Cairo-Dock 3.1 with improved Unity integration

Cairo-Dock in action
Source: Cairo-Dock The developers of Cairo-Dock, a feature-rich and extensively configurable Mac OS X-style dock for Linux desktops, have released version 3.1 of their open source application switcher. Cairo-Dock 3.1 features integration improvements for Ubuntu's Unity desktop: for example, like the Unity launcher, icons in the dock can now display progress bars for actions that take time to complete. New indicators have been added, including for the Sync, Print and Messaging menus. The developers have also improved the configuration window and updated the Recent Event applets.

Other improvements are detailed in the release announcement and in the change log. A video demonstrates the most important new features:

A look at what's new in Cairo Dock 3.1

Cairo-Dock can use a graphics card's hardware acceleration via OpenGL (it is then called Glx-Dock), but it also works without it. The dock integrates well into the GNOME 3 and Unity Linux desktops, and can completely replace these desktops' panels and launchers – Cairo-Dock offers an application menu, a file management applet, and various launchers as well as a button for logging out or shutting down the system. Compared with other docks, such as Awn, Docky or Plank, Cairo-Dock stands out due to its particularly extensive range of features, effects and configuration options.

Further information about Cairo-Dock can be found on the project's Launchpad page. Installation instructions for all major Linux distributions are provided. The Cairo-Dock source code is made available under the GPLv3, with some parts licensed under the LGPLv2.

See also:

• Cairo-Dock gets retooled for GTK+ 3, a report from The H.

(crve)