Linux is having a moment in the mainstream right now, thanks to the popularity of the Steam Deck and SteamOS. The thing is, while Linux is the overarching name for the operating systems bearing its name, there are as many Linux distributions as stars in the sky (okay, maybe not quite, but it's not far off).

The open-source nature of the operating system wins points for privacy advocates and for those who want full control over their systems, and that also opens the door to some amazing desktop environments. Most Linux distributions allow the user to customize every aspect of the desktop environment, from the desktop environment itself to the windows manager that runs over it and which widgets, tools, and effects run on those. With a little work, you can make something truly unique, and here are some of the best apps and tools to install along the way.

7 KDE Plasma

One of the prettiest desktop environments now has the fan-favorite cube effect

KDE has been one of the default Linux desktop environments for a very long time and has morphed into one of the prettiest while still being incredibly easy to customize to your desired look. It's got deep theming engines, plus tons of fantastic animations to spice up window transitions, including a reconstruction of the beloved Compiz Cube that turns virtual desktops into the sides of a cube that you can rotate between when bored.

Plus, it's one of (if not the only) desktop environments where any application written in any framework works without tweaking. That's no small thing when Linux has slightly fractured over the years, and even better is the fact if you don't like it, you can change every aspect of the environment to suit your needs. No need for hacky extensions or roadblocks, KDE Plasma will let you make your desktop shine.

6 i3-gaps

No gaps, no drops, and not a boring desktop in sight

The tiling window manager, known as i3-gaps, is a way of organizing your Linux windows when open, so that they don't overlap. The "gaps" in the name is from the space between the windows, and you can arrange them in any orientation as long as they don't touch. But you can do so much more, from themes to transparency to animations, all by adding additional modules or tools to the window manager.

One of the biggest draws to i3-gaps is the size of the community around customizing it, who create premade themes, tutorials, and everything else you may need to start beautifying your Linux desktop to be uniquely yours.

5 awesomewm

Window managers make custom Linux themes easy, and this is one of the best

Linux window managers come in several flavors, and Awesome WM is the tiling version. Instead of stacking app windows like Windows or macOS, Awesome WM organizes the visible windows so that they don't overlap, tiling them to take up every pixel of available space. This makes it very optimized for coding, writing, or any task where you'd want multiple windows open at once. It's often easier to move between them with keyboard shortcuts than having to break to pick up your mouse.

It's got tons of already created themes and widgets, or you can script your own with Lua if you prefer. You can create your own taskbar, lock screen, terminal layout, and more, and the more you dive into it, the more you get out of it.

4 openbox

This minimalistic window manager can be extensively themed

Window managers are an essential part of the Linux desktop, and Openbox is another floating window manager that can work on multiple desktop environments. Its low resource requirements make it a favorite of many users, and it can be extensively themed to fit your particular aesthetic. There are tons of already created themes out there as well, and it's easy to configure with a nice GUI for when you're just getting into theming.

3 Picom

One of the most popular compositors for Linux is incredibly powerful

Picom is a compositor that can help you tweak nearly every aspect of the Linux desktop. These powerful utilities take data from each window and pass it to the render buffer so that it appears on the desktop. Think of it as post-processing for your app windows, like how ENBSeries or ReShade works on PC games. Because it handles the output of each window, Picom can add tons of different features to the windows before they're rendered.

That means you can add blur, transparency, rounded corners, animation, shadows, and more to every aspect that's being rendered on your desktop. It's like you've been granted power over every aspect of the desktop, and is incredibly powerful once you dive into the settings.

2 Animated Wallpapers

Tools like Paperview give your desktop something extraordinary

Using animated wallpapers on many Linux custom window managers is a tricky process, as most tools perform slowly. But Paperview is different, built to have high performance and give your desktop a fantastic animated wallpaper.

The trick is that, instead of pulling images from the storage drive, Paperview loads the bitmaps into the GPU memory and then puts them into the X11 window at the same rate as your monitor's refresh rate. Smooth desktop animations, low CPU use, support for any number of monitors, and fantastic performance. What's not to like? Plus, the bitmaps you need are really easy to generate from GIFs with imagemagick.

1 Conky

This lightweight system monitor can do more than show temperatures

If you've ever used Rainmaker on a Windows desktop, you know that system monitoring tools that support plug-ins are amazing. Well, on the Linux side of things, Conky fills that bill, turning what looks like a simple system monitoring utility into something much, much more. When you first run Conky from a Terminal window, you'll be faced with a fairly barebones system monitoring overlay, but with a little bit of work, you can turn it into a desktop full of eye candy.

That's because Conky can be easily themed with thousands of themes created by community members and a fairly simple way to create your own if you can't find something that catches your eye. The other really good thing is that Conky isn't distro-specific or even limited to certain desktop environments, so once you find a theme you like, it can follow you to any Linux distro that you switch to.

Open-source means choice, so why limit your Linux desktop to the defaults

Whichever way you go to theming your Linux desktop, you can design and build something truly yours with a little bit of effort. The community has tons of involved theme makers, and there are always thriving communities on Reddit for Unix and Linux customization. From minimalism to maximalism you can make the desktop that makes you most productive and gives you joy every time you look at it.