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Device Customization

Device customization is an activity that people enjoy, to make the interfaces of their devices look personalized.

Importance of availability of source code and modularity for customization

Open source operating systems are in principle more customizable than proprietary operating systems, however due to popularity and associated or otherwise monetary advantages, proprietary operating systems can also be pretty customizable, although they will ultimately be limited to the extend to which the developers allow for customization.

In essence, customization is about altering the default working and appearance of the system, and at the deepest level, customization is only possible to the extent to which a system or a layer above it is open source.

Modularity is another important factor, because that is the design feature which allows a different interface to work with the other components.

Appearance and Workflow

The general components to modify are:

  • Icon Packs
  • Font Packs
  • Cursor Packs
  • Sound Themes
  • Global Themes (Dynamic or Static)
  • Wallpapers
  • App-specific Themes
  • Window Compositing and Animations
  • Docks
  • Functional and Aesthetic Widgets (Window Gadgets)
  • Window Management and Workspaces

In Microsoft Windows [Proprietary]

Widgets

  • Windows Vista/7 Gadgets (deprecated) [Proprietary]
  • Rainmeter Widgets

Desktop Environments

  • xoblite Window Manager
  • Kera Desktop

Custom Applications

  • xplorer File Manager
  • Kando Pie Menu

In UNIX-like desktop operating systems

  • EWW
  • AGS Widgets
  • GNOME Extensions
  • Plasma Addons
  • Kando Pie Menu
  • Window Managers

In Android

  • Custom Recovery
    • CWM
    • TWRP
    • OFRP
    • PBRP
    • SHRP
    • RWRP
  • Android Distribution
    • Cyanogen Mod
    • Lineage OS
    • Resurrection Remix (deprecated)
    • Havoc OS
    • Cherish OS
    • Project Matrixx
    • More ROMs List:
  • Apps and Modules
    • KWGT Widgets [Proprietary]

System Customization

In Microsoft Windows [Proprietary]

  • Sound Enhancement
  • FxSound [Proprietary]

In UNIX-like desktop operating systems

  • Sound Enhancement
    • Option: Easy Effects
    • Option: JamesDSP
  • Network Management
    • Option: Network Manager (NetworkManager)
    • Option: iNet Wireless Daemon (iwd)
    • Option: WPA Supplicant (wpa_supplicant)
  • Firewall Management
    • Option: Firewalld by Red Hat
    • Option: Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW) by Ubuntu
  • Audio Management
    • PulseAudio, JACK, PipeWire
  • Kernel Flags
  • System C Library
  • Package Management
    • System Package Manager, Flatpak, AppImage, Snapcraft, Plain Binaries
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