Installation Cairo-Dock

The project is split in to two parts: the dock itself and the plug-ins. Only the installation of the dock is explained, but installing the plug-ins is the same, just make sure you install the plug-ins after the dock.

The config file will not be overwritten during updates as Cairo-Dock is capable of inserting the missing fields if any without losing your previous settings.

Please note that, although Cairo-Dock is listed in the Universe repository since Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) and can be installed using Synaptic Package Manager, it is recommended to install Cairo-Dock using one of the methods described below to get the most up-to-date and stable version of Cairo-Dock.

From the Repository (Stable)

This is only for Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) 32/64bit, Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) 32/64bit and Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) 32/64bit.

To add the Cairo-Dock repository to your sources open the sources.list file:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

and add the appropriate repository to the end of the file:

deb http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu jaunty cairo-dock  # For Ubuntu 9.04

deb http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu intrepid cairo-dock  # For Ubuntu 8.10

deb http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu hardy cairo-dock  # For ubuntu 8.04

The signed GPG key for identification of the repository is:

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

Then, to install Cairo-Dock, issue these two commands in the terminal:

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

Note: if you get the error "E: Couldn't find package cairo-dock-plug-ins" try the code below as it seems there has been a name change and the package is now called cairo-dock-plugins in intrepid.

sudo apt-get install cairo-dock-plugins

There are no repositories available for releases older than Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron). So, if you want Cairo-Dock for an older release, you must compile it or download the package.

From a .deb Package (Stable)

If you can't install Cairo-Dock from the repository, you can download the .deb package from BerliOS. But you first need to install the following packages:

sudo apt-get install libcairo2 librsvg2-2 libglitz1 libglitz-glx1

Then, download the package here.

Apply a double-click on the package or open the terminal, navigate to the directory which you downloaded the .deb package to (e.g. cd ~/Desktop) and issue the following commands (NB: Ensure that you have typed in the correct version number):

sudo dpkg -i cairo-dock_v1.6.3.1_i686.deb

and then:

sudo apt-get -f install

Done. You can type cairo-dock in terminal to launch and configure the dock.

Composite

A black background ?

• ATI cards : try without OpenGL (cairo-dock -c) => Drivers aren't correct !

• Intel cards : some of them work with OpenGL (see the follow section) or try without OpenGL (cairo-dock -c) => Some drivers aren't correct !

• KDE4 : launch systemsettings and do that : Look & Feel --> Desktop --> Desktop Effects --> Enable Desktop Effects

• Gnome without Compiz (just with Metacity) : launch gconf-editor, and open apps / metacity / general and enable composing-manager.

• More details : Composite Manager