J_K9 @ Linux

Kiba-Dock—The Interactive Dock Toolbar Redefined

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!

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Fedora Core 6 - A Cursory Glance (At What Looks Like A Great Distro)

I downloaded Fedora Core 6 yesterday, and had a good couple of hours today (I’m on holiday) to test it out - so here’s what I think of it

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Next: Dreamlinux 2.0

Next is one I recently came across while browsing a forum: Dreamlinux.

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First up: FoX Desktop 1 Professional

First up in my “One A Day” project is one I have been watching for a while: FoX Linux.

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Ark Linux 2005.2 & Arch Linux 0.7

I have always been interested in Ark and Arch Linux - the former slightly more though, as it looked quite decent in screenshots. I thought that Arch was a few paces behind and not as in touch with its updating side. Having tested them both, I can now say that I had made a pretty good judgement (even if it was originally by their covers!)

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Review: Wordpress 2.0 RC3

This new version of Wordpress, which is only days away from being announced as “stable”, is a whirl of a lot cooler than the last one. A tester open to the public is available at twaites.com, and you really must go and see it: apart from the sleek new interface and far increased ease-of-use, there are also other gut-churningly thrilling features.

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