Filed under: Features, Linux, Open Source, How-Tos
Flipping the Linux switch: Cairo-Dock is pain free eye candy
by Kristin Shoemaker May 7th 2008 at 9:00AM
It's a weird phenomenon. Nearly every computer platform steals another one's look. Vista gets accused of trying to look too much like OS X. Linux desktops get accused of trying to look like Vista (except when they're accused of ripping off OS X). Well, okay, we guess really what that proves is that there's at least something distinctive and cutting edge about OS X's look. Love it or hate it, everyone seems to think everyone else is ultimately copying it.
There's no denying, the first time we saw OS X, our hearts beat a little faster when we saw the dock.
Until now, though, the dock concept was really sort of a nuisance to get working effectively in Linux. There is the Avant Window Navigator, and though it does the trick quite nicely, many newbies (or extremely busy people) said the tweaking factor left them wanting something a little less involved.
We've been using Cairo-Dock of late, and we really like it. The beauty of it extends far beyond the physical appearance. There are source packages, and there are Debian binary packages. Installing isn't that difficult. We even installed it, quickly and with great success, on a 64 bit system (and yes, we'll show you how.)
Installation with a Debian-based system is pretty easy, especially if you use the binaries. Non-Debian system users will have to compile from source (for now), which is a bit more involved. Those of us using a 64 bit operating system (we're using Ubuntu Hardy Heron's 64 bit version) can use the binary packages as well.
The first step, of course, is to download the Cairo-Dock files. If you're going the binary route, you'll want both Cairo-dock and the plugins files. People compiling from source will just need the cairo-dock-sources file.
Installing on a x86 system via .deb is straightforward. Install libcairo2 and librsvg2-2 from a repository. Depending on distro you run, and what else you've installed on the system, this may not be necessary. Then click the Cairo-Dock files you've just downloaded and install them.
A 64-bit OS makes it a little stickier. Luckily, there's a nice Ubuntu user who wrote a script (that works on Debian and other Debian based distros, as well) called getlibs. It essentially gets the libraries that a program requires for 32-bit programs on 64-bit systems (so, yes, it's handy for things besides Cairo-dock).
So once we installed the getlibs program, we just needed to follow the instructions nicely provided at the very end of the Community Wiki on the Ubuntu site. The most important steps for us were to open a terminal and type:
sudo dpkg --force-all -i cairo-dock*.deb
and the ever so mysterious command:
sudo getlibs /usr/bin/cairo-dock
sudo apt-get -f install
This'll nicely force Cairo-Dock to install even though the libraries it needs aren't installed. The second and third commands install the libraries we needed, and associates them with the programs in question.
The big question, of course, is whether or not it actually worked. To check, all we need to do is either open a terminal, or get ourselves to a "Run application" dialog. We just type in the command cairo-dock, and we should see our nifty panel appear.
If you're running the command in a terminal, there may be a few extraneous warnings and error messages. The rule of thumb with these messages, for us, usually goes like this: Does it interfere with the function of the application? No? Then we're not worried.
Launching the panel on login depends on your desktop environment, but generally adding the command cairo-dock to Sessions in GNOME or to the Autostarted Applications in Xfce or KDE works fine.
That's all well and good, right? But what does it do? The really nice thing is that right from install, the panel is pretty functional. Further tweaking is pretty painless, too.
Let's just take a look at the pretty default panel. The only real switch on this panel is that the selected theme is Azur, an added Gimp launcher, and we've freed the Cairo-Penguin to walk around the panel and in general be extremely annoying (you can make him go away, should you choose).
The first step, of course, is to download the Cairo-Dock files. If you're going the binary route, you'll want both Cairo-dock and the plugins files. People compiling from source will just need the cairo-dock-sources file.
Installing on a x86 system via .deb is straightforward. Install libcairo2 and librsvg2-2 from a repository. Depending on distro you run, and what else you've installed on the system, this may not be necessary. Then click the Cairo-Dock files you've just downloaded and install them.
A 64-bit OS makes it a little stickier. Luckily, there's a nice Ubuntu user who wrote a script (that works on Debian and other Debian based distros, as well) called getlibs. It essentially gets the libraries that a program requires for 32-bit programs on 64-bit systems (so, yes, it's handy for things besides Cairo-dock).
