plank the dock of elementary os for porteus linux

[francois]

It is never too late to learn about docks. This is the thread for it. Please provide your knowledge and comment about this type of application.

Comparing plank to other dockers:
https://www.ghacks.net/2017/05/17/a-com ... lications/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-power-do ... x-machine/
https://www.slant.co/versus/11681/11682/~docky_vs_plank

Also there is a dock specifically for kde called latte:
https://store.kde.org/p/1169519/
Download:
https://github.com/psifidotos/Latte-Doc ... ANGELOG.md


Here is plank for porteus 4.0 xfce4:

Download for plank-DE-x86_64-2017-12-22.xzm
https://www.mediafire.com/?x5ay5815ramo0

Instructions:
Place plank-DE-x86_64-2017-12-22.xzm in /porteus/modules
Extract rootcopy-for-plank.xzm (right-click in thunar - extract), backup your /porteus/rootcopy (if it contains anything), replace it by rootcopy-for-plank folder (and rename it rootcopy).
Reboot
Open /usr/share/applications and drop some application, xfce4-terminal or thunar on the plank dock and there you go. If you want to keep the application in the dock right click on it once in the dock and select keep in dock. You can also open an application from the xfce4 menu. Once opened it will appear in the plank dock.

To keep changes or have persistence plank has to be started from /etc/xdg/:
openbox:
/etc/xdg/openbox/autostart file
xfce4
/etc/xdg/autostart folder
Copy /usr/share/applications/plank or plank.desktop to /etc/xdg/autostart folder

Installing applications in the dock.
Installing applications in the dock is easy just open these applications or drag a .desktop file to the dock. The application should be available at next bootup when right clicking application shows that it is selected to be kept in the dock. Many of these .desktop files are located in /usr/share/applications, but not exclusively. With midnight commander or mc in command line, make a search on *.desktop to find some more. These last ones might not all work and might need to be transferred to the /usr/share/applications.

Mouse control for plank dock:
left click will start the application
right click will offer a menu of actions possible that specific application
ctrl+left click will start a second instance of the application
ctrl+right click will open the setting menu for plank
ctrl+right click > preferences will open the settings for plank, there are interesting docklets.

Files that are needed for plank to be functional are in the following folders:
/usr/share/plank The themes for the dock
/usr/bin/plank The plank command line
/usr/share/doc/plank
/usr/lib64/plank/docklets The docklets
~/home/your-user-name/.cache/plank Empty
~/home/your-user-name/.config/plank/dock1/launchers Info relative to the items added to the dock
/etc/skel/.config/plank/dock1/launchers/ Empty, but could include some basic application for the initial launching of plank, depends on your taste.

Plank-themer (not so much an improvement, not necessary, aesthetics, changes the base of the dock, some videos provided):
http://rhoconlinux.github.io/plank-themer/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1cYCQ7QwRo **does not work**

Make sure that you have xterm and follow the command line.

Questions and answers about plank:
https://answers.launchpad.net/plank

[francois]

Installing plank and/or compositor xcompmgr yourself instead of downloading from the first post
plank and dependencies are easily fetched with:

Code: Select all

usm -g plank

Code: Select all

bamf
lidbusmenu
libgee
libwnck3

For openbox a composite manager is needed

Code: Select all

usm -g xcompmgr

Build from source:

Code: Select all

usm sbo -b plank

Needed packages for building from source under xfce4:

Code: Select all

vala
gobject-instrospection

[francois]

Plank will be at its best under xfce4 desktop under porteus 3.2.2.
Not bad but with inadequate icons in kde-plasma. There is some work to be done to replace the right icons and sometimes the right command line to get some applications going on.
Settings will not save from one session to another under lxde.

Any suggestion?

Edit:
Installing plank (or cairo-docks) under openbox:
https://www.lifewire.com/install-openbo ... tu-4051832

[francois]

Plank under slackware porteus will work if started from autostart located in /etc/xdg under any desktop environment, but not from ~/.config/. First post modified accordingly.

[normalGuy]

Hello,

I'm using plank with 100 themes:
https://github.com/LinxGem33/Plank-Themes
----------------------------
This is my compton.conf:

Code: Select all

#################################
#
# Backend
#
#################################

# Backend to use: "xrender" or "glx".
# GLX backend is typically much faster but depends on a sane driver.
backend = "glx";

#################################
#
# GLX backend
#
#################################

glx-no-stencil = true;

# GLX backend: Copy unmodified regions from front buffer instead of redrawing them all.
# My tests with nvidia-drivers show a 10% decrease in performance when the whole screen is modified,
# but a 20% increase when only 1/4 is.
# My tests on nouveau show terrible slowdown.
# Useful with --glx-swap-method, as well.
glx-copy-from-front = false;

