Docks for Windows and Linux - install control panels from MacOS. Nexus Dock - the best dock for Windows

11.10.2013 8545

Many users will agree that the Windows operating system should not only be secure and functional, but also beautiful. There are many ways to decorate the Windows shell. The simplest and most popular of them is the use of gadgets and animated floating quick launch panels. The result is beauty plus functionality. Of the numerous applications that serve to decorate the Windows interface, I would especially like to mention Winstep Nexus. This free program is an animated panel, the so-called launcher, a tool for quick access to user applications and operating system controls.

By default, the Winstep Nexus panel is located at the top of the desktop and contains eight quick launch icons - access to the Start menu, recycle bin and calendar, a weather widget, modules for viewing processor load, memory usage, application selection, as well as a tool for creating full-screen screenshots. Of course, users can remove or add their own icons to the panel, as well as customize the appearance of the panel itself as they wish. You can use Nexus not only to quickly launch applications, but also to open directories, navigate to URLs, execute internal commands, etc. The application is controlled from the notification area or from the context menu called by right-clicking on the panel itself.

Winstep Nexus features a wide range of various settings, support for skins and widgets, as well as a very convenient user interface with support for the Russian language. The Dock Settings window has eleven tabs containing a total of over one hundred different options. So, using the tools of the “Position” tab, you can set the coordinates of the panel on the screen. Switching to the tab "View"

you can adjust the size of the icons, the distance between them, the amount of reflection, background color, font and other parameters. A corresponding tab is also provided to configure the visual effects of icons. By the way, Winstep Nexus uses sound and can also be customized.

But the most interesting setting seems to be the change of design themes. It turns out that the Winstep Nexus panel can take different, completely different forms. The current version has 28 themes, in addition, it is possible to download and install additional skins from the developer’s website. But that's not all. The program can also set wallpaper and give the panel a “tiled” look. Unfortunately, if after changing the wallpaper you want to return to the previous desktop picture, you will have to do it manually, and this despite the presence of a reset function to the original settings.

Among other features of this application, I would like to note the control of the dock by mouse movements and pinning it to the desktop, changing the level of transparency, displaying running applications (including portable ones) in the panel, as well as creating backup copies of current settings. You can download this useful program from the developer’s website winstep.net. In addition to the free version, there is also a commercial version of Winstep Nexus, which has an even wider range of features. The application runs under Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 operating systems of both bit levels.

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Hello friends. Today we will look at a very interesting program. Which will work for us every day, every minute. It will become the main program on your computer. Why am I so sure of this? Do you doubt the quality of a Japanese Lexus car? In its convenience, comfort, reliability? No? Right. This wonderful program is beyond competition. Nexus Dock— the best dock panel for Windows!

I hope you don't need to explain what it is dock panel? Necessary? The dock panel is a panel on the desktop on which you can place anything. Program shortcuts, folders, files... And all this is mega-beautiful and convenient. With special effects and sounds. The desktop is clean and tidy. At the same time, everything necessary for comfortable work is always at hand. Just some kind of fairy tale. Well, I’m praising the Nexus Dock - watch the video review of this dock panel for yourself.

Yes, I almost forgot. By coincidence, a new version of this wonderful program was released today. I spent the whole day running it in and setting it up. Now I am sharing with you. Of course, it is free and in Russian.

Please don't hit me with your feet - this is my first attempt at creating video reviews. I agree, the quality is not very good, the settings are hard to see. I already realized the mistakes, but it’s already one in the morning and I don’t have the strength to correct them, sorry. The next ones will be better, for sure. Double click on the video to expand it to full screen. Back - the same. Watch and if you are impressed by this video, move on to installing the Nexus Dock. So, ladies and gentlemen, His Majesty Nexus Dock!

Is it really a miracle? Let's download and install it. I give you three archives - the program itself and two archives with animated icons for it. I spent half a day searching for them on bourgeois sites. All you have to do is download...

Download Nexus Dock: 31 MB

And the promised archives with live icons (55.3 MB)…

...and 57 MB...

Yes. The archives are not small, but they are worth it. You will spend a lot of time looking for such icons, but here everything is already ready.

Have you downloaded Nexus Dock? Let's install it...

If I were you, I would uncheck the box and click “Close”. All tips are in English.

We remove unnecessary icons that you don’t need. And go to settings by right-clicking on the dock panel.

There are a lot of settings - for every taste and every user. Everything is in Russian. Change them, don’t be afraid, everything will work out. Don't forget to click "Apply". I hope that from the video review a lot has become clear to you. You can make such a beauty, wow!!!