So once we installed the getlibs program, we just needed to follow the instructions nicely provided at the very end of the Community Wiki on the Ubuntu site. The most important steps for us were to open a terminal and type:
sudo dpkg --force-all -i cairo-dock*.deb
and the ever so mysterious command:
sudo getlibs /usr/bin/cairo-dock
sudo apt-get -f install
This'll nicely force Cairo-Dock to install even though the libraries it needs aren't installed. The second and third commands install the libraries we needed, and associates them with the programs in question.
The big question, of course, is whether or not it actually worked. To check, all we need to do is either open a terminal, or get ourselves to a "Run application" dialog. We just type in the command cairo-dock, and we should see our nifty panel appear.
If you're running the command in a terminal, there may be a few extraneous warnings and error messages. The rule of thumb with these messages, for us, usually goes like this: Does it interfere with the function of the application? No? Then we're not worried.
Launching the panel on login depends on your desktop environment, but generally adding the command cairo-dock to Sessions in GNOME or to the Autostarted Applications in Xfce or KDE works fine.
That's all well and good, right? But what does it do? The really nice thing is that right from install, the panel is pretty functional. Further tweaking is pretty painless, too.
Let's just take a look at the pretty default panel. The only real switch on this panel is that the selected theme is Azur, an added Gimp launcher, and we've freed the Cairo-Penguin to walk around the panel and in general be extremely annoying (you can make him go away, should you choose).
If there's anything particularly disturbing about this dock, it's easy to change. Right clicking on the dock brings up the configuration menu. When we say "configuration menu," we mean you can pretty much configure everything about the Cairo-dock through this action. We can mess with the Cairo-Dock itself, add a random launcher, or remove or edit the launcher we clicked on when opening the menu (if we'd actually noticed what that was).
Seems that configuring the Cairo-Dock makes the penguin ridiculously happy.
We would advise, before getting too far into configuration land, that you check for updates to the Cairo-Dock. We found that we did have some immediately after install. It didn't seem to wreak too much havoc with the layout, but hey, save yourself a little potential trouble.
Managing and changing themes is also easy. There are a goodly number included in the Cairo-Dock and plugins packages, and they can be altered slightly, customized, and saved quite easily.
We would advise, before getting too far into configuration land, that you check for updates to the Cairo-Dock. We found that we did have some immediately after install. It didn't seem to wreak too much havoc with the layout, but hey, save yourself a little potential trouble.
Managing and changing themes is also easy. There are a goodly number included in the Cairo-Dock and plugins packages, and they can be altered slightly, customized, and saved quite easily.
Of course, we are also able to put the dock any where we want, and make it behave exactly as we'd hope with the Cairo-Dock configuration panel. We know some of you would hope that annoying freakin' penguin would wander off the dock never to return. Conveniently, that's located on the same screen as the dock placement.
The finer points of adding launchers to the dock is a little tricky, but it wasn't bad once we got the hang of it. Adding a launcher for an application involved right clicking to call up the configuration menu, and clicking "Add a launcher." Okay, that part is pretty easy. We figured that part out. The next bit was a little alarming.
We were presented with this file browse window that was really puzzling. There were tons of applications listed (some that we don't even have installed), but they all appeared to be icons. First instinct was to haul ourselves over to /usr/bin and look for an appropriate executable.
Don't. Just don't. Select the program you want to add to the Cairo-Dock, and let it do the rest. It's odd, truly, but it worked. If anything looks out of line when you launch the program from there on out, you can right click and select "Modify Launcher." We haven't had any problems adding launchers in this manner.
Cairo-Dock is fun. It's totally unnecessary, but it's fun. It looks pretty good right out of the box, and is probably the easiest piece of eye-candy we've ever installed. It's very recommended for those who are big on aesthetics but a little short in the patience department.
[via Lifehacker]
Don't. Just don't. Select the program you want to add to the Cairo-Dock, and let it do the rest. It's odd, truly, but it worked. If anything looks out of line when you launch the program from there on out, you can right click and select "Modify Launcher." We haven't had any problems adding launchers in this manner.
Cairo-Dock is fun. It's totally unnecessary, but it's fun. It looks pretty good right out of the box, and is probably the easiest piece of eye-candy we've ever installed. It's very recommended for those who are big on aesthetics but a little short in the patience department.
