The Linuxologist

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 is so 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.

*All Mac OSX taskbars in the following desktops can be created with different apps. kooldock, Avant Window Navigator, or Engage to name a few.

**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