Saturday, May 19, 2012

[SOLVED] Docky issue in Mint/Ubuntu: How to enable compositing?

Having a docky / Avant window navigator (AWN) gives a cool look to the desktop. From the day I started using Linux, I have always preferred to have a docky. My desktop with the AWN docky helps me to access all the common programs I need at one place, plus CPU user in the dock tells me how much CPU I am using at any point in time. Auto-hide feature doesn't shrink my desktop as well.



All in all, I find docky useful. And it's 3D look actually add a mystic charm to the GUI. However, in my recent update of netbook to Xubuntu 12.04 LTS and PC to Linux Mint 13 Mate, I found that I need to enable Compositor to customize the dock.

Now, for this kind of problem, there is a easy way out. Linux Mint uses Metacity and the desktop effect can be rendered by enabling compositing from Desktop Settings. Just check the option for compositing from desktop setting to enable 3D effect in the docky.



For Xubuntu, Go to:
Settings -> Settings Manager -> Window Manager Tweaks ->Compositor-> Enable Display Compositing
This would solve the issue of enabling compositor for the 3D effects in docky.

9th June 2012:
To enable compositor in debian, go to Applications -> System Tools -> Configuration Editor.
In Config Editor, go to Apps -> Metacity -> General and check compositing manager. Restart Docky and that would do the trick.


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