Cairo-Dock 2.1.0 Released, OpenGL Mode Now Works With The Latest OpenSource ATI And Intel Drivers

When Cairo Dock v2.0 was out, it instantly became my favourite dock for Linux.

Unfortunately, some Intel and ATI graphic card users were not able to run it in OpenGL mode (which is what's amazing about Cairo Dock). If you were among them, this is going to be great news for you: Cairo Dock in OpenGL mode now works with the very latest OpenSource drivers for ATI and Intel video card.

A lot of changes have been made to both Cairo Dock and the applets but before you read about that, I'd like to point out a great new applet called dnd2share which you can use to share files instantly. Just drag and drop any file and it will be instantly available to share. It supports Dropbox, Imageshack, Pastebin. It supports: text, video, images and any file for Dropbox obviously). After a files has been uploaded, the share link is automatically copied to the clipboard.

Other changes in Cairo Dock 2.1.0:

• Some "annoying bugs" from the Taskbar, PowerManager, Clipper and the keyboard indicator have been squashed.
• The dock at the same became more stable and faster especially when OpenGl is activated (the applet Clock or Cairo-Penguin are now virtually using no CPU resources).
• The configuration panel has been polished (the presentation as improved and the options are better grouped, etc)
• The pictures ratio is now correct (windows thumbnail and Switcher, etc)
• It is easier to create a new main dock or to move the icons from one dock to another.
• A new mode "extended dock" has appeared (the dock will fill up the all side of the screen).

Themes have also been reviewed and now have a user friendly interface: you can sort the theme by name, rating or simplicity. You can even rate them yourself once you have downloaded them.

Applets changes in v2.1.0:

• Shortcuts and Notes now have a improved desklet mode, which will allow you to display on your Desktop the icons normally drawn by Nautilus as well you "post-it".
• The digital clock has a better rendering.
• The applets 'Rhythmbox' and 'XMMS' merged to form a new applet MusicPlayer, It now allows to control just about any player.
• 'Cpusage', 'Ram-meter' and 'Nvidia' also merge into the System-Monitor applet, which offers basic system information (CPU, RAM, Nvidia card temperature, etc)

Also, Cairo Dock moved to Launchpad and you can either add a weekly or stable PPA which you can add if you use Ubuntu / Debian / Linux Mint.

Installing Cairo Dock v2.1.0 in Ubuntu

1. Stable. Open a terminal and paste the following commands:

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

2. Weekly PPA:

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

Installing Cairo Dock v2.1.0 in Debian / Linux Mint

1. Stable:

Use the same repository as for Ubuntu


2. Weekly PPA:

su
echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/cairo-dock-team/weekly-debian/ubuntu jaunty main ## Cairo-Dock-PPA" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys E80D6BF5
apt-get update
apt-get install cairo-dock

Installing Cairo Dock v2.1.0 in other Linux distribution

See THIS page.



Note: to preview all the themes, head over to my post about Cairo Dock v2.0.