How-to Install Cairo-Dock
Cairo-Dock is a system dock similar to Awn and the dock in Mac OS X. It’s not as fancy as Awn, but Cairo-Dock is very configurable and supports some slick graphical effects.
Open the Cairo-Dock download page. You need to download two DEB packages: cairo-dock, and cairo-dock-plug-ins. Download the latest version of each.
Install the cairo-dock package, and then cairo-dock-plug-ins by double-clicking them.
Launch it from Applications->System Tools->Cairo-Dock. The first time
Cairo-Dock is run, it will open the Manage Themes dialog. Select a theme and
click OK. The dock will then launch.
Right-click on the dock to access configuration, as well as add and remove launchers.
There’s a documentation page with a lot more information.
Archived Comments
Jack Lee
Nice post. I went ahead and tried it, and I’m kinda liking it. I was having a few issues with awn (mostly minor), so this is a nice alternative. I especially like that it has a os x theme. Sweet!
Anonymous
Support for 64bit hardy seams to be broken, I get;
cairo-dock: error while loading shared libraries: libglitz-glx.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
even though libglitz-glx is installed.
Navinesh
I have downloaded and installed Cairo-Dock and it works fine. Just one thing, is there a way to prevent the whole dock to expand when the mouse is placed over it and instead only the icons to expand.
Chris
Cairo is not running properly on my 64-bit machine either :(
dreamer
Try downloading + installing , the files that end with x86_64…If u r intel from the inside! ;) (Eg:cairo-dock_v2.0.8_x86_64.deb)
mobott
I like this way better than awn, though perhaps I haven’t quite gotten the hang for how to customize awn well. Great blog, by the way! Just what I was looking for.
Anonymous
Not working on my 64bits Ubuntu Hardy too.
Venkatesh Nandakumar
By far, much better than AWN!
@Navinesh
Set Maximum Zoom to 1.0.
bk
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CairoDock
Instructions in the section called “Cairo-Dock on 64bits CPU wiht no compilation, it is possible !” at the bottom of the page worked for my 64-bit machine.
Anonymous
I have AMD 64-bit but is running 32-bit Kubuntu Hardy Heron and I could not install the packages.
Could not open ‘cairo-dock_v1.5.4.2_i686-32bits.deb’
Anonymous
If you have AMD 64-bit, you must install the .deb packages with a special parameter.
Do: sudo dpkg -i –force-all
also, you must have getlibs installed and run the command,
sudo getlibs /usr/bin/cairo-dock
after installing the 32-bit package. i think thats the command. follow the
how-to at:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CairoDock
Guido
Thanks for the howto
polarizer
Can’t help me, but those jumping - blinking - flashing menus makes me less productive.
Just my 2 cents - polarizer
Chonnawonga
I’m liking it, but the default set-up for the systray is kind of annoying: it creates its own little thing that looks like a speech bubble instead of just sitting quietly on the dock with everything else.
fab
detach it as a desklet and place it somewhere in a corner of your screen.
1.5.6 has just been released by the way.
erwin15155
thanks
Anonymous
to get the most current version of cairo dock working with ubuntu 8.10 64…
install the 2 .deb packages mentioned above
then run
getlibs /usr/bin/cairo-dock
note: you might need to install getlibs which can be found by searching “getlibs ubuntu”
enjoy!
kid
i hate it. it opened the manager and when i closed it it kept opening it. i want to remove it but i can’t. really need help..using ubuntu 8.10
Slick
Is this also working with Jaunty Already Because i Upgraded From Intrepid.I had this Cairo Dock installed already but once i upgraded it all my themes got erased..
Anonymous
I tried to install cairo-dock in centos5.4 but it say that missing dependancy.I have attached the dependency can any one help me to install cairo-dock in in centos 5.4
checking for PACKAGE… configure: error: Package requirements (“gtk+-2.0 gthread-2.0 cairo librsvg-2.0 glitz dbus-1 dbus-glib-1 libxml-2.0”) were not met:
No package ‘glitz’ found
Consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if you
installed software in a non-standard prefix.
Alternatively, you may set the environment variables PACKAGE_CFLAGS
and PACKAGE_LIBS to avoid the need to call pkg-config.
See the pkg-config man page for more details.
Kaleva
I am using Ubuntu karmic.
I must say it looks cute but it annoyed me by arbitrarily vanishing from the screen, losing the mouse focus and scrambling my top Gnome panel when vanishing.
Besides I did not find out how to force it staying at the screen bottom if I make it invisible and then visible again.
Since everything else works fine including compiz fusion and emerald, I disabled it.
Anonymous
As a follow up this install works well so far with Xubu not just U or K buntu