Which OS-X like Dock Application is best?

sillymrman · n00b Joined: 31 May 2004 Posts: 27

In my search for an easy to install, usable dock application, I've come across the following:

* KSmoothDock
* SuperKaramba
* KXDocker
* OSX Bar
* DynamicBar (part of SuperKaramba?)
* This other... thing: http://andy.elcock.org/

Anyone have any ideas on which is easiest to maintain / use / enjoy? I'm used to my Windows version of Object Dock (entertaining, if not useful) (by the way, I dual boot... ;-)

.

They all look promising but I can't tell which is more stable, has better Gentoo support (emerge, etc.), and which has more support. Any advice would be awesome.

Thanks!

MrApples · Guru Joined: 13 Dec 2002 Posts: 511

i would say engage is the best, its far lighter weight than the others and has more features than most
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Match · Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 1:12 pm Post subject:

Engage, however, is almost impossible to configure and isn't in Portage. (That's the Andy Elcock thing btw.)

I would also like to find something like this, but there's nothing I've found that's nearly as good as the Windows ones (and of course none of them rival the Apple original),
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plbe · l33t Joined: 01 May 2004 Posts: 661

another vote for engage

MrApples · Guru Joined: 13 Dec 2002 Posts: 511

engage isnt impossible to configure, you can run engage --help to get the different options, themes are pretty simple to make, and you can edit the configuration with examine
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jxn · Guru Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 327 Location: south dakota

I've been using engage for some time now with no problems. Config via the command

KozmoNaut · Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:55 pm Post subject:

Hell, I can't even find out where to download Engange

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sillymrman · n00b Joined: 31 May 2004 Posts: 27

Me neither. I didn't see any links (though I heard you can get it from a CVS he has linked on his page somewhere... hmm).

I'm not really interested in the Gnome docks because they're for, well, Gnome and I'm a KDE user... :-)

Match · Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 9:11 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I seem to have lost the download link as well. Now that more people have experience of it maybe I may actually be able to get it working this time... once I've found a download link of course.
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miscz · Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 9:22 pm Post subject:

I've got Engage to run some time ago, setting up the icons and such things was terrible. You can get it from CVS, it's in misc/engage. If you need more information on how to use CVS just check the Enlightenment website. Anyway, I can't even compile new Engage. Everything on E CVS seems to be impossible to compile, and yes, I've read the documentation and Engage thread on Gentoo Forums.

MrApples · Guru Joined: 13 Dec 2002 Posts: 511

http://enlightenment.org/pages/cvsnotes.html

grab the cvs sources from their and compile them all as instructed on that page

dont forget the WANT_AUTOMAKE="1.5"
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Chickpea · l33t Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Posts: 846 Location: Vancouver WA

Another vote for engage although I dont use it personally because I use fvwm.

The first apps you listed all depend on kde or at least the kdelibs and dont look good in any other window manager.

Here is a link to the orginal thread for engage.

engage thread

Gdesklets starterbar is another but requires a ton of gnome libraries.

Plastic · l33t Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 649

I currently use gdesklets starterbar. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done. For some reason, my icons are offcenter though...

Match · Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2004 9:29 am Post subject:

Tried gdesklets, didn't like it. Don't want the KDE libs and they'd all look bad anyway. Engage is the only option and CVS confuses me... maybe when I get some holiday. Cheers for the links.
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MrApples · Guru Joined: 13 Dec 2002 Posts: 511

follow the instructions in the engage thread, they are really straight-forward, and there is even a script to compile everything
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jxn · Guru Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 327 Location: south dakota

Match · Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:32 pm Post subject:

Sweet

I shall try it out then

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yuza · Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:08 pm Post subject:

I'm also longing for a real dock clone on linux. I'm using kxdocker at the moment and I must say it's very good... but the graphical impact of engage's zoom is better! Kxdocker zoom has a sort of "pixel" feeling which is a bit ugly. The problem with engage is the absolutely terrible configuration mechanism. By the way the configutation itself is not defined yet and was very different just a month ago. Another problem with engage if you use kde is that you will find the kicker and KDE desktop in your dock because it listens to "every" application.

jxn · Guru Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 327 Location: south dakota

AS OF TODAY, ENGAGE IS IN PORTAGE

nsahoo · l33t Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Posts: 618

jxn · Guru Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 327 Location: south dakota

nsahoo · l33t Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Posts: 618

OK. Thanks. Now, I have the icons on the bubbles. But, when I click on them, nothing happens. I mean, if I minimize a window and click on it's bubble in engage, it should come to foreground, right? Or does it work in a different way ?

sgaap · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 2:04 am Post subject:

Just emerged engage (it finally compiled), and I must admit its the best one I've tried so far, however I have on big con against it: it doesnt seem to have composite support.
Not really a problem normally, but now it has a shadow around the "invisible" box it draws
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jxn · Guru Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 327 Location: south dakota

trumee · Guru Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 551 Location: London,UK