Get Cairo Dock (GLX Dock) A Mac Style Dock For Ubuntu & Debian Linux

Unity has no doubt added style to the Ubuntu desktop, however, it has also made it slower, particularly for legacy hardware users.

A more lightweight alternative can be to use the Mac Style Cairo Dock (aka GLX Dock). It is fully compatible with the  Ubuntu 11.04 and Ubuntu 10.10. I found it much quicker and lightweight than the Unity launcher. And most of all, it’s fun to use. Interestingly, you can also run Cairo Dock and Unity simultaneously. See the below procedure to grab this elegant dock for your Ubuntu and Debain desktop.

 

You can get Cairo Dock be either entering the below command line in the Terminal or from the download link at the end of this post.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cairo-dock-team/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install cairo-dock

Feature Overview:

  • MintMenu applet
  • Drop to Share applet
  • Messaging Menu applet
  • Keyboard indicator
  • Ubuntu Me Menu
  • Network Monitor
  • Weblets
  • Application Menu
  • Notification area
  • Power Manager
  • Terminal,  System Monitor, Shortcuts Administrator and much more.

 

Please bear in mind that it requires being launched from Applications –> System Tools  (non Unity users) after installation.

 

Download Cairo Dock