# GLX backend: Use MESA_copy_sub_buffer to do partial screen update.
# My tests on nouveau shows a 200% performance boost when only 1/4 of the screen is updated.
# May break VSync and is not available on some drivers.
# Overrides --glx-copy-from-front.
# glx-use-copysubbuffermesa = true;

# GLX backend: Avoid rebinding pixmap on window damage.
# Probably could improve performance on rapid window content changes, but is known to break things on some drivers (LLVMpipe).
# Recommended if it works.
# glx-no-rebind-pixmap = true;


# GLX backend: GLX buffer swap method we assume.
# Could be undefined (0), copy (1), exchange (2), 3-6, or buffer-age (-1).
# undefined is the slowest and the safest, and the default value.
# copy is fastest, but may fail on some drivers,
# 2-6 are gradually slower but safer (6 is still faster than 0).
# Usually, double buffer means 2, triple buffer means 3.
# buffer-age means auto-detect using GLX_EXT_buffer_age, supported by some drivers.
# Useless with --glx-use-copysubbuffermesa.
# Partially breaks --resize-damage.
# Defaults to undefined.
glx-swap-method = "undefined";

#################################
#
# Shadows
#
#################################

# Enabled client-side shadows on windows.
shadow = false;
# Don't draw shadows on DND windows.
no-dnd-shadow = true;
# Avoid drawing shadows on dock/panel windows.
no-dock-shadow = true;
# Zero the part of the shadow's mask behind the window. Fix some weirdness with ARGB windows.
clear-shadow = true;
# The blur radius for shadows. (default 12)
shadow-radius = 5;
# The left offset for shadows. (default -15)
shadow-offset-x = -5;
# The top offset for shadows. (default -15)
shadow-offset-y = -5;
# The translucency for shadows. (default .75)
shadow-opacity = 0.5;

# Set if you want different colour shadows
# shadow-red = 0.0;
# shadow-green = 0.0;
# shadow-blue = 0.0;

# The shadow exclude options are helpful if you have shadows enabled. Due to the way compton draws its shadows, certain applications will have visual glitches
# (most applications are fine, only apps that do weird things with xshapes or argb are affected).
# This list includes all the affected apps I found in my testing. The "! name~=''" part excludes shadows on any "Unknown" windows, this prevents a visual glitch with the XFWM alt tab switcher.
shadow-exclude = [
    "! name~=''",
    "name = 'Notification'",
    "name = 'Plank'",
    "name = 'Docky'",
    "name = 'Kupfer'",
    "name = 'xfce4-notifyd'",
    "name *= 'VLC'",
    "name *= 'compton'",
    "name *= 'Chromium'",
    "name *= 'Chrome'",
    "name *= 'Firefox'",
    "class_g = 'Conky'",
    "class_g = 'Kupfer'",
    "class_g = 'Synapse'",
    "class_g ?= 'Notify-osd'",
    "class_g ?= 'Cairo-dock'",
    "class_g ?= 'Xfce4-notifyd'",
    "class_g ?= 'Xfce4-power-manager'"
];
# Avoid drawing shadow on all shaped windows (see also: --detect-rounded-corners)
shadow-ignore-shaped = false;

#################################
#
# Opacity
#
#################################

menu-opacity = 1;
inactive-opacity = 1;
active-opacity = 1;
frame-opacity = 1;
inactive-opacity-override = false;
alpha-step = 0.06;

# Dim inactive windows. (0.0 - 1.0)
# inactive-dim = 0.2;
# Do not let dimness adjust based on window opacity.
# inactive-dim-fixed = true;
# Blur background of transparent windows. Bad performance with X Render backend. GLX backend is preferred.
# blur-background = true;
# Blur background of opaque windows with transparent frames as well.
# blur-background-frame = true;
# Do not let blur radius adjust based on window opacity.
blur-background-fixed = false;
blur-background-exclude = [
    "window_type = 'dock'",
    "window_type = 'desktop'"
];

#################################
#
# Fading
#
#################################

# Fade windows during opacity changes.
fading = true;
# The time between steps in a fade in milliseconds. (default 10).
fade-delta = 4;
# Opacity change between steps while fading in. (default 0.028).
fade-in-step = 0.03;
# Opacity change between steps while fading out. (default 0.03).
fade-out-step = 0.03;
# Fade windows in/out when opening/closing
# no-fading-openclose = true;

# Specify a list of conditions of windows that should not be faded.
fade-exclude = [ ];

#################################
#
# Other
#
#################################

# Try to detect WM windows and mark them as active.
mark-wmwin-focused = true;
# Mark all non-WM but override-redirect windows active (e.g. menus).
mark-ovredir-focused = true;
# Use EWMH _NET_WM_ACTIVE_WINDOW to determine which window is focused instead of using FocusIn/Out events.
# Usually more reliable but depends on a EWMH-compliant WM.
use-ewmh-active-win = true;
# Detect rounded corners and treat them as rectangular when --shadow-ignore-shaped is on.
detect-rounded-corners = true;