The number of panels is unlimited (in the free version you can only make one panel, unfortunately). You can sculpt them on all four sides of the desktop. And I removed the taskbar altogether. It was removed, not hidden. This can also be done in the panel settings by checking just one checkbox.

Good day, dear friends, readers, admirers, visitors and all other personalities! Today, our dear readers, we will talk about docks, quite useful programs.

What is a dock? Let's see what this tells us Wikipedia:

Doc(English dock) - a type of toolbar, part of a computer graphical user interface that allows you to launch programs for execution and switch between running programs.

Simply put, a dock is a panel on the desktop on which you can place anything! Program shortcuts, folders, files... And all this is beautiful and convenient!

In this article we will look at docks for Windows: XWindows Dock, RocketDock and a Linux dock called

Let's get started.

Dock panel for Windows straight from Mac

Actually, I think that many people are familiar with the socket from the Apple operating system:

This is what we will stuff into our long-suffering Windows, and it will be completely free and easy.

You can download this miracle from the official website, namely from here. I also advise you to immediately download the package with plugins, here is a screenshot for clarity:

Installing a program and a package with plugins consists of clicking the “ Next" And " Install”, so we won’t really dwell on it.

Setting up and using XWindows Dock

To add a shortcut to the dock, you just need to drag the icon onto the panel, and to remove our shortcut, you only need to move it from the panel and it will be removed. This rule will apply to all other docks in this article.

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To change the shortcut icon, right-click on it in the panel and select “ Properties”, then double-click with the left mouse button, a window for selecting an icon for the shortcut will appear, or you can simply drag the desired icon to the place of the outgoing image, which is very convenient. By the way, you can also use your photographs in the format jpg etc.

You can also add a separator to our panel. To do this, right-click on the dock and select “ Add” and add “ Separator" In order to pin our icons on the panel, right-click and select “ Lock Items”, now our shortcuts cannot be dragged or deleted. Two mode switches are available, in 2D And 3D, if the dock is at the bottom of the screen.

Manually, we can only change the size of our panel, namely, make it smaller or larger. If we want to move the panel to any part of the monitor, then we must right-click on the panel and select “ Position on Screen”, and then indicate where to place our panel.

The program also supports a plugin that displays folder thumbnails, which can be very useful.

Including, who would have thought (:-)), there are also the main parameters of the program. To enter them, you need to right-click on the panel again and select “ Preferences" In fact, they practically repeat the settings in the context menu.

In the main settings, you can make the panel on top of all windows, launch along with Windows, change the size of icons, enable shadows and reflections of icons on the panel, etc. I think you'll figure it out.

In the “ Skins” are the topics. There is only one topic in the program, other topics can be downloaded to the program.

In the “ Plugins” You will find installed plugins. To add any plugin, you just need to drag it onto the panel.

RocketDock - another panel for Windows from MacOS

It is an analogue of the program described above and is a beautiful and animated panel for quick access to shortcuts to programs and folders. In general, it performs almost all the same functions.

You can download this miracle from the official website of the program, namely. Screenshot for clarity:

Installation is also simple, so we won’t dwell on it.

Unlike it, it supports the Russian language, so you shouldn’t have any problems setting up the program, and if you do, you can always ask a question in the comments.

I also suggest delving into the add-ons for the program on it. Particular attention can be paid to the addition called “ Stacks Docklet" It can display folder thumbnails similarly.

Installing the add-on " Stacks Docklet»:

1. Unpacking the archive " Stacks Docklet»;
2. Copying the contents to a folder C:\Program Files\RocketDock\Docklets;
3. Click on the right button. mouse over the panel, select: add icon - “ Stacks Docklet»;
4. On the icon that appears, right-click -> " Customize icon", and then select the path and icon icon. It's simple.

There are dozens more additions to the site. If you want, you will definitely find something to your liking.

Cairo-Dock – a MacOS X-style panel for Linux

To get acquainted with the appearance, as well as with some other effects in Linux, I suggest you watch the video on YouTube, if you like it, then I will try to write about how to use these effects in Linux.

Let's move on to installation. Research has shown that the panel was able to run on many distributions Linux:

• Ubuntu/Debian was developed for this distribution);
• Fedora;
• ArchLinux;
• Mandriva;
• Gentoo;
• Frugalware;
• OpenSuSe.

