So you thought Vista’s desktop looked slick? Or the latest Leopard desktop is coolest thing after sliced bread? Well you probably haven’t been properly exposed to Linux’s customizability. Linux flexiblity is one of it’s strongest selling points. With Linux you can easily even mimic Vista or Leopard totally free! Now I will take you through some of the kewlest, freshest, phatest desktops I have come across.
Note 1: All Mac OSX taskbars in the following desktops can be created with different apps. kooldock, Avant Window Navigator, or Engage to name a few.
Note 2: You need to enable transparency in some desktops.
1-Planetary Eye Candy
Having one wallpaper usually gets a bit dull, the solution? You get xplanet! xplanet generates graphics of our small blue planet in set intervals (say every 10 minutes), also cloud cover is updated every three hours. Your desktop will serve as your own weather map! Numerodix explains how xplanet is installed.
- Desktop: KDE
- Taskbars: top and bottom (no expansion)
- Transparency: terminal only
2-Marshmallow Hunting
This one is one of my favorites because it’s very easy on the eye. The wallpaper is slightly adjusted from the original one by David Lanham. David has got a lot of other breathtaking artwork, make sure you check them out also!! The icons were provided bye pokemonjojo2.
- Desktop: Gnome
- Taskbars: top (no expansion) and Mac OSX style
- Transparency: none
3-Futuristic Gentoo
This one is a StarWarish-Pokemonish-Haloish desktop. The original wallpaper is taken from Deviantart, while the upper and lower panel seem to be the regular GNOME panels with transparency. The icons are also Gentoo.
- Desktop: Gnome
- Taskbars: top and bottom (no expansion)
- Transparency: yes
4-Even More Gentooish
This one is a jaw dropper, it just screams Gentoo! The icon theme is called Lila and can be found on Gnome-Look. The gauges on the right are obviously gDesklets , while the wallpaper was created by nx57 from Deviantart.
- Desktop: Gnome
- Taskbars: top, bottom, and Mac OSX style
- Transparency: yes
5-Bart Goes Nude
Who doesn’t love Bart? A kid that never seems to age or mature over the years. I included this desktop just because of the beauty of the picture. Just a simple wallpaper and the Gartoon icon set.
- Desktop: Gnome
- Taskbars: bottom (no expansion)
- Transparency: none
6-Agent Smith Meet KDE
No Linux desktop list is complete without a Matrix desktop! This cool wallpaper is by timshinn73 from Deviantart. Icons are the the default KDE icon set and the widgets are obviously SuperKaramba. While the gauges are gkrellm (thanks to “me” for pointing this out)
- Desktop: KDE
- Taskbars: top and bottom (no expansion)
- Transparency: none
7-Hmmm…Portal?
This wallpaper is taken from Jamiroquai’s video Virtual Insanity. But it just reminds me of the game Portal woot!!
- Desktop: Gnome
- Taskbars: top and bottom (no expansion)
- Transparency: yes
8-CamelSnowMan
This one was done by CamelSnowMan from Deviantart, I just love the icon set! So simplistic! The Snowman artwork is done by dim.po. (I have scoured the net for the icons, I just can’t find them! Does anybody know how to get them?)
- Desktop: KDE
- Taskbars: bottom (no expansion)
- Transparency: none
9-Fedora Sky
Ok ok ya this one is mine, but it sure is slick, right? I already have featured it before when I first installed Fedora 8. I used the default Fedora Core 8 wallpaper and a modified Fayal Emerald theme.
- Desktop: KDE
- Taskbars: Bottom (no expansion)
- Transparency: Yes
10-Shrooms
This one is one of my favorite, dark and manageable! The wallpaper is originally from digitalblasphemy. The sidebar on the right also seems to SuperKaramba. While the gauges are gkrellm (thanks to “me” for pointing this out)
- Desktop: KDE
- Tasbars: top (expansion) and bottom (no expansion)
- Transparency: yes
