User:Greg.fleury

This is a comprehensive guide for creating the ultimate desktop environment on the Gentoo distribution of the Linux-kernel based platform.

Preface
Before I get into the technical details, I wanted to share a few guiding principles for my approach. This guide is very extensive, and contains a lot of detail about how to make a very powerful workstation for any use: development, graphic design, gaming, etc. Since I often work with graphic design in my own profession, I've spent a lot of time evaluating many different desktop environments and customization approaches to balance productivity with a high degree of visual appeal and usability.

This guide is written from a first-person perspective, because it truly is a one man's opinion on how to achieve the ultimate desktop experience. I prefer it this way, because I believe it's easier to read. But don't worry, you will have plenty of access to specifications, howtos, man pages that I base this guide on.

Lastly, I've been running this setup for the better part of a decade. In 2011, I replaced all our workstations with ones that contain a Dell Precision-specific build of this system for all employees, including the non-technical stuff. Everyone loves it so far.

I am a frequent visitor to #gentoo on FreeNode on IRC under the nickname Larzen. By all means come in and chat. Also, feel free to contribute to this guide in any way you see fit.

Desktop Environment Key Components
This section lists the key components and design decisions that we are going to make.

UEFI
In this guide, I do not employ the use of a Boot Manager. I will tell you all about building an EFI stub kernel that you can boot directly. Having been a fan of Grub for well over a decade, I've found this method to be very convenient. If you would like to read more about EFI, be sure to check out UEFI Wiki.