Docks

[ramlondon]

Hi,

Mid-range Dell laptop 3 years old.

New to MX 19.2, everything loaded ok EXCEPT when installing a dock (either Plank or Cairo-Dock) I get a horizontal smear line all the way across and about 1/10 of the way up from the bottom of the screen.
Reboot without dock and no smear showing. This did not happen with the previous Mint 19 or 20 OS

Also when adding the dock start-up to MX what do I type (or where can I find) the description and command line details?

Thanks.
Ramlondon

[asqwerth]

Hi,

Mid-range Dell laptop 3 years old.

New to MX 19.2, everything loaded ok EXCEPT when installing a dock (either Plank or Cairo-Dock) I get a horizontal smear line all the way across and about 1/10 of the way up from the bottom of the screen.
Reboot without dock and no smear showing. This did not happen with the previous Mint 19 or 20 OS

Also when adding the dock start-up to MX what do I type (or where can I find) the description and command line details?

Thanks.
Ramlondon

The line means compositor is not turned on. Go to WIndow Manager Tweaks >> COmpositing tab, and enable it.

[Stevo]

Is the answer in our FAQ? If not, we really need to add it!

I think that line is something to do with a shadow on the dock window and compositing not enabled.

[zarathustra-f90]

I've used Plank in MX too and experienced the line/shadow. You have to go to Compositor settings (MX Tools -> Xfwm Compositor) and unselect the "Show shadows under dock windows" option.

If you want to launch automatically the dock at startup you have to go to Session and Startup and on Application Autoastart tab select (if exists) or add the Plank launcher (in command field just write: plank).

[eriefisher]

This is from Launchpad but anything running XFCE will have it.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/plank/+bug/1427224

I believe it's because the dock is actually running in a window that you can't see and the compositor puts shadows around windows. Conky has a similar issue if not set up right.