best looking desktop
 

Hello,

I am new with Linux and I want to chose a distribution...
But... What distribution will I chose? My priority at the moment is a good looking desktop (tuneable, beautiful icons, nice window shapes,...) and I am going to run normal programs (replacement of windows). Networking is for later!

Thanks a lot,

Bert

any distro can run any desktop (within reason) take your pick... it'll be a choice of gnome and KDE and they exist on all the popular distro's just the same.

Take the two quizes in my signature. They might help you pick a distro...

bert:

Well, if you want to postpone networking (in the sense of not connecting to the internet?), you'll need a distribution that looks nice right out of the box. Browse DistroWatch for tips - from what you say I guess you should look for Enlightenment as a window manager; there are some like Elive or Olive, but since I didn't use them, I couldn't recommend any of them yet.

pjvaldez's proposal really is a good one - however, keep in mind that if you're not connected to the internet, even the most flexible distribution might not be adaptable to your wishes if you can't get the stuff you want.

As mentioned, pretty much any of them can be made to look good, it's just a matter of how much time you want to spend on it. Personally I've found KDE is a bit easier to make look good, but I prefer Gnome to work with (between the two most common desktops, I actually use fluxbox most of the time). Enlightenment is supposed to be good for eye candy, though I haven't used it myself. I'm not sure if any distros come with it by default though.

If you're an aesthete (i.e., you like arts and design), you'd go for GNOME instead of KDE (XFCE with GNOME/GTK themes is still OK, but definitely not KDE).

Especially Ubuntu provides a professional and balanced set of user dialogs and artwork - comes close to Mac.

[Edit]BTW, another poster said you could make KDE "look good". - I don't think so. - Start with GNOME.[/Edit]

That's a matter of opinion, Robert. ;)

I think you are not taking a balanced view here and are a bit biased towards GNOME. I use both regularly and they are both very customisable but there are a lot more things that can be customised in KDE than GNOME.

Basically it just comes down to what you feel is best for you. I have found that most people migrating from windows like KDE because it's similar in terms of navigation, and people who migrate from Mac like gnome, for the same reason.
My tip would be to experiment with both, you don't know until you try.

suse hands down.

Ahh there... that's the point where this thread turned into a pointless popularity contest.

If your looking for cutting edge stuff, there is a project called looking glass from sun microsystems they are developing a true 3d desktop check out the video
http://www.sun.com/software/looking_glass/demo.xml

Or if thats a bit too far advanced! go with Englightenment r17 (lastest version), if this desktop was a women, she would be the sexiest in the world!!!!!!!!

Yes i have to agree, I find enlightenment R17 looks the best however it's in heavy development, things like the file manager etc. are completly attrocious. Constant updates also made a mess of any settings i set, when it gets released i will be using that i imagine.

Second to that i like KDE (with transparency, i find it nasty without) and XFCE

Then Fluxbox, i like the for the easily customisable text files/themes.

Lastly gnome, i just can't get into it, saw a posting about the new Ubuntu over on slashdot so i may take a looksy.

I never settle with any GUI out of the box though, which makes the distro irrelevant in that respect there's always something i have to change, cause it either bugs me, i need something to tinker with or i need to give it it's own personality :)

Very true - its a shame the project does not have the backing/resources/money of a big corporation like sun or maybe microsoft if they pumped some of their unlimited cash into the project and stayed away from the code/design it could blow all linux desktops out of the water! I'm just jesting.... I think suns desktop might do very well although people might not be ready for true 3d what do you think ethics? If they keep the hardware requirements down to a minimum it could do very well.

I actually like Fluxbox as my main window maanager very fast and clean cut, no bloat etc, i'm using Damn small linux at the moment, which is cool for 50mg....

I'm an engineer, i've seen what pumping money into a project can do to speed up development, it can either have a very positive aspect, or a very negative one, depending on how it is managed.

I also think backing by corporations is a double edged sword, it will help with exposure and adoption by some potential markets, but it will offend some (Microsoft supporting enlightenment, some would be outraged), and they will have their own agenda, if that differs from the project/developers idea then there is going to be a compromise. Having watched E17s development i'm confident they'll get it done and very spiffy it will look when finished.

I digress though as this is beyond the scope of the original posters question :)

try them all, keep the one you like and tweak it, when you've tweaked all you can, get another one, or a later version will be out to play with :)