# Detect _NET_WM_OPACITY on client windows, useful for window managers not passing _NET_WM_OPACITY of client windows to frame windows.
# This prevents opacity being ignored for some apps.
# For example without this enabled my xfce4-notifyd is 100% opacity no matter what.
detect-client-opacity = true;

# Specify refresh rate of the screen.
# If not specified or 0, compton will try detecting this with X RandR extension.
refresh-rate = 0;

# Set VSync method. VSync methods currently available:
# none: No VSync
# drm: VSync with DRM_IOCTL_WAIT_VBLANK. May only work on some drivers.
# opengl: Try to VSync with SGI_video_sync OpenGL extension. Only work on some drivers.
# opengl-oml: Try to VSync with OML_sync_control OpenGL extension. Only work on some drivers.
# opengl-swc: Try to VSync with SGI_swap_control OpenGL extension. Only work on some drivers. Works only with GLX backend. Known to be most effective on many drivers. Does not actually control paint timing, only buffer swap is affected, so it doesn’t have the effect of --sw-opti unlike other methods. Experimental.
# opengl-mswc: Try to VSync with MESA_swap_control OpenGL extension. Basically the same as opengl-swc above, except the extension we use.
# (Note some VSync methods may not be enabled at compile time.)
vsync = "opengl-swc";

# Enable DBE painting mode, intended to use with VSync to (hopefully) eliminate tearing.
# Reported to have no effect, though.
dbe = false;
# Painting on X Composite overlay window. Recommended.
paint-on-overlay = true;

# Limit compton to repaint at most once every 1 / refresh_rate second to boost performance.
# This should not be used with --vsync drm/opengl/opengl-oml as they essentially does --sw-opti's job already,
# unless you wish to specify a lower refresh rate than the actual value.
sw-opti = false;

# Unredirect all windows if a full-screen opaque window is detected, to maximize performance for full-screen windows, like games.
# Known to cause flickering when redirecting/unredirecting windows.
# paint-on-overlay may make the flickering less obvious.
unredir-if-possible = true;

# Specify a list of conditions of windows that should always be considered focused.
focus-exclude = [ ];

# Use WM_TRANSIENT_FOR to group windows, and consider windows in the same group focused at the same time.
detect-transient = true;
# Use WM_CLIENT_LEADER to group windows, and consider windows in the same group focused at the same time.
# WM_TRANSIENT_FOR has higher priority if --detect-transient is enabled, too.
detect-client-leader = true;

#################################
#
# Window type settings
#
#################################

wintypes:
{
    tooltip =
    {
        # fade: Fade the particular type of windows.
        fade = true;
        # shadow: Give those windows shadow
        shadow = false;
        # opacity: Default opacity for the type of windows.
        opacity = 0.85;
        # focus: Whether to always consider windows of this type focused.
        focus = true;
    };
};

[francois]

Any snapshot of your favorite themes?

Which porteus desktop do you use?

[francois]

Creating plank .dockitem adapting the instructions to porteus configuration:
http://meshfields.de/change-icons-plank-dock/

1.0 open an App
Komodo for example and make it sticky in the dock, this will create a komodo.dockitem file you will need later.

2.0 create a komodo.desktop file with nano or any text file editor like leafpad or mousepad
/home/guest/.local/share/applications/komodo.desktop

Put the following content in that file:
[Desktop Entry]

Code: Select all

Name=Komodo
Exec=/usr/bin/komodo
Icon=/the-path-to/icon.png
Type=Application

Then edit ~/.config/plank/dock1/launchers/komodo.dockitem and modify the Launcher directive to point to your /home/guest/.local/share/applications/komodo.desktop file.

This way you could have whatever dock item that you like, with the icon of your choice.

[francois]

@jack:
Restructured first post with the hope of more clarity.

[Jack]

@francois

I want to thank you for your work with Plank. I did what you wrote in your first message and when I reboot it works great. I just need to add what I need.

Now I need to add it to Nemesis.

I am using rc3 with kernel v4.14.16 which neko release it late 01-31-2017

[francois]

Adding it to nemesis is quite simple with pman. However, there might be a problem if you remove the persistence file in nemesis. But explore, we will see what you get. I have a turn around thru rootcopy on my other computer at work. For nemesis please refer to the nemesis plank thread plank without persistence or save changes. so that we do no mix porteus with the nemesis edition.

[Jack]

@francois

Can I use how you did your build of Plank? I like to how you did it. I want to ask before I use it in Porteus version.

[francois]

Sure, with pleasure. Between you and me, there is no need to ask.

[Jack]

I have your Plank install in my LXDE and next it will be my Mate when v1.20 gets release. That's one nice program and it is easy to run your everyday programs.

Thanks francois

[francois]

It provides a clean interface. And frankly, this is the only advantage of the elementary linux distribution, except their text utility.

[Jack]

Here is what my LXDE build looks like.