Plank dock helper

This is a collection of small shell files written by me to add some capabilities to the Plank dock, especially supporting multi-screen display smoothly

Worked on all Linux distros

Features

• Support displaying dock on multi-monitor smoothly, even if the computer just wakes up from sleep, sleeps or restarts
• Runs automatically when the system boots as background mode, automatically adapts to monitor connect/disconnect events, and automatically adjusts to Plank dock display. You won't need to do it manually or every time you connect/disconnect an external monitor!
• Support automatic display of dock on external screen automatically when connecting/disconnecting a external monitor
• Maximum support for display on two screens
• Configure once, use many times. You only need to configure Plank once according to your preferences, and this shell script will help you apply that configuration across the entire screen you have!
• Highly customizable, you can edit these shell scripts to make them work the way you want them to!
• This shell script was written with one purpose in mind: Add smooth multi-monitor support to the Plank dock. No C, C++, just use pure bash statements, anyone can read to understand shell script and this script is not networkable, so privacy and transparency are guaranteed!

Tested

This shell script has been tested and works fine on distros:

• Ubuntu 20.04 (GNOME Desktop)
• Xubuntu 20.04 (XFCE Desktop)
• Ubuntu 22.04 (GNOME Desktop)
• Xubuntu 22.04 (XFCE Desktop)

Other distributions using GNOME Desktop or XFCE Desktop will work fine, KDE Desktop may also work

Installing

(You MUST install Plank on your system first!)

• On Ubuntu (18.04 and up) and Debian-like distributions and Ubuntu-based Linux distributions like Linux Mint (19.* and up), Pop!_OS or Zorin OS (don't use this PPA on elementary OS!!):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/docky
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install plank

• Fedora:

sudo dnf install plank plank-docklets

• Arch Linux / Manjaro:

sudo pacman -S plank

• openSUSE:

sudo zypper install plank

• Solus OS:

sudo eopkg install plank

• Or you can install Plank from source. You can download Plank source code from Launchpad or Github
• On Arch Linux / Manjaro you can install the latest Plank from Git by using an unofficial Arch User Repository package

Configuration

• Once Installing done, run Plank. You can find Plank from the application menu, or press combine Alt + F2 then type plank, then press Enter and configure the Plank dock according to your preferences. Note DO NOT close Plank during configuration and after you have configured Plank dock according to your preferences!!

• Copy the following files in the repository to your HOME directory (it is a ~ directory): disable_second.sh, dock.sh, enable_second.sh, second_plank.sh. Or you can use this command (when you are in root directory of this repository):

cp -r *.sh $HOME

• Then depending on your environment, XFCE or GNOME, there are two ways to do it. Make sure to follow the correct steps for your desktop environment:

XFCE Desktop

• At the root of this archive, go to the XFCE folder, where you will see the file named Dock.desktop. Open the file in Mousepad, or using this command (when you already in XFCE folder, press right mouse then choose Open Terminal here), then type this command:

mousepad Dock.desktop

You will see something look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=0.9.4
Type=Application
Name=Dock
Comment=Start dock at login
Exec=/home/duythanh/dock.sh &
OnlyShowIn=XFCE;
RunHook=0
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Hidden=false

Now, open Terminal, then type the command:

echo $HOME

then copy the result then close the Terminal, for example:

$ echo $HOME
/home/tester

In my case, /home/tester are the result I need to copy

Now, going back to the Mousepad that we opened the Dock.desktop with earlier, notice the line:

Exec=/home/duythanh/dock.sh &

Replace /home/duythanh with the result you copied earlier when executing echo $HOME command and keep everything else. For example, I have the result when I run command is: /home/tester, then the line of Dock.desktop:

Exec=/home/duythanh/dock.sh &

will changed to:

Exec=/home/tester/dock.sh &

Save the file and close Mousepad. Then, open Terminal, and type:

$ thunar ~/.config/autostart

Copy file Dock.desktop you have edited and paste into this directory, then close File Manager and Terminal.

Then, start Settings -> Session and Startup -> Application Autostart, then find the line say: Dock (start dock at login. If you see Trigger status say on login, you are ready to go!

Other Desktop Environment (GNOME/KDE/etc.)

• At the root of this archive, go to the Desktops folder, where you will see the file named Dock.desktop. Open the file in gedit:

gedit Dock.desktop

You will see something look like this:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=Dock
Comment=Start dock at login
Exec=/home/duythanh/dock.sh &
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Hidden=false

Now, open Terminal, then type the command:

echo $HOME

then copy the result then close the Terminal, for example:

$ echo $HOME
/home/tester

In my case, /home/tester are the result I need to copy

Now, going back to the Mousepad that we opened the Dock.desktop with earlier, notice the line:

Exec=/home/duythanh/dock.sh &

Replace /home/duythanh with the result you copied earlier when executing echo $HOME command and keep everything else. For example, I have the result when I run command is: /home/tester, then the line of Dock.desktop:

Exec=/home/duythanh/dock.sh &

will changed to:

Exec=/home/tester/dock.sh &

Close gedit app.

And follow the steps depending on the desktop environment you own to enter the settings that configure the autostart applications.

Then add an entry that points to the Dock.desktop file located in the Desktops folder in this repository that you have edited earlier.

Finally, set the Trigger to on Login or when startup according to your desktop environment and you are good to go!

Running

• When you are completed all steps in Configuration section, now open Terminal then change directory to your HOME directory:

cd ~

then, type this command to mark shell scripts as executable:

chmod +x disable_second.sh
chmod +x enable_second.sh
chmod +x second_plank.sh
chmod +x dock.sh
chmod +x run.sh

Finally, type the command to launch shell script:

./run.sh

and then you are good to go! Now you can close Terminal window and continue working and enjoying!

Issues

If you have any issues, feel free to open a new issue in Issues tab!

Contribution

If you have any contributions to this repository or want to add features, please open a pull request in the Pull Requests section. All contributions are welcome and encouraged!

Copyright

Copyright © 2023 Nguyen Duy Thanh (segfault.e404). All right reserved.

License

GPLv3