Gnome Do 0.8 has just been released! If you don’t know anything about Do, I HIGHLY recommend that you check it out. It is a magical launcher inspired by Quicksilver that is super powerful, plugin-rich, intuitive, and rather polished.
The 0.8 release added a bunch of bling in the form of smooth animations and more attractive interfaces. One of the most interesting aspects about the release, however, is the addition of a Dock interface called Docky:
At first glance it appears to be just yet another Linux dock and a random feature for Do to add. However the dock is actually automatically and dynamically populated based on your most launched applications in Do. You can also add and remove launchers by dragging them to and from the dock. This would be cool enough, but it doesn’t stop there because Docky is a first-class Do interface where you can perform all your actions!
Oh yeah, and it features a silky smooth parabolic zoom. Instead of repeating what the developers have already said better themselves, let me link you to their blog posts. If you want to get Do, check out the first link which is the official release announcement (or skip right to the PPA :). For more in-depth information, I highly recommend jassmith’s post who was the main Docky developer. Happing Do-ing, and don’t forget to Digg it!
Release announcement: http://do.davebsd.com/release.shtml
jassmith: http://jassmith.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/gnomedo080release/
pengdeng: http://b.pengdeng.com/2009/01/do-08-rock-out-with-your-dock-out.html
The 0.8 release added a bunch of bling in the form of smooth animations and more attractive interfaces. One of the most interesting aspects about the release, however, is the addition of a Dock interface called Docky:
At first glance it appears to be just yet another Linux dock and a random feature for Do to add. However the dock is actually automatically and dynamically populated based on your most launched applications in Do. You can also add and remove launchers by dragging them to and from the dock. This would be cool enough, but it doesn’t stop there because Docky is a first-class Do interface where you can perform all your actions!
Oh yeah, and it features a silky smooth parabolic zoom. Instead of repeating what the developers have already said better themselves, let me link you to their blog posts. If you want to get Do, check out the first link which is the official release announcement (or skip right to the PPA :). For more in-depth information, I highly recommend jassmith’s post who was the main Docky developer. Happing Do-ing, and don’t forget to Digg it!
Release announcement: http://do.davebsd.com/release.shtml
jassmith: http://jassmith.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/gnomedo080release/
pengdeng: http://b.pengdeng.com/2009/01/do-08-rock-out-with-your-dock-out.html
Still not an option though, as I only have room for one panel; with a 1024x768 size screen, two panels already eat too much into my screen estate. So until/if Docky becomes a full replacement I’ll do without. Gnome DO works perfectly fine without it after all.
When using Docky, I would recommend removing the bottom panel, as it becomes rather unnecessary and is what most docks anticipate. If there are any panel applets you miss, just add them to the top panel!
However, the Docky interface is a dud for me. It obscures my normal panel, and it is way, way, _waaayyy_ too big, with no way to make is smaller or move it away from the bottom. Did I mention just how humongous that Docky thing is?
Also, the Evolution contacts search plugin doesn’t seem to work; a shame as that could come in really useful.
Other than that, though, it really seems to be a pretty useful app, and I intend to keep using it for now.