looking for sshots of good looking desktops w/o KDE or Gnome

Fryguy · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2003 Posts: 32

I've got the horsepower to use, and I want to create a very eye-candy desktop. Some of the shots I've seen on art.gnome.org and kde-look.org look VERY nice. While minimalism has it's place, I also feel that it is nice to be able to have a crazy looking desktop.

However, it doesn't seem possible to create a tricked out desktop without using either KDE or gnome. karamba is kde only, all of the good launch bars (kicker, gdesklets, gnome-bar) are all environment-dependent. And there lacks a good file manager like nautilus.

So last night I took the time to emerge gnome-core and nautilus, and I've been playing around with it, and I have a feeling that it's going to become my fulltime desktop. The ability to integrate everything together into a seemless interface with lots of eyecandy is just too hard to pass up.

However, if there is a way to make a very nice looking desktop without using gnome or KDE (or xfce etc) I'd be very curious as to what people have put together.

http://art.gnome.org/screenshots/4.php http://www.kde-look.org/content/preview.php?file=9012-1.jpg

things like ^^ just seem to have a few touches that make them stand out so much from non-environment desktops. Prove me wrong if you can.

flanksteak · n00b Joined: 27 May 2002 Posts: 49 Location: Seattle

I've never used it myself, but Enlightenment is good for bold desktop looks. There are a number of themes visible at freshmeat.org. It doesn't require a lot of horsepower, though, which is one reason for its popularity.

richk449 · Guru Joined: 24 Oct 2003 Posts: 345

Wow, that first screenshot your posted was ugly. do you really find that attractive?

That said, I just switched to gnome a couple of days ago after years as a happy windowmaker user. I might stick with it on my home computer, but my work computer is defiently going to stay windowmaker.

Anyways, have you looked at the screenshots of the month?

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=101534&highlight=screenshot+month

Plenty of them use something other then gnome/kde and look pretty good. Maybe there is something there you could copy.

Fryguy · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2003 Posts: 32

My point is that I don't think it's possible to build a truly beautiful desktop without installing at least gnome or KDE (possibly not using it, but at least installing it for dependencies on things like nautilus or gdesklets). I'm looking for somebody to prove me wrong.

nephros · Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2003 3:43 am Post subject:

Well, yes, gdesklets and *karamba are hard to impossible to beat and unfortunately require the DEs to be installed.

Apart from that though, with E, icewm and WindowMaker, eyecandy-oriented desktops have had a long tradition even before either Gnome or KDE came along. (And especially KDE has a history of looking extremely ugly per default.)
Heck, some people even manage to make fvwm look decent.

I used to use WindowMaker for a long time and I remember having things like transparent titlebars and icontiles and doing cute things with root-tail. There also used to be this really cool app which came with the "night" theme which would create a "water-ripple" effect on the bottom of the screen.

I'm sorry I can't back that up with some screenshots, now that themes.org is gone. (And the freshmeat replacement is rediculous IMO.)

Gnome and KDE brought consistency in how the apps look, but they didn't invent eyecandy.
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r0x · n00b Joined: 20 Nov 2003 Posts: 2

http://slayer0x.altervista.org/xfce.gif

Doesn't look that bad..

ralph · Advocate Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 2001 Location: Hamburg

gdeskletts runs without a problem on other wms.

I don't know if it works with every wm out there, but you should have no problem using it with enlightenment.
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SysRq · Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2003 12:46 am Post subject:

http://www.sysrq.tk/images/11-22-03.png is my current desktop

Fryguy · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2003 Posts: 32

Where did you get that GTK2 theme? I haven't seen many dark themes where all text is still readable.

SysRq · Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2003 5:24 pm Post subject:

Its called bluetech, it was actually made for GTK1 but I was bored yesterday and just happened to try it for GTK2 and to my suprise it worked. http://themes.freshmeat.net/projects/bluetech/?topic_id=923%2C951

Jefklak · l33t Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Posts: 818 Location: Belgium

So you want nifty-ness eh?
What do you think of my desktop?

http://www.gamingclones.com/shots/shot2_fvwm.jpg

Fully customized FVWM 2.5.8-r1

syscrash · Guru Joined: 14 Apr 2003 Posts: 541

Here's my enlightenment desktop

Fryguy · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2003 Posts: 32

syscrash and jefklak, can you guys highlight what is what in your screenshots, and where to obtain the stuff? both of those have some very nice aspects to them and I'd like some more info

syscrash · Guru Joined: 14 Apr 2003 Posts: 541

sparks · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 6:26 am Post subject:

This is my gnome enhanced xfce-4 desktop with gdesklets running the a weather desklet.

http://www.bzsparks.com/downloads/winter_screen.jpg
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kKDu · Apprentice Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Posts: 187

Yamakasi · Apprentice Joined: 28 Sep 2002 Posts: 201

Stu L Tissimus · Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 12:16 am Post subject:

I'll post mine later... I'm almost finished with Industrai, my port of Industrial to Kahakai.
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vanjab · Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 12:24 am Post subject:

sparks is that rox pinboard? and how do you skin the bar at the bottom :S still dont know how to do it :S
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Stu L Tissimus · Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 12:46 am Post subject:

Nah, the desktop is probably Nautilus, since hje says it is Gnome-enhanced. Also, the bar at the bottom is XFce-Panel, which is skinned by the GTK+2 theme. Unless you mean the icon theme, which has an option in the XFce control center.
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Yamakasi · Apprentice Joined: 28 Sep 2002 Posts: 201

thegreatape · n00b Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 31

My current desktop, running Fluxbox 0.9.7. No KDE or Gnome here. Check it out.

Koala Kid · Guru Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 382

here's my industrial gnome :lol:

http://www.linuxshop.ru/potw/pics/17941184007.jpg
http://www.linuxshop.ru/potw/pics/12119517700.jpg
http://www.linuxshop.ru/potw/pics/36730323747.jpg

ptitman · Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:52 am Post subject:

here is my screenshot under fluxbox.
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karan · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:32 am Post subject:

jeefffkkkllaaak, I love your "fully customised fvwm2 desktop", send me the config please

karan at karan dot net dot nz, thnx

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