[via Lifehacker]
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Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bufsabre said 9:59AM on 5-07-2008
ill take a standard task bar anyday of the week but to each his or her own
i get accused of using a mac enough as it is ((i have a slick silver sony viao that looks like a mac book)) and for most people they wouldnt feel that bad, but i refuse to use a mac till they stop attack ads, when i use their products i like it just fine, but out of principle i wont use a product that blatently say false things in a advert that will reach millions
((ps: mac, pc is windows in your ad and should be refered to as such since there are so many more os's that can be ran on a desktop))
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EMoShunz said 9:42AM on 5-08-2008
i agree, but to be fair, linux users are far more attacking of other os's then anyone i know. it's the reason i avoided it for so long
me: "so what's this linux thing you always talk about?"
linux guy: "it's better then windows, m$ sucks"
tell me you all haven't had that conversation at least once.
i hate how closed up apple is, but for now they are the best. when bsd/kde4 are at a point that they can do everything os x and windows can and do it as pain free, integrated, and beautifully, without all the headaches...me and most people will switch to oss primarily. until then the best is os x...ilife...keynote... sure there are more powerful apps on linux, but for the life of me (as an example) i can't get ardour to work... so a less powerful garage band that works is better.
West said 12:46PM on 5-07-2008
I like to think of myself as an open-minded person, so I've tried debian and ubuntu, and even some xandos on my EEE, but even trying to install a simple dock is a huge pain and I eventually just go back to good ol' Windows (I also realize it's popular to hate on Windows, but I try not to). This is a huge example of why most people will never switch to linux, look at this huge guide to install a simple dock; in windows, you just download Rocketdock, click install, and you're done.
Oh and Bufsabre, you're right on about the Mac vs Windows ads. You don't see Microsoft running any ads like that. This is business, not politics.
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Superevil said 2:17PM on 5-07-2008
While i will agree that Cairo dock looks easier to use I've gotten used to AWN. I'm pretty much content with it but I may try Cairo to see what all the fuss is about.
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a said 2:35PM on 5-07-2008
ah just like RocketDock for windows.
Reply
Ralf Nieuwenhuijsen said 4:41PM on 5-07-2008
What a bunch of useless confusing instructions.
Just download the .deb files.
Double click the non-plugin one first. Click 'INSTALL'.
Then double the click the plugin package. Click 'INSTALL'.
Libraries will automatically be installed.
Have you been living under a rock? Or are you intentionally trying to make Ubuntuu look more complicated than it is?
Reply
Kristin Shoemaker said 6:41PM on 5-07-2008
Right, which is why I said that x86 installs are fairly straightforward, and you click on the .deb files.
However, as stated (at the paragraph starting: A 64-bit OS makes it a little stickier), a 64 bit version of Ubuntu will NOT run an x86 version of Cairo-Dock, no matter which rock you live under.
So instructions seemed in order.
So alas, dpkg --force-all and getlibs *is* necessary to get the 32-bit Cairo-Dock to install and see the 32-bit libraries, on a 64-bit system.
If you were try to install Cairo-Dock as downloaded on a 64 bit system, you'd get an architecture error message. It would not install dependencies, or anything. Forcing it would install, but not allow it find the proper libraries (because they don't exist.)
Ralf Nieuwenhuijsen said 7:04PM on 5-07-2008
Sorry, i misread that part! My apologies.
Reply
Kristin Shoemaker said 7:11PM on 5-07-2008
No prob... Can't tell you how many installs I've messed up because my eyes skip a line or two on the screen. (Funny how eyes always overlook the parts we don't want to miss, and catch the things like, "Turn on the power by depressing the power button.")
Sensai said 8:01PM on 5-07-2008
Instead of bashing the 25 page essay on this 'pain free' application, I'd just like to say, as a guy who's been using Linux for about 2 years now and AWN for a good year and half, it's not nearly as difficult as some people make it out to be.
Really. I'm not a computing God or anything, and I can get it to work and tweak it to my liking in less than 15 minutes.
Reply
fritzthetechdog said 10:23PM on 5-10-2008
Great review! I did a compare with AWN over at my blog:
http://www.fritzthetechdog.com/blog/?p=24
Reply
camrail said 3:10PM on 7-10-2008
The install and setup was pain free for me but could some-one please tell me how to get it to auto-start when I fire up the puter?
Reply
SoftwareExplorer said 4:01PM on 7-15-2008
For Gnome, System -> Preferences -> Sessions. In the window that comes up, click add. Put whatever you like for the name, but in the command box put "cairo-dock" (with out the qoutes). :)
kayrok said 6:39PM on 7-22-2008
How do I get the entire background clear like in your picture?
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