(Pantheon Desktop from elementary OS running on Fedora 29 Live Session)
Right now, we can install the elementary OS desktop environment, Pantheon, on Fedora GNU/Linux. It is a new thing on Fedora as so far it, as RPM distro, does not have Pantheon in its repository. If you know Fedora now has Spins ("Flavors"), you know that up to today there is no Fedora Pantheon among those Live Systems available. It is planned to be added into Fedora 30 this year and fortunately we can test it now on Fedora 28 and 29. Why Fedora? Because the fact that Fedora still supports 32-bit, if Fedora supports Pantheon, then this solves problem that elementary OS only supports 64-bit computers. You who still have 32-bit laptops can run latest Pantheon desktop using Fedora. I use Fedora Live KDE 29 in this test. You can use this to help testing Pantheon desktop to work on Fedora. Happy testing!
Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates directly.
Read also about elementary OS 5: Download Links | Review | WTDAI | Customization | Top 5 Apps
Install Pantheon Desktop
For both 32-bit and 64-bit users:
$ sudo dnf install pantheon-session-settings
On Fedora Live KDE 29, this downloads around 28MB of packages.
Logout and Login
Close your session and select Pantheon from desktop session choices on the login screen and finally login. You will see your desktop turned into this. Hey, Super key alone works here to open/close start menu (perhaps because I use Fedora KDE as the basis).
(Wingpanel, Plank, Indicators appears on the default look after installing the most basic package)
Install elementary Programs and UX
By default, pantheon-session-settings package installs you basic and safe Pantheon Desktop. But it won't look like the real elementary OS because you don't get wallpaper, icon theme, and desktop theme. Also, you don't get the Pantheon Files (file manager) along with Switchboard (system settings). To solve all these problems, install more programs:
$ sudo dnf install elementary-files elementary-wallpapers elementary-theme elementary-icon-theme elementary-terminal elementary-sound-theme elementary-shortcut-overlay switchboard
(Yes, it's still incomplete as the whole Pantheon Desktop is still being ported over to Fedora by Fabio Valentini)
Finally, I would love to say thanks to Fabio Valentini (decathorpe) to bring Pantheon on Fedora in really high spirit since more than one year ago. Without your effort, I cannot run Pantheon on Fedora. Good luck in maintaining Pantheon on Fedora!
Further Readings
- https://decathorpe.com/fedora-elementary-stable-status.html
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1649555 (bug report place)
- https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/PantheonDesktop
- https://src.fedoraproject.org/user/decathorpe/projects
- https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/decathorpe/elementary-staging