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20 Really Awesome Linux Desktop Customization Screenshots

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In terms of customizability, I can honestly say that the Linux desktop is far better than Mac OS X or Windows. In Linux, there are tons and tons of desktop environments, window managers, icon sets, and different applications readily available for easily customizing or tweaking the overall desktop look and feel. Although it's possible to change the appearance of Mac and Windows desktop, the options for doing so are quite limited.

So that we can fully appreciate the flexibility of Linux, I gathered several awesome-looking desktop customization screenshots (with short details) from the web that I would like to show to all of you. I hope that these screenshots will somehow arouse your creativity and inspire you to transform the appearance of your desktop into something that's also amazing.

Without further delay, here are some impressive Linux desktop customization screenshots:


1. Gnome Seven for Gaia by Izobalax

Details:
GTK & Metacity - Gaia 09 by fkant
Icons - Gaia Icons by *imrik
Wallpaper - One by *imrik
Other - Pidgin, GQview, Thunar, Banshee, GIMP, Rainlendar, Screenlets


2. KDE 4.4 by Sebcioz

Details:
Plasma theme - Air
Icons - Reflections DOCK
Wallpaper - Grey Inspire
Cover - superkaramba's applet: Amarok2Simple


3. Awn is awesome by Blazmir1

Details:
GTK & Metacity - Aurora Aqua & eCO - Experiment
Icons - Meliae SVG Icon Theme v. 1.2
Wallpaper - Self Portrait April 09' by `j3concepts
Fonts - droid sans, trebuchet ms


4. DSTRY by Izobalax

Details:
GTK & Metacity - Crazy Muthafucka
Icons - custom theme using AMANA icons
Wallpaper - The Escape, part of the Desktopography 2009 series
Other - Conky, GQview, Thunar, Banshee, Totem (custom image), Pidgin, Tint2


5. Grey by IHackr

Details:
GTK & Metacity - spacedust
Icons - sonetto
Wallpaper - Minimo
Other - Conky, VLC, Songbird


6. Jaunty 4.0 by Ivsaken1

Details:
GTK & Metacity - Biergarten 0.3
Icons - Hydroxygen
Wallpaper - origami by Hallaserke


7. Ready For ArchLinux by Grafilker

Details:
- Archlinux + Gnome + Avn + Screenlets + Conky


8. Conky Galore by TheSeanKelly

Details:
Icons - Smokikon v0.9
Wallpaper - AREA04 CEF
Other - awn, conky


9. 19.05 by lynucs

Details:
Desktop - Xfce4
GTK & Metacity - clearlooks Darkcoffee2
Icons - area04
Wallpaper - ASEN by VisionsofArt
Other - gqview, xchat, konqueror, firefox, xterm, fbrun, cal (calender for term), sonata


10. Dust maxxed out by BilliShere

Details:
GTK & Metacity - dust gtk
Wallpaper - indian summer 08
Other - screenlets, snackr (adobe air app) and conky


11. GNU Linux 03 by jjrrmmrr

Details:
GTK themes - BiMetallico 1.1
Icon - Mac4Lin ver.0.4 GTK Icon Theme
Screenlets - widescape weather, digital clock and clear calendar


12. Bliss by lynucs

Details:
OS - Fedora 9
Desktop - Xfce4
Wallpaper - Homespun
Other - xfterm4, edit, gqview, roxfiler, widescape


13. Linux Desktop by ebupof

Details:
GTK & Metacity - Shiftie
Icons - Si
Wallpaper - Leafie PRO


14. Linux Desktop by PurposeOfReason

Details:
OS - Archlinux
Desktop - Openbox
Wallpaper - Foresight by Paul Scott-Wilson
Other - pypanel, xcompmgr. Conky


15. Simple Debian by hadret

Details:
GTK & Metacity - Alun Dark
Icons - Meliae & hydroxygen
AWN Icons - ecqlipse 2
Wallpaper - Debian Grass 2
Other - AWN, Conky, GNOME-MPlayer, Iceweasel, Nautilus


16. Vorta Conky and Tint by Kshegzyaj

Details:
Desktop - XFCE
Theme - Vorta suite
Other - Compiz, Emerald, Conky


17. Linux Desktop Customization by FrostTyrant

Details:
GTK & Metacity - Elegant Brit
Desktop - XFCE
Other - Thunar


18. Linux Desktop Customization by Froli

Details:
OS - Archlinux
GTK & Metacity - Nova-Blue
Icons - ALLBLACK
OpenBox Theme - arch.blue


19. Simply Linux by HellsDark

Details:
GTK & Metacity - MurrineGlow Blue GTK 2.0
Icons - HDmix
Wallpaper - Plasticstripes Underwater
Emerald - Gomoso brave dark
Other - NowPlaying Screenlet, Conky, AWN


20. No manual entry for life by KingCam

Details:
GTK & Metacity - ASN
Icons - Micro
Dock Icons - Handelgot_Icons
Wallpaper - Raw
Pic - Iridescence


If you think that your Linux desktop looks as good as those we’ve shown above, or if you know a link or two to other awesome Linux desktop screenshots, please share them with us via comment.

13 comments

  1. Yeah, some of these are nifty configurations! Thanks for sharing.

    But your post title reminded of http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/ ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. @stbn

    I'm glad you liked it :-)

    "But your post title reminded of http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/ ;)"

    LOL! Thanks for the enlightenment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sadly too much crappy gnome look.

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  4. Awesome screenshots :)

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  5. I'd like to shamelessly self-promote my setup:
    http://images.eax.dk/eax_desktop_may_2010.png

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ugh.... would it killed you to provide the actual screenshots instead of microscopic thumbnails?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Really good screenshots, probably you can add a link to the themes used :D

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  8. THIS IS AWESOME. Some tutorials would be great tho.

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  9. Yeah they all look cool but at least 3 or 4 of them use the same Icon set.

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  10. Thanks for featuring two of mine. =]

    /izo\

    ReplyDelete
  11. The PCLinuxOS monthly screenshot thread:
    http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,80454.0.html

    (This one is for October 2010, so it's still a little small. Check out the previous couple of months, as well.)

    Lots of KDE goodness, of course. But also Gnome, XFCE, LXDE, E17, and even Openbox.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Meh, it looked very gnomish overall.
    One thing I noticed is that EVERY one of the users has 
    great vision because they all keep the default 6pt fonts.

    Ive installed quite a few Linux for newbies and people alwalways ask 'Can you make this bigger?' when it comesto fonts, icons AND panels. (never mind that the KDE folks cant get it in their heads that not everyone likes small icons and that the system tray icons are totally useless for people with bad eyesight since its the onlything that cant be made bigger).

    All the pictures looked 'posed' and fake.
    Like when peoplesend pictures of their desks but clean it for 30mins so it doesnt look like it always does.

    This wasnt the best example to show the variety of 
    Linux desktops but it is a fact: the Linux desktop can reflect YOUR choices, not the choices of other people.
    THe best desktop is the one that suits YOUR needs.
    And Linux desktops offer variety and customization thatit can make in what you want it to be.


    I hate all default themes and windowing managers, I prefer to have my bottom panel fat and big and disappear out of site, I use disappearing side panels for programs that are less often used and icons on the desktop for the 5 most used ones. I have four desktops running and all have different looks with different widgets.
    My desktop is messy, with notepads filled with comments and nots all over the place but my desktop is the best because it suits MY needs perfectly.
    And that is the best kind of desktop.

     

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  13. On image #8, it says 'wan' in other, instead of 'awn'.

    @Anonymous (the one just above me), I would love to see your desktops, take a screenshot and share it with us.

    ReplyDelete