Get a Mac OS X-Style Desktop Dock on Ubuntu

Cairo Dock is a utility that lets you enjoy a complete Mac OS X-style launcher on your Linux Desktop

You switched from Mac to Ubuntu 10.4 and are missing a beautiful Mac OS X-style launcher or you just want to replace Ubuntu Unity Launcher with a dock then this utility is for you. A third party application Cairo-Dock is completely customizable and can be added to a Linux desktop to improve user experience.

Step 1: Open the software center of Ubuntu and type cairo into the Search box in the upper-right corner of the window. Cairo-Dock is available in the Ubuntu Software Center. Click on “Cairo-Dock” and then click the “Install” button. If authentication dialog box pops up then enter your account password.

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Step 2: When the installation is finished, the “Install” button becomes the “Remove” button allowing you to uninstall the application in case if you want to uninstall it.

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Step 3: An icon for Cairo-Dock is added to the Unity Launcher. Click the icon to start Cairo-Dock. A dialog box asks you if want to use OpenGL when running Cairo Dock, which allows you to use hardware acceleration. Click “Yes” if you want to use OpenGL in Cairo Dock.

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Step 4: Before using Cairo-Dock, please reboot your system. Now, right-click anywhere on the dock, select “Cairo-Dock” from the popup menu, and then select “Configure” from the submenu.

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Step 5: The “Cairo-Dock configuration” dialog box opens with the “Configuration” tab. There is a three sub tab “Behavior”, “Appearance” and “Shortkeys” option that allows you to change the setting of the dock such as the dock’s position on the screen, the visibility of the main dock and sub-docks and the behavior of the Taskbar, themes for the icons and the view for the main dock and sub-docks. You can set up a different shortcut for different action.

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Step 6: Click the “Current items” tab to change settings for the items currently on the each dock.

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Step 7: Click the “Add-ons” tab to choose which add-ons to enable on the dock. There is a list of themes that comes with Cairo-Dock and you can load other themes as well. To change the theme on the dock, click the “Themes” tab.

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Step 8: If you want to auto-start Cairo-dock when you login to Ubutnu, just right click on dock and click on Cairo-Dock.

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Step 9: Now you have a beautiful dock with you, but if want to disable Ubutnu Unity launcher which is the default option, go to the software center and download comphizconfig setting Manager and install it.

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Step 10: After installing , start comphizconfig setting and follow the given steps for hiding Unity side bar

1. Open CompizConfig Settings Manager.
2. Go to the Ubuntu Unity Plugin.
3. On “General” tab there is a option “Enable Shortcut Hint Overlay” uncheck box and from “Launch” Tab Animation and Urgent Animation combo box select None and from Launch Opacity option select “Autohide”. To show it again just press win+crtl together.

Step 11: After following these steps you get a clean desktop interface with a dock as shown below.

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