Installation Cairo Dock V Ubuntu occurs through the following commands:

Sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cairo-dock-team/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins

Installation Cairo Dock V Fedora proceeds as follows:

Sudo rpm -i https://download.tuxfamily.org/glxdock/repository/fedora/fedora-18/noarch/repo-cairo-dock-1.0-1.fc18.noarch.rpm sudo yum install cairo-dock cairo-dock -plugins

To install in other distributions, visit the page, screenshot for clarity:

If you haven’t found your distribution, then we collect it from the sources.
First, you need to install the libraries if they are not there:

Libtool build-essential automake1.9 autoconf m4 autotools-dev pkg-config intltool gettext libcairo2-dev libgtk2.0-dev librsvg2-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libgnomeui-dev libvte-dev libxxf86vm-dev libx11-dev libalsa-ocaml -dev libasound2-dev libxtst-dev libgnome-menu-dev libgtkglext1-dev freeglut3-dev glutg3-dev libetpan-dev libxklavier12-dev libwebkit-dev libexif-dev

Now download and
Extract the downloaded content into folders and open the console in each. Then in each console we execute

Autoreconf -isvf && ./configure --prefix=/usr && make sudo make install

Done, the program is installed in /usr/share/cairo-dock And /usr/bin.
In a nutshell, something like this :)

Setting up Cairo-Dock for Linux.

Let's look at the screenshots (they're not so great, but those interested can figure it out):

There are several ways to launch . The launch icon is created in the System Utilities menu. Using Gnome as an example:

• Run Applications/System Utilities/Cairo-Dock or GlxDock(with support OpenGL);
• Or click Alt+F2 and enter “” in the window that appears, then confirm;
• Or you can launch the panel from the terminal:

For video card owners ATI It's better to force it not to use OpenGL:

Panel autostart without any additional messages

To skip all informational messages, you should select the launch mode and force it in the command. Select one of these modes:

With support OpenGL:

Using backend Cairo

For Gnome

Menu: " System -> Options -> Launched Applications-> in the "tab" Automatically launched programs" -> Add".

Enter the run command: (with support OpenGL) or (without support OpenGL)

For KDE

Settings Center KDE -> KDE Components -> Add"

Enter the run command: (with support OpenGL) or (without support OpenGL)

For XFCE

Menu: " Settings -> Applications that start automatically -> Add++"

Enter the run command: (with support OpenGL) or (without support OpenGL)

To open the settings panel, right-click on the panel, go to the submenu and select a setting. Here you will see several categories grouped on the left. The category that interests us now is in second place (called “Appearance”).

But first, we'll take a quick look at the first category, which is where you customize the behavior of your panel.

• First - Position, is used to specify the location of your panel on the screen (and on which screen, for those who have multiple monitors configured via Xinerama).
• Second - Visibility, determines how your panel will be accessed: whether it will automatically hide, remain behind windows or vice versa, reserve space on the screen for itself, whether subpanels will open by click or on hover, etc.
• Third - Taskbar - is quite interesting. Here you can enable the display of currently running applications on the panel. When you enable this parameter, you will get several options for their behavior, including: MacOSX, Windows 7 or more familiar Gnome/KDE. Or, for example, a useful option to close an application by middle-clicking on its icon.
• And the last one - System, contains options that you will probably never need to change.

Now let's move on to the " Appearance" Here you will see a few more options, all of which determine how your panel will look.

• Module Background allows you to customize everything behind the launcher icons: frame, image, etc.
• Module Badges is responsible for the appearance of the icons themselves: theme, size, sort order, etc.
• Module Signatures will allow you to customize the appearance of labels for icons.
• In the module Species You can customize the appearance of the main panel and subpanels: 3D projection, curve, parabola, etc.
• Module Dialogues is responsible for the appearance of reminder bubbles, which it uses to notify you of an event.
• Module Desclets determines how applets will look if they are detached from the panel and placed directly on your desktop.
• In the module Indicators You can customize the appearance of the indicators. These are small graphical symbols that show additional information, such as when you drag a new icon to the panel, or which window is currently active, which icon is running, etc.
• The remaining plugins provide beautiful animation and stunning special effects for your icons.

Something like this :)

Switch and save themes

It's a good habit to save your current theme every time you make changes.

If you want to apply a different theme for your panel, go to the first tab, select a theme and confirm.
There you can also apply the behavior and appearance of the icons from the new theme, but most likely you will prefer to use your own, so leave the two options at the bottom unchecked.

If you want to remove unwanted topics, go to the third tab and mark unwanted topics, then confirm your choice.

Moving a panel

After activating a panel (for example, by clicking on it), use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the panel. Moving will be faster if you hold down the arrow.

Click ALT, then grab the panel with your mouse and move it wherever you want. With enabled Beryl You can enable sticky screen edges to provide more precise positioning of the panel.

Quickly change icon theme

After downloading some themes from the Internet or collecting individual icons in a directory, right-click on the panel, then go to Settings and select the Launch Icon tab. Add your directory to the list of icon directories. Here you can add as many directories as you like. Now move the directory in this list to the topmost position (using the up and down keys). will automatically load icons from this directory into the panel as soon as you close the settings panel.

