to use to a directory your user has access too (for example ~/Pictures).

After you fill out the information click the OK button and icon will appear on AWN.

There are a lot of other possible configurations for the Avant Window Manager (all of which are within the AWN Manager). Play around with them to discover the perfect setup for your desktop. One particular configuration option you might want to take care of is in the General “tab”. If you want Avant to start up automatically check that box in the General tab and Avant will start when your desktop starts.

Final thoughts

The Avant Window Navigator is a fine addition to the Linux desktop. If you like the OS X doc you are certain to enjoy AWN. Install this dock, configure it, and see if you can eventually remove the remaining GNOME panels.