Installation

Glx-Dock (Cairo Dock) is available in the Ubuntu repository and you can easily install it via the Ubuntu Software Center (or Synaptic Package Manager). However, unless you are using Ubuntu Maverick, you will need to update your repository with the Cairo’s weekly PPA to enjoy the latest features. Here’s how you can do so:

Open a terminal and type the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cairo-dock-team/weekly

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins

Once you have installed the application, you can launch it via Applications -> System Tools -> Cairo Dock.

What’s new in Glx-Dock?

If you have used Glx-Dock before, or are still using it now, the user interface is pretty much the same. What’s changed is the functionality.

Panel mode

Glx-Dock now comes with a panel mode that allows you to replace your gnome-panel (or any other panels in your desktop manager) completely. Go to the Glx-Dock configuration panel and click on the Appearance tab. In the Views section, change the option to “Panel”.

When you click Apply, you will see your dock transform into a panel.

For those who long wanted to get rid of their panel in favor of a more customizable dock, this is what you have been waiting for.

More applets and improved functionality

You can’t replace a panel based on the design itself, you still need the functionality of the applets. The latest version of Glx-Dock comes with several useful new applets, including the Me-Menu and Messaging Menu indicator applets. What is even better is that these applets come with more functionality and user interaction. For example, it is now possible to manage tasks in the Clock’s calendar, left click to lock the screen in the Logout applet, use tiny URLs in the Drop-and-Share applet, the Dustbin applet handles all the drives etc.

Intellihide

One of the major complaint of any dock application is the overlapping of the dock and the active window, making it unusable at times. In Glx-dock, there are two new display mode “hide whenever the dock overlaps the active window” and “hide whenever the dock overlaps any window” to ensure that it will not interrupt your workflow.

Multiple instances of Glx-dock

The beauty of Glx-dock lies in the ability to create multiple instances of dock. Each dock functions independently. You can use only one dock to dump all the application launchers together, or two docks where one is used as the top panel replacement and another as the application launcher. Whatever it is, you are free to add as many docks as you want and customize it to your liking.

Support for old graphics card

This is what I like about Glx-dock – the ability to work even without a compositing manager. If you have a old graphics card, you can still be sure that glx-dock will work in your system. (You will have to select the Cairo-Dock (no OpenGL) from the Application menu).

Have you tried out Glx-dock (Cairo dock) yet?

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Cairo dock is a Mac OSX dock-like application that you can install in your Linux machine. One of the advantage that it has over other docks is that it does not require any compositing window manager to work. Even on a low-end PC, it will still work fine. This is not possible for docks like Avant Window Navigator which depends on compositing manager (such as Compiz) to function.

If you are using a PC that does not support any compositing manager, or you wanted to try out alternative dock for your Ubuntu machine, follow this tutorial to install and configure Cairo Dock on your Ubuntu Intrepid.

Installing Cairo dock

Adding the repository

In your terminal,

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following line to the end of the file. Save and close.

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

Add the signed GPG key:

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

Install the application:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plugins

Loading the Cairo dock

Go to Applications-> System Tools -> Cairo-Dock.

Before the Cairo dock loads up, it will first prompt you to select the theme of the dock. Choose your favorite theme from the dropdown bar. There is a preview panel at the side so you can see the design before finalizing your theme. Each theme comes with its own set of icons and configuration. If you want to use the new theme’s behavior and launcher everytime you change a theme, check the two boxes below the preview pane. This might overwrite all configuration that you have previously made (if you have make any).

You should see the dock appearing at the bottom of the screen and a few desklets lying around in the desktop. The good thing about Cairo dock is that any icons/applications on the dock can be detached and used as a desklets.

Adding/removing applications to the Cairo dock

As I mentioned earlier, each theme comes with its own set of icons and launchers. There might be some applications that you have no use for, or missing applications that you want them to be on the dock. To remove any application on the dock, simply right-click at the particular icon and select Remove this launcher. To add applications to the dock, on the main menu at the top panel, navigate to your favorite app. Drag to the dock and release it. That’s it. You should see your favorite application on the dock now.

Adding a Sub-dock

Cairo dock also allows you to add sub-dock. This is a good feature for you to arrange similar application into a single category so that the dock won’t be too messy.

Right-click on the dock and select Add a sub-dock.

Enter a name for the new sub-dock.

Your sub-dock does not have to display the same way as the main dock. Under the Extra Parameters field, pick the view that you want your sub-dock to display. Click OK to create the sub-dock.

To add applications into the sub-dock, first add the application to the main dock. Right-click the application icon and select Modify this launcher. Under the name of the container it belongs to, select the name of the sub-dock that you want to add to. Click OK.

Configuring the Cairo dock

To access the configuration menu, simply right-click the mouse at the dock and select Cario-Dock –> Configure. The default menu is the simple mode and have only few configuration options. On the left bottom of the menu, click on the Advanced button to go into Advanced mode. You should now see more options/tabs appear on the sidebar.

I will leave it to you to explore the configuration options and customize the dock to your own liking. However here are some tweaks that you might want to use if your dock is running very slowly.

• In the System tab, under the Label section, make sure that the “Show label of the currently pointed icon only” is checked.
• Reduce the number of icons into your dock. If you really want to have so many icons on your dock, then make sure you:
  - arrange them in sub-docks.
  - configure the dock to show only on current desktop (configurable in the Taskbar tab).
• If you are using applets that required to be refreshed regularly (such as the clock, RAM meter etc), reduce the refreshing rate of the app.
• Use a 2D view rather than a 3D view.
• Turn off all animations. In the System tab, untick the option to drawn reflects in real time, and decrease the refresh frequency (don’t go under 20Hz, it might have the opposite effect).

Autostart Cairo dock when logged in

To autostart Cairo dock everytime you logged in to your computer, go to System -> Preferences -> Sessions.

Click Add. Enter the information as shown in the image below.

That’s it. Enjoy the dock and all the customization.

Reference: Cairo dock

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