Tip: If the icon file does not have an extension, it will first search for files with the extension. SVG in all catalogs. Therefore, if you place a directory containing . jpg files, and next to it there will be a directory with. SVG files, they will be downloaded. Keep this in mind when creating your own theme and try to keep them consistent.

Adding containers

Container is a launch icon with a special attribute. They are like lockers into which you can group similar applications (launch icons), which will appear only when you move your mouse cursor over them. You can create a tree structure of containers within containers.

Containers are created in the same way as launcher icons. You just need to check the last option indicating that this is a container and not an application. A subpanel will be created that will be associated with this container. At first you will not see it, since it is initially empty, then you need to place some kind of launch icon in it. This can be done very simply by dragging any application icon onto this container.

To move launcher icons from one container to another, go to the icon settings (right click -> "Change Icon") and change the container name in the corresponding field to the name of the new container (the main panel is called " _MainDock_»).

Afterword

Something like this.

I hope that this material was useful and interesting for you, and maybe it was useful to someone from a practical point of view.

As always, if you have any questions, additions, thanks or feedback, please write in the comments to this post. We'll be glad to listen.

P.S. Thanks to team member Optimus for the existence of this article.

Most PC users, for one reason or another, prefer Windows. Some people simply do not know about the existence of other operating systems, some cannot imagine their life without their beloved STALKER, and some simply cannot get along well with something unusual. The price to pay for such a choice is quite large (even if you do not take into account the cost of MS Windows). I in no way want to throw mud at the Microsoft operating system; on the contrary, I will try to help users decorate it a little. I just want to first tell you that the OS of the Unix family (for a desktop, look towards Gnu/Linux ;)) provide the user with much greater freedom to customize the system for themselves, their requirements and hardware. Unfortunately, Windows users do not have to pamper themselves with such concepts as freedom of customization, so I would like to help diversify the OS a little, in particular the desktop. Dock panels are becoming very popular, they not only decorate the desktop, but also help free up space on it. Below is an overview of the most popular dock panels for OS Windows.

This panel is available both for free download (with somewhat reduced functionality) and for download for money (at the time of writing the license cost was 19.95 €). The free version can completely replace the standard Windows panel; immediately after installation, the panel contains a start button, a recycle bin, and several widgets, including a desktop screenshot widget. The number and order of panel elements can be easily changed by calling the context menu. Nexus Dock has a fairly flexible settings system + a sea of ​​different icon behavior effects.

Second on our list is the XWindows Dock. Unlike Nexus, XWindows is completely free. Only the most basic items are displayed in the settings. And the panel itself is created more to maintain cleanliness on the desktop than to decorate it. The disadvantages include the lack of Russian menu language. But nevertheless, with its light weight (the installer takes up about 3 MB), the XWindows Dock panel has the right to life, with its help you can easily create a semblance of a panel on MacOS.

The Rocket Dock panel is very similar in functionality to the Nexus. And if the latter is more suitable for users of Windows 7 or Windows 8, then Rocket is aimed at older versions of NT systems (2000, XP, Vista). The settings menu is made more clear than in Nexus, and in terms of the speed of animation effects, this panel is superior to the first two.

Our rating is completed by the commercial Object Dock panel. You can buy a license for it for $9.99; in addition, a trial version is available for download on the official website. The panel itself, like the Nexus Dock, is designed for newer versions of Windows, but if Nexus can be easily installed on the same XP, the Object panel refuses to install on this system, citing the fact that you still need to install seven.

In general, all panels are similar in their functionality, so which one you should give preference to, you need to decide after looking at them all. In turn, I hope this article helped point you in the right direction.

Highlighted Winstep Themes

Highlighted Nexus Themes

Animated Icon Pack

With no need to install 3rd party docklets and full drag and drop support, animated icons in Winstep applications are as easy to use as any other icons: drop the animated icon PNG strip directly into a dock item and the icon will automatically start animating.

Animated Nexus Dock Control Icons

Extract the animated icons in this pack into a folder in your hard drive, then drag one of the animated icons and drop it into the static Nexus control icon on your dock.

Alternate battery module images (Nexus Ultimate/Winstep Xtreme)

If you like the look above and would like to use it for your battery module, here is what you need to do:

Clicking one of the above links will download, install and apply the specified voice pack. You can always change the Voice pack currently active in the Sound tab of WorkShelf, Nexus or Nexus Ultimate Preferences.

Theme Sites

Community sites

Nexus dock backgrounds