Linux Mint Forums

by **dalcde** on Sun Oct 30, 2011 4:19 am

Which are you using: AWN, Docky or Cairo-Dock?

by **tdockery97** on Sun Oct 30, 2011 4:47 am

I've always been partial to Cairo-Dock.

by **dalcde** on Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:12 am

Can anyone tell us what those "others" are?

by **Oscar799** on Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:24 pm

Moved here by moderator

by **bimsebasse** on Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:32 pm

I've tried AWN, Cairo-Dock, Docky and tint2 and always come back to AWN. Tint2 is very configurable but is more like a window list than a dock. Cairo-Dock is a monstrosity for anyone who likes simplicity and Docky is very similar to Awn except it's a bit less customizable. They're all solid and do what they set out to do well.

by **Sammaul** on Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:18 am

I'm also using cairo-dock, though I believe it eats up a greater percentage of system resources than the others. I like the high level of custimization and the "eye candy".

by **Dry Lips** on Sun Jun 03, 2012 8:36 am

AWN all the way! I find Cairo dock a bit too "noisy".

by **Condorman** on Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:43 pm

I recently discovered Cairo Dock, and although I like the simpler things in life I find it easy to use and more than capable. I don't think it's a monstrosity at all! Plus I've found it only takes up the same resources as AWN used to. On my system at least. It's pretty amazing tbh.

by **Ginsu543** on Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:35 am

I've used both AWN and Docky extensively, and while it is true that AWN is more customizable than Docky, i find myself preferring the simplicity of Docky.

by **rdanner3** on Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:29 pm

Using Docky here. Aside from having to use something other than Compiz (under MATE), it works great... except during upgrades/updates/installs, where it disappears and must be manually relaunched. This is significantly annoying, IMO, but none of the docks seem to do well with that.

by **cwwgateway** on Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:44 pm

Honestly, I think they all have their advantages: cairo dock reminds me of compiz - it's very customizable and it has lots of special effects; docky is more simplistic, but still very nice, and awn is in between - it has effects, its pretty customizable, but it isn't overkill (not to say cairo dock is). You could compare cairo dock to KDE, AWN to Xfce, and Docky to LXDE. My personal favorite is AWN, but I'm using docky right now because AWN isn't in the Testing repo.

by **remoulder** on Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:57 pm

I also don't thing Cairo Dock is a monstrosity! It is very capable and by implication may appear over complex, but it can be as complex or simple as you want. If all you want is a simple dock ala docky then it can be that, it you want a gee wiz all singing all dancing replacement for gnome shell/panel then it can be that also, or anything in between.