J_K9 @ Linux

Kiba-Dock—The Interactive Dock Toolbar Redefined

June 3, 2007 on 3:41 am | In Reviews, Desktop Environments & Window Managers, Software |

Anyone who has used a Mac will be familiar with the “Dock.” The Dock is a toolbar that sits at the bottom of the screen, allowing for quick access to your favourite applications and fast switching between them. Icons in the Dock represent the different applications or links and may even change colour according to their status—the Adium X instant messaging client is an excellent example of this. A black arrow beneath an icon in the Dock signifies that that application is currently open.

But enough of this lecture—why is the Dock useful, and why would we want one on Linux? Well, first of all, you don’t have to navigate through a traditional tree-based menu to reach the application you are looking for; you can simply click on its icon in the Dock and it opens. It is also more visually appealing than other toolbars, particularly Gnome’s. As an extension to this point, not only do Docks look excellent but there is a certain Dock which takes this even further—it provides a physics engine (Akamaru), allowing you to hurl and bounce the icons around your screen, and if that’s not fun then I don’t know what is!

What is this Dock? It’s called Kiba-Dock, and it’s very easy to install. Despite still being slightly unstable, particularly when the physics engine is in use, I have found it to be suitable for everyday use on both machines I installed it on. For more information, please see the Kiba-Dock documentation.

Take a look at this video: Kiba-Dock video

If, after watching that video, you are as excited about Kiba-Dock as I am, please read on for instructions on how to install it!

Installing Kiba-Dock on Ubuntu 7.04

You must first install a window manager with compositing support in order to make Kiba-Dock work properly. My personal choice is Beryl, because it is, in my experience, the most feature-rich and stable 3D-enabled window manager available. I am running the latest version of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, so please note that the following instructions may not work for other versions of Ubuntu or other distributions of Linux.

Installing Beryl

Please note that, in order to run Beryl, you must have a graphics card capable of hardware acceleration and a driver which supports that. This usually means installing the restricted driver for your graphics card, so please do so using the Restricted Drivers Manager tool (under System->Administration) or by following the instructions on the Ubuntu wiki.

To install Beryl, first press Alt+F2 and enter the following command:

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following lines to the bottom of the text file on a new line:

deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/ edgy main
deb-src http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org edgy main

Now save and close the file and exit the gedit application.

In order to make sure that any files you download from the server are not corrupt, you will also need to download the Beryl repository’s GPG key. To do this, press Alt+F2, tick the “Run in Terminal” box and enter the following copy into the box (copy and paste it):

wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O - | sudo apt-key add -

Now, open the Synaptic Package Manager by navigating to it via the System->Administration menu. Once it is open, press the “Reload” button. Then, go down the main list to find ‘beryl‘. When you reach it, put a tick in the box next to it (as shown below) and mark any additional required changes for installation.

Then scroll down and put a tick next to ‘emerald-themes‘. After this, press ‘Apply’ and you’re done!

Installing Kiba-Dock

Next up is the Dock itself.

To install Kiba-Dock, press Alt+F2 and enter the following command:

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Yes, that file again! Add the following lines to the end:

deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb feisty eyecandy
deb-src http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb feisty eyecandy

Save and exit. Now, re-open the Synaptic Package Manager. Press “Reload” to download a new list of packages and then mark the following packages for installation:

1. kiba-dock
2. kiba-dock-dev
3. kiba-plugins

Make sure that you mark any other required packages for installation. Then, to download and install Kiba-Dock, just press ‘Apply’!

Running Kiba-Dock

We must first do a test-run to make sure that both Beryl and Kiba-Dock work well.

To run Beryl, go to Applications->System Tools and start Beryl Manager. If your desktop crashes, you know there’s a problem—if not, you’re part of the fortunate majority such as myself whose graphics card is supported and for whom Beryl works almost flawlessly!

Next up is Kiba-Dock. To run that, select the Kiba-Dock application from the Applications->Accessories menu. You should see a Dock appear at the bottom of your screen! In order to configure the Dock, you will need to access it settings panel - to do so, either right-click on the Dock and select ‘Properties’ or open the Kiba-Settings application from the same Applications->Accessories menu. I have customised mine to pulse when I hover over icons, to be aligned to the right side of my screen and have changed a few other minor settings. If you’re very daring, enable ‘Akamaru’—this will start the not-so-stable physics effects which, if they work, you will no doubt be playing with for hours on end! If you enjoy using the Dock and are comfortable with it, you can get rid of the bottom Gnome panel by right-clicking on it in an open space and selecting ‘Delete This Panel’.

Making Kiba-Dock Run Automatically

If you would like to make Kiba-Dock a core part of your desktop, it is just a few clicks and keys away. Open the Sessions tool, found in the System->Preferences menu. Then press the Add button and enter the details as below:

Once you have added that, press Add again and, instead of the name as ‘Beryl’ and the command as ‘beryl-manager’, enter the name as ‘Kiba Dock’ and the command as ‘kiba-dock’ (without the quotation marks). Finish and test it out by saving all of your open files and documents and then pressing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to restart your desktop interface. If all is well, both Beryl and Kiba-Dock will start as soon as you log in!