Ubuntu – Disabling the Unity dash and dock in favor of Cairo-Dock and Synapse

11.10cairo-dockunity

I have installed Cairo-Dock and Synapse so I have no use at all for the Unity dock and dash.

What more is there to Unity than that? The top bar with the indicator applets I guess. I don't mind it, but I wouldn't mind having another one either.

Can I disable the Unity dash and dock? Or do I need to use a different desktop manager? Which one? The lighter the better. Possibly one that does nothing but display applets in the corner of the screen.

Best Answer

If you are using Cairo-Dock 2.4.0 or later, a custom GNOME session for it should already be added to your login menu. You should be able to start into this session from the LightDM menu and get Cairo-Dock without Unity, no further fiddling necessary.

More detailed information for advanced configuration (if desired), as well as notes on common issues and how to get around them, can be found at this glx-dock.org post.

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Ubuntu – Why is there a minimize button in the Unity Dashboard

This was changed to be like this by design. I don't have access to the document listed there which discusses the design, but I'd imagine it's preferable to disable one of the three buttons rather than remove it. This gives a more consistent look across the system.

There are a couple bug reports citing this here and here. It was also brought up in this mailing list.

The brightness bug has been reported here.

Ubuntu – Hide shortcuts in Dash Home on Unity

I would support your "bug" theory.

However, according to Ayantana Design, the minimise/maximise buttons now work as expected:

Desired solution:
- When the Dash in windowed:
--- 'Close' window decoration closes the Dash
--- 'Minimise' window decoration is inactive (does nothing)
--- 'Maximise' window decoration makes the Dash full screen

- When the Dash in full screen:
--- 'Close' window decoration closes the Dash
--- 'Minimise' window decoration is inactive (does nothing)
--- 'Restore' window decoration returns the Dash to windowed state

As to the "increasing brightness" issue - if you take the above as the expected result - your observation could be classified as a bug - albeit relatively cosmetic.

Best Answer

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