Custom Pantheon DEs (Compiz and Openbox)

[quequotion]

The basic Pantheon DE (slingshot-launcher, wingpanel, gala, plank) can be installed independently of elementary. In fact, gala and plank are optional as well if you don't need a dock or want to use another window manager.

Pantheon 3D:


Replaces gala with compiz for a 3D, light and fast alternative to Unity.
This requires ccsm to create a compiz profile with Unity disabled.

/usr/share/xsessions/pantheon-compiz.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Pantheon 3D
Comment=This session provides elementary-3d experience
Exec=gnome-session --session=pantheon-compiz
TryExec=wingpanel
Icon=
Type=Application

/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/pantheon-compiz.session

[GNOME Session]
Name=Pantheon Compiz
RequiredComponents=gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=compiz
FallbackSession=ubuntu
DesktopName=Pantheon

Pantheon/Openbox:


Replaces gala with openbox for a very light 2D alternative to Pantheon.

/usr/share/xsessions/openbox-pantheon.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Pantheon/Openbox
Comment=Use the Openbox window manager inside of the Pantheon desktop environment
Exec=/usr/bin/openbox-pantheon-session
TryExec=gnome-session
Icon=openbox.png
Type=XSession

/usr/bin/openbox-pantheon-session

#!/bin/sh

if test -n "$1"; then
    echo "Syntax: openbox-gnome-session"
    echo
    echo "See the openbox-gnome-session(1) manpage for help."
  exit
fi

# Clean up after GDM
xprop -root -remove _NET_NUMBER_OF_DESKTOPS \
      -remove _NET_DESKTOP_NAMES \
      -remove _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP 2> /dev/null

# Set up the environment
A="/etc/xdg/openbox/environment"
test -r $A && . $A
A="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-"$HOME/.config"}/openbox/environment"
test -r $A && . $A

# Run Openbox, and have it run the autostart stuff
exec wingpanel &
exec plank & # optional dock
exec /usr/bin/openbox --startup "/usr/lib/openbox/openbox-autostart OPENBOX" "$@"

I also use Openbox with just lxpanel when I need to maximize available resources. To make sure my configuration for Openbox doesn't conflict with Pantheon Openbox and to give both a 2.5D feel, I added to the autostart script:
/etc/xdg/openbox/autostart

xcompmgr & # optional composting manager
if [ -z "`pgrep wingpanel`" ]; then lxpanel; fi & # optional panel

UPDATE: Scroll down to "Pantheon Lite" for a much better implementation.