Category: Linux
The awesome Fedora 18 Spherical Cow was recently completed and the release announcement happily proclaimed support for a variety of desktop environments, including the new kid on the block Cinnamon and the Gnome 2 reboot MATE. Most Linux users switch desktop environments regularly to relieve boredom or increase productivity, an advantage over the largely static MacOSX and Windows desktops. I'm partial to LXDE due to my preference for Knoppix and Lubuntu, but my primary machine uses KDE4 due to its seamless integration with openSUSE. More recently, I've jumped on the bandwagon and I'm running the popular Xfce desktop through the Fedora 17 Xfce spin.
Just to keep things fun and less dry for those uninterested in the technicalities of X, we'll match the Linux desktop environment with Iron Man's different armors. Marvel's currently popular character, who has changed his armor every time a new writer pens his tales, is a great way to give users an idea of the varied desktop environments available for Linux users (and those interested in installing Fedora 18). A desktop environment really doesn't change a Linux distribution to the core - just like Iron Man's ever-present uni-beam, pulse bolts, jet boots, and repulsor rays remains present in 90% of his armor models.
**Disclaimer: Armor designs included in this list purposely only include selections from Iron Man's 1960s-1990s publishing run. Some armor details are from this great article written by devoted fans.***
Gnome 2.x / MATE
Gnome 2.x is associated with being the classic Linux desktop environment. Despite Gnome 3.x being introduced as a replacement and overhaul of Gnome 2, plenty of Linux distributions, as well as FreeBSD and Solaris, still support Gnome 2. Its clean and non-Microsoft Windows interface was often compared to earlier versions of MacOSX in the old days. The Gnome desktop was friendly to new users and didn't have all the confusing settings and configurations found in its then primary competitor, KDE. Most of the later desktop environments, particularly Xfce and LXDE, owe some design or software library addition to Gnome 2. Its ongoing popularity is evidenced by MATE, an updated Gnome 2 spinoff. There have been also recent calls by the Linux community to restart the Gnome 2 project so perhaps a "new" Gnome 2 is on its way soon.
openSUSE 10 with Gnome 2
Gnome 2 is boring by today's very dynamic desktop environment standards. However, I fondly remember running Gnome 2 with early versions of openSUSE and the first iterations of Ubuntu. Gnome 2 wasn't perfect and had bugs between Linux distributions but it didn't crash as much as KDE. It's still a sensible desktop environment today and no Linux user would ever question your taste if you decide on Gnome 2 over Unity or Gnome 3.x.
openSUSE 10 with Gnome 2
Iron Man Armor: Lightweight Red and Gold Armor
Tony Stark's lightweight golden armor was designed to replace the bulky and boxy Golden Avenger design. Future versions of the Iron Man armor afterwards were always based on this more human and flexible suit (which he often kept in his briefcase and "polarized" with a jolt of "transistorized energy"). Many of Stark's most memorable stories, including his bouts against Thanos in the 70s, encounters with the Black Widow and Hawkeye, the Mandarin, and outrageous space-faring adventures, occurred while he was wearing this armor. Way back when, Stark's armor was fraught with many flaws including quickly running out of power (there was no such thing as the "arc reactor" in the 60s), vulnerability to most super villain weapons (like the Melter or Blizzard's attacks), and lack of strength and durability when facing opponents like the Hulk, Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, or Ultimo. Stark (and Iron Man artists and writers) added and removed many components from the armor during the long years Stark was using the armor: rivets, handguns, power disks, communication antennas, magnets, roller skates, and even a nose. However, the red and gold design was arguably the best armor design from an aesthetic standpoint - later versions were too complex, busy, and outright impractical. The red and gold armor is immortalized in the 1966 Grantray-Lawrence cartoon with the brilliant theme song.
Iron Man art from Iron Man #145 (1981)
Like the lightweight red and gold armor, which will always be associated with Iron Man no matter how many revisions Stark makes to his arsenal, Gnome 2 will always remain in the minds of Linux users everywhere.
Iron Man art from Giant Size Iron Man #1 (1975)
MATE is available for Fedora 18 Spherical Cow through the Fedora repositories or by installing the Fedora 18 DVD.
LXDE
LXDE is a lightweight desktop environment and is easily recognizable for its minimal and functional design. Its popularity gave rise to spins like Lubuntu and Fedora LXDE and is used as the default desktop for distributions like Knoppix. Although LXDE's once lauded boot time is rendered irrelevant due to high-end processors and SSDs, it's a great desktop for legacy machines, netbooks, or for running LiveUSB or LiveCD distributions. LXDE comes with PCMANFM, a competent lightweight file manager, and LXPanel for its main applications menu. What LXDE lacks in fancy features it makes up for almost seamless compatibility to Gnome and KDE applications.
Knoppix 6.5 with LXDE
Iron Man Armor: Stealth Armor
The ebony Stealth Armor has appeared in the Iron Man series only a handful of times - for good reason. Bereft of any weapons or armaments, the Stealth Armor was designed only for surveillance, espionage, and monitoring missions. The Stealth Armor is even less protective than Stark's golden lightweight armor from the 70s and is pretty flimsy compared to Stark's other designs. Aside from its dark color and radar/sonar-safe design, the Stealth Armor has no distinguishing marks compared to the Silver Centurion or the boxy yellow armor. A later revision of the Stealth Armor added the ability to emit low-level repulsor blasts a handful of times. To its credit, however, Stark was able to beat both the more powerful Titanium Man and a new Crimson Dynamo using the Stealth Armor through sheer guile and his jet boots.
Stealth Armor art from Iron Man #229 (1988)
Stealth Armor from Iron Man #152 (1981)
Like the Stealth Armor, it's how you use LXDE, not what applications it comes with. LXDE is available for Fedora 18 Spherical Cow through the Fedora repositories or by installing the Fedora 18 LXDE spin.
Introducing Linux Desktop Environments featuring Fedora 18 and Iron Man Part 2: Xfce, KDE, Gnome 3.6, and Cinnamon
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