What do Gnome-Wayland users do for Docks?

brent

So....I know firsthand Wayland will not run Plank. The terminal clearly tells you "Wayland can't run plank."

QUESTION: When Budgie goes Wayland what does a user do? I have tried some tried some crappy Docks (not naming names because I'm not here to throw shade)...

Is there anything as simple, pretty, and uncomplicated as Plank in the Wayland world?
thanks

SethStorm666

brent

Budgie: Make one of the panel into a dock. It may not be as fancy as other docks, but it works.
Maybe someone will port elementary OS 8 dock to Budgie? It works in Wayland.

alfisya

I am confused. Are you asking for alternative to Plank for Budgie or Gnome users?

Most Gnome users are using extension which doesn't work for Budgie (because Budgie is not Gnome, and vice versa). Extension like dash-to-dock, dock-from-dash, dash-to-panel. For Budgie, as @SethStorm666 said you can just modify the panel to look like a dock. AFAIK there is no dock program like Plank (Even Lattedock for Plasma is dead too now).

brent So....I know firsthand Wayland will not run Plank. The terminal clearly tells you "Wayland can't run plank."

That is incorrect. This is the real error log:

❯ plank                                                                                                                                                                 
[CRITICAL 15:09:14.423788] [AbstractMain:255] Only X11 environments are supported.

I think you look at it the wrong way. It is not Wayland cannot run Plank, it is the other way around. Wayland (or X11) is the highway and Plank is the vehicle. The new highway only allows vehicle with 4 wheels, unfortunately you ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle. It is a very nice motorcycle but it only has two wheels. Either you stay on the old road, or just switch to riding a car so you can use the new road. It is your choice, just beware that the old road might get bulldozed any day to construct new apartment. (I am going too far with this analogy).

Plank may be able to run on wayland, but it looks like the project is unmaintained. So far nobody is interested in forking and improving it to support wayland.

brent

Sebastian agree with you here. I was told by an Arch guy that the Zen kernel in Wayland allows you to use Plank etc hassle-free. I don't understand that, but hey it works for someone.

alfisya I think you look at it the wrong way. It is not Wayland cannot run Plank, it is the other way around. Wayland (or X11) is the highway and Plank is the vehicle. The new highway only allows vehicle with 4 wheels, unfortunately you ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle. It is a very nice motorcycle but it only has two wheels. Either you stay on the old road, or just switch to riding a car so you can use the new road. It is your choice, just beware that the old road might get bulldozed any day to construct new apartment. (I am going too far with this analogy).

you should be a teacher! that's nice. I got it.!

SethStorm666 Budgie: Make one of the panel into a dock.

I thought it was cute when I tried it for a while--very compact and unobtrusive. Too unobtrusive though 🙂

stocc also doesn't support Wayland, but it does look like it's currently being maintained, so perhaps it's being looked at (though there is no mentionnof it)?

was expecting the usual suspects recommended plus some Plank docks but no one did..I like you thinking outside of the box here.

DockBarX I loved as much as Plank but maintainer bailed and it breaks a lot.

thanks all

Sebastian

Which is a pitty. I have the same issue. Plank is a heck of a dock. Just works great and never causes any issues.
Except, it doesn't play with wayland. It's another great app that many people rely on on it's way to extinction.
I hope someone will make it work for wayland, though chances are slim. I mean, you find posts bringing up this issue way back in 2017.

stocc

Unfortunately, I think Plank-Reloaded (https://github.com/zquestz/plank-reloaded) also doesn't support Wayland, but it does look like it's currently being maintained, so perhaps it's being looked at (though there is no mentionnof it)?

Axios

Well I looked at elementry dock looks cool it is on github would be cool if it could be ported
to solus.
Then we would have wayland support for a plank like dock

SethStorm666

Axios

The problem is that its settings lie within elementary settings system, so somehow we need an app that imitates it.
Here's a screenshot of it on my elementary OS 8 system;

Also the dock can be themed via gtk4 .css editing.

Axios

SethStorm666 From your post and what was explained to me earlier it makes total
sense now.
And to why thats the case.

Sebastian

SethStorm666 Here's a screenshot of it on my elementary OS 8 system

Are you using Elementary as a daily driver? I never have installed it, but damn, does the pantheon desktop look good. And it's so different in many ways. You don't have the impression to run linux, but something totally apart.

You have any issues with Elementary? I mean, it's a Ubuntu derivate, that sucks. How about software selection? Can you install basically any Ubuntu package?

Axios

This is just in general and something I was thinking about.
Restricting to much a persons ability to somewhat customize there desktop I think is not a good
path to take and leads to distro hopping.
Even if it be wayland or x11,Budgie ,Gnome,KDE
I understand everything thing behind the scenes stuff and restraints and all ect ect
But maybe its a path Linux is taking in general less choices for its users (Dunno)
I like to have choices when something doesnt work or it needs to be changed for my Use.

Kinda like when Budgie menu would not do terminal commands I went to plank (That has since been fixed in Budgie menu)
But the editing of menu has issues so again back to plank the other menu options offered do not do terminal commands so no go for me.
So you see for me it wasnt heavy mod just stuff to get it to work for me. and my style.
(Just thinking)

brent

Axios But maybe its a path Linux is taking in general less choices for its users (Dunno)

all valid ^^^ that you wrote.
It feels like the cowboy days are going away 🙂

Axios

After doing some searching N stuff seems Crystal Dock is trying to fill the void
its wayland only but doesnt support budgie.
Its active so thats a plus something to keep an eye on.

brent

Axios thank you so much. per another poster on this thread, I plan to see what's at github too.

I've tried Cairo and Latte and I didn't think either were as efficient/easy as Plank.

It's weird I started this thread but it's amazing how a stable, decent dock is really the heart and soul of a DE in many ways. Opening another tab for Crystal Dock right now, thanks for the tip.

SethStorm666

Sebastian I tried for a months or so with everything up and running. No huge problems so far other than if you change icon theme the icons in the menu won't change. You can install any ubuntu package with an app called "Eddy" if you install outside the repositories and you have flatpak setup as well. No snap (thank god).