☰
✕
✕

How to install Cairo Dock in Ubuntu

To install Cairo Dock in Ubuntu

Cairo Dock is a light weight desktop interface that allows the users to organize the mostly used applications in the form of docks panel. It is designed with many plugins and applets like weather, clock, messaging menu, custom icons, clipboard manager, etc. Installation of Cairo Dock in Ubuntu is explained in this manual.

Installation of Cairo Dock

First add the default PPA repository for Cairo Dock by using the below command.

root@linuxhelp:~# add-apt-repository ppa:cairo-dock-team/weekly
 Contains packages for the UNSTABLE release of Cairo-Dock (Weekly Build or even multiple builds per week)

Stable release are available there : https://launchpad.net/~cairo-dock-team/+archive/ppa

== How to use it ==
The ppa : Execute this in terminal:

    sudo -v
    echo " deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/cairo-dock-team/weekly/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main ## Cairo-Dock-PPA"  | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
    sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys E80D6BF5
    sudo apt-get update

The installation : Execute this in terminal:

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

== Info ==
  Launchpad page : https://launchpad.net/cairo-dock
  Website : http://www.glx-dock.org
 More info: https://launchpad.net/~cairo-dock-team/+archive/ubuntu/weekly
Press [ENTER] to continue or ctrl-c to cancel adding it

gpg: keyring `/tmp/tmp907l8ga5/secring.gpg'  created
gpg: keyring `/tmp/tmp907l8ga5/pubring.gpg'  created
gpg: requesting key E80D6BF5 from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: /tmp/tmp907l8ga5/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
gpg: key E80D6BF5: public key " Launchpad cairo-dock"  imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1  (RSA: 1)
OK


Next update the added repository with ' apt-get update' command.

root@linuxhelp:~# apt-get update
Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com wily InRelease
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com wily-security InRelease                                      
Get:1 http://ppa.launchpad.net wily InRelease [15.5 kB]                
Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com wily-updates InRelease                        
Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com wily-backports InRelease                                                 
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com wily-security/main Sources                                                 
Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com wily/main Sources                                       
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com wily-security/restricted Sources                     
Get:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net wily/main amd64 Packages [4,262 B]                   
Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com wily/restricted Sources                                           
Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com wily/universe Sources                                                     
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com wily-security/universe Sources                       
Get:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net wily/main i386 Packages [4,251 B]
.
.
.
Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com wily-backports/main Translation-en                                                                                                        
Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com wily-backports/multiverse Translation-en                                                                                                  
Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com wily-backports/restricted Translation-en                                                                                                  
Hit http://in.archive.ubuntu.com wily-backports/universe Translation-en                                                                                                    
Fetched 25.9 kB in 13s (1,904 B/s)                                                                                                                                         
Reading package lists... Done


Now run the below command to install the Cairo Dock.

root@linuxhelp:~#  apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins -y
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  cairo-dock-core cairo-dock-data cairo-dock-plug-ins-data cairo-dock-plug-ins-dbus-interface-python cairo-dock-plug-ins-integration compiz-core compiz-gnome
  compiz-plugins compiz-plugins-default libcompizconfig0 libdecoration0 libetpan17 libgldi3 liblockfile-bin liblockfile1 libunity-core-6.0-9 unity unity-schemas
.
.
.
Setting up compiz-gnome (1:0.9.12.2+15.10.20151202-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up unity-services (7.3.3+15.10.20151203-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up unity-schemas (7.3.3+15.10.20151203-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libunity-core-6.0-9 (7.3.3+15.10.20151203-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up unity (7.3.3+15.10.20151203-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up compiz-plugins:amd64 (1:0.9.12.2+15.10.20151202-0ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.21-0ubuntu4) ...


After installing successfully, type Cairo dock in the unity dash search bar. Then click on the Cairo dock icon to open the desktop interface.

Click on yes option to proceed.

Now you can able to see the Cairo Dock interface.

Click on Applications menu to know the newly featured options.

Right click on the blank screen to Configure the Cairo Dock Appearance, Behavior and etc. Follow the below steps.

Here click on Configuration tab to make some changes.

Click on behaviour option configure the Dock Position.

You can also change the dock visibility, icons, etc.

Click on Appearance option to change the desktop environment.

Click on Shorkeys option to edit the shortkey.

If you want to change the themes, click on themes option in the configuration page.

Select the theme as you wish.

After selecting the theme, you can able to see the theme info and preview simultaneously.

Tag : Cairo Dock
FAQ
Q
What are the configuration is available for Cairo Dock?
A
Here I have to mention some of the configuration available for the Cairo dock,
Current Items
Add-ons
Configuration
Themes
Q
How do I run the same applet multiple times in Cairo Dock?
A
This allows you, for example, to have the current time for different countries in your dock or to have several animated characters in your dock or the weather in different cities.
Some applets can have several instances running at the same time: Clock, Cairo-Penguin, Weather, Netspeed, ...
Right click on the applet's icon, and select «launch another instance». A new instance of this applet appears in the main dock.
Q
What are the alternative tools available for the Cairo dock?
A
The following things are an alternative tool available for Cairo Dock,

Docky,

RocketDock,

Plank,

ObjectDock,

Winstep Nexus
Q
How to install Cairo Dock on Debian?
A
For the installation of Cairo Dock on Debian, use the following command as given below,

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

"sudo apt-get update"

" apt-get dist-upgrade"

"apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins"
Q
How to install Cairo dock on CentOS?
A
For the installation of Cairo Dock on CentOS, use the following command as given below,

"yum install cairo-dock"