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Trim the Gnome Panel

kay-dee

Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:06:09 pm

As my Gnome Panel exists presently, it extends across the bottom of the screen. I have it set to Auto Hide. When playing a YouTube video, as an example, if I drop the cursor to the bottom-right of the screen to adjust volume, the Panel pops up instead and blocks the volume control.

I wish the Panel didn’t extend across the entire screen.

My Panel only contains the Zorin Logo, settings for WiFi, Volume, and Battery State. And then the Time.

I use Cairo Dock down the left side of my screen for functionality and am looking for a way to replace the lower Panel with Cairo.

Researching this, it seems Swarf is right (not that I doubted you :-)), the problem is removing the Panel in Gnome before setting up a Cairo Dock to replace it. Buying the Ultimate Zorin OS might seem the easy answer except for having to rebuild the OS to my liking. Phew!

Anyway that’s where I’m at presently. Just wondering if anyone else has fiddled around with this before I start breaking my system.

Much thanks,
Katie

Swarfendor437

Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:23:53 pm

You've forgotten (or weren't aware) of the login cog - just click on that and login to your Cairo Dock DE! Simples! ;) :D

star treker

Wed Jan 29, 2020 5:46:29 am

SWARF is right yet again :D

That is exactly how I access my XFCE desktop. I have Zorin OS 12 installed, but I just click on that cog, and then I am running on Zorin using XFCE. Its a drop down list of usually at least 4-choice options to choose from. ;)

How you doing Katie? Your becoming a real regular here like me :D

kay-dee

Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:02:03 pm

So where is this elusive cog located?
(I'm doing fine here, star treker. Nice day... sunny, hot, breezy and no humidity. The beer's cold.)

Swarfendor437

Wed Jan 29, 2020 8:20:06 pm

I made a video for someone else a long time ago:

https://vimeo.com/219218718

kay-dee

Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:58:03 pm

Thanks Swarf. I've downloaded the video and will have a closer look later on the boat.
Katie

Swarfendor437

Thu Jan 30, 2020 10:28:24 pm

kay-dee

Fri Jan 31, 2020 6:19:14 pm

Thanks again, Swarf. Let me explore the options here and see if I can move the Zorin logo (menu display) into Cairo Dock. Interesting exercise.
No wifi tomorrow, so talk on Sunday.
Katie

kay-dee

Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:09:25 pm

Well, getting nowhere fast.
I can't move the icons in the panel into Cairo Dock. Especially the Zorin logo that opens the Gnome menu. I'm going to look into a Cairo Dock forum or support page and we'll see.
Katie

Swarfendor437

Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:37:39 pm

I can tell you now that Cairo Dock was aimed at AWN (Avant Window Navigator) still available in Debian repos but only for Debian or Debian based distros like Makulu Lindoz. You could try adding the Gnome Extension 'Zorin Grid' so you get a Grid of Apps like a Mac? I haven't used Cairo Dock in ages and its last update was either 2013 or 14. :(

kay-dee

Tue Feb 04, 2020 7:14:56 pm

My Lenovo X230 is my experimental computer and, at the moment, I have Mint/Cinnamon installed. I had no trouble creating a new dock (Cairo) and moving the Mint Logo (the applications menu), to that new dock. But the same does not apply in Zorin.
Let me muck around with this some more and I'll report back.
Katie

Aravisian

Tue Feb 04, 2020 7:41:20 pm

When I used Cairo-dock, I used Cardapio menu, instead.
But you can create a custom launcher on Cairo Dock.
http://glx-dock.org/ww_page.php?p=Launchers&lang=en
CairoDock is extremely configurable but it does take some practice.

star treker

Wed Feb 05, 2020 9:15:24 am

Hi Katie! :D

You know there is a good reason why I switched to XFCE desktop on Zorin, because Zorin wouldn't let me do what I wanted to do with the panel/menu either. Aravisian can attest to this, as we tried to train my system into doing what I want, and Zorin was like, nope, I am not trainable, Zorin says no. Since switching to XFCE desktop, I was able to do what I needed to do as far as customization. Zorin OS has too much Gnome in it, and Gnome is the one with the lock and keys. And these days Gnome has really been becoming the next Microsoft, as they employ the same tactics. The inventer of Linux would be really upset right now seeing the Gnome developers acting as they do.

In the end, I am happy to know that you found some option to get around your menu issue, that meets your requirements of what you are trying to do. For me, I didn't want to use docks, I wanted to continue having a panel and a proper menu. Its just that Gnome wouldn't allow me to do what I wanted to do. Thankfully however, XFCE did. Thanks to Aravisian for helping me out with that. And thanks to Aravisian and SWARF for helping you out as well. ;)

Aravisian

Wed Feb 05, 2020 10:01:57 am

star treker wrote: The inventer of Linux would be really upset right now seeing the Gnome developers acting as they do.

He is, actually. Linus Torvalds denounced Gnome and switched to XFCE.
In the time since, Torvalds has announced he has moved to KDE desktop, following the XFCE announcement that 4.16 would be doing away with the XFWM and switching to CSD.
Rock on, Linus.

Swarfendor437

Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:15:57 pm

That is interesting. The old Dell D830 Latitude that was licenced for XP now has MX Linux 19 (I think uses 4.12 xfce) on it and Feren OS. I now know what I am talking about in respect of the two current .iso's on offer by Feren. Classic is based off Cinnamon DE and Feren OS is 'pure' KDE (must be Kubuntu because the GRUB lists it as Ubuntu not Feren!). I installed the Classic 64-bit on the Intel Centrino 1.x Ghz Processor with 2 Gb RAM and it installed a lot more quickly than Zorin Lite 15 Beta. You then have an option to 'transition' - this removes the Cinnamon DE and takes you to KDE via a script running in apt which came up with a warning that scripts in apt can sometimes fail - not on this transition it didn't. Now got the same desktop as the one on the account I have on her ladyships rig I posted elsewhere - it is named as 'familiar desktop' (Win 10 theme). There are also WinXP theme, Windows 7x/8x theme, Cupertino (Mac theme with dock bar in middle of where panel would be), and Ubuntu theme. It boots quicker than I coult get Zorin 15 Lite and without all the error messages, presumably to do with graphics. I am now trying to break the Latitude by also adding Voyager 18.04 LTS (xubuntu) - not sure which version of xfce in use yet but suspect it might be 4.14. ;) :D

Oh, and her ladyships rig is running 64-bit Feren OS - and on a motherboard built in 2006! :D