Who Put The Mac In The Ubuntu?

Ubuntu and Macintosh are very similar...both are UNIX based, and most Mac-features are found in one way or another inside Ubuntu. Obviously Macintosh is the leader in the media and graphic design area, and Ubuntu is slowly getting there.

I wanted to share with you guys how my desktop looks...

Yeah, probably your first impression was: "OMG! Wall-E! What's wrong with this guy?!"... Well, I loved Wall-E specially when I read it was made using Apple hardware and software. And besides it was a great movie, even if it was for kids, I enjoyed it a whole lot.

Ok back on topic, did you noticed my gnome-panel (on top) and my Cairo-Dock (on the bottom)?

If you're wondering where I got it from, well the answer is easy. Infra_Red_Dude, a member of SourceForge and Ubuntu Forums put together this awesome theme pack for Mac lovers living in Ubuntu...called Mac4Lin (Mac for Linux). This package is by far the most awesome and complete one I've come across.

A fair warning though. The newest version available for download is an RC (Release Candidate) and I haven't test it yet. I used the "0.4 version" and it was very easy to use following the instruction manual provided by Infra_Red_Dude, just took like 35-60 minutes to do everything from reading the instructions to accomplishing the final product.

This new version is supposed to have a script which will install everything by itself. I'm going to test this right now on another account on my laptop (just to keep my current settings) and then report back about how it works. But I know most people might want to wait for the final release.

Download Mac4Lin Here!

Cairo Dock is very easy to get too! Basically it's a fully-customizable dock which has a few different themes and icons to make it look cool! It looks a lot like the Mac OSX dock with the corect theme installed.

You'll need Compiz-Fusion in order for it to work. So go to Synaptic Manager (System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager) and search for Compiz, and install it. There's an alternate install for Compiz which include a whole lot of extra plugins and features (which I'm currently using) but it's a little unstable and it's installed from "git". Don't worry about this, the one on Synaptic is almost sure to work 100% if your video-card supports it, and it's a whole lot easier to install. I'm going to cover the "git" install in a later post ;-).

Ok now that you have compiz installed restart the computer and when it boots up open up a terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal and paste this line there:

wget -q http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu/cairo-dock.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Then go to System->Administration->Software Sources and then select the "Third-Party Software" tab. Click the "+Add" button on the bottom and enter these two lines:

deb http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu hardy cairo-dock

***If you're using the newest Ubuntu (8.04 Hardy Heron). If you're using Gutsy Gibbon (7.10) just change "Hardy" to "Gutsy".

Then, click on "Close" and then on "Reload". After that open up Synaptic Manager again and search for "cairo-dock" and select it and also it's very important to select the "cairo-dock-plug-ins' package, then hit on "Apply" and presto! Once installed go to Applications->System Tools->Cairo Dock.

If you want your dock to load at boot-up, I mean, at the same time as Gnome, or even simpler said everytime you restart your computer, just go to System->Preferences->Session and press "Add" then fill the fields as follows:

Name: Cairo Dock
Command: cairo-dock
Comment: Cookies!!!

Ok, I got carried away. Basically the most important field is "command" the other two can have anything you want to let you recognize the process easily. It's better to fill it as I did, easier to find in the Sessions list in case you want to edit or delete it. You can leave the "comment" field blank, or write whatever you want.

Hit Ok and restart the computer to test the dock. If it shows up when the computer boots up you're done! If it has a weird black square around it, it's probably because Compiz didn't load at start-up.

Go to System->Preferences->Sessions again and click "Add" and fill the fields as follows:

Name: Compiz
Command: compiz (or "compiz --replace" in some cases)
Description: Yay! 3D stuff!

Hope this post was as helpful and easy to follow as it could be. If anyone is stuck or didn't understand what I said, just leave a comment and I'll gladly help you out! ;-)!

UPDATE: THE PART OF THIS POST IN RED IS NO LONGER NECESSARY! CAIRO DOCK IS ALREADY ADDED TO THE UBUNTU REPOSITORIES!