Do you trick out or go stock Desktop?

[mamamia88]

Well I'm on arch now so if i didn't customize i'd be stuck with just a command prompt. I use xfce and all I really mess with is panels and wallpaper. I'll browse xfce look for different themes from time to time but other than that I stick with stock

[NovaWasp]

I switched back to Windows but keep a virtualbox Ubuntu around as a more secure web browser. I barely customize the wall paper anymore.

[sffvba[e0rt]

I try to resist the urge because once I start I don't stop until I get so fed up with it that I end up doing a clean install to re-start the cycle.

So at the moment I will change the background and I do like the Faenza icon set...


404

[nmaster]

if you really want have a customized desktop experience (that is stable) you're probably best off not using a desktop environment like gnome or kde. you should look into using a lightweight window manager like openbox or fluxbox. then you have the ability to choose the panel, menu settings, specific applications, and a whole range of things.

this is a really good guide to using openbox and you can find similar guides for fluxbox:
http://urukrama.wordpress.com/openbox-guide/

I start from a minimal install and then build the system i want. i have the functionality i need/want and i can know how to tweak things. if i had more time i would probably check out arch but at this point i see no reason to rock the boat. my system is stable and to my liking so i'm going to keep it.

[Paqman]

So I am wondering of old time Nix users here.... is this a common thing or?

Not sure I'm really an old time user, but I don't really bother twiddling around with it either these days. That must mean the defaults are pretty good these days.

Maybe it's just because it's not brown any more.

[vexorian]

if you really want have a customized desktop experience (that is stable) you're probably best off not using a desktop environment like gnome or kde. you should look into using a lightweight window manager like openbox or fluxbox. then you have the ability to choose the panel, menu settings, specific applications, and a whole range of things.

this is a really good guide to using openbox and you can find similar guides for fluxbox:
http://urukrama.wordpress.com/openbox-guide/

I start from a minimal install and then build the system i want. i have the functionality i need/want and i can know how to tweak things. if i had more time i would probably check out arch but at this point i see no reason to rock the boat. my system is stable and to my liking so i'm going to keep it.

Gnome-shell is VERY customizable.

So much that it is completely useless without customization.

[Erik1984]

Stock desktop today. Customizing can be nice but most of the time it either got out of hand or just wasn't as nice as the default settings. Ubuntu has pretty sane defaults. My weak spot are wallpapers, have quite a big collection and tend to change them often (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1983499). However since my clean install of precise (nearly 2 weeks ago) I haven't changed it.

[CarpKing]

I customize, but my costomization has been essentially the same for almost five years- dark-ish theme, bar on top with menus and tray, and dock on bottom. It took some fiddling to accomplish that when i switched from Gnome2+Compiz to Gnome-shell, but after each release I pretty much just tweak it once and then change the wallpaper occasionally.

[Mikeb85]

I've got a pretty standard Unity desktop, with added lenses, and a few applets. About all I customize is the wallpaper...

[loxety]

I don't spend much time on the desktop. Mostly I run apps maximized. So my desktop is solid black with colors of components adjusted for visibility.

Same here!