Install Pantheon desktop on Ubuntu

Update: The original procedure is outdated now. For the brave who don’t mind broken systems, here’s a procedure to use packages from daily and testing PPAs:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:elementary-os/daily
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:elementary-os/os-patches
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:elementary-os/testing
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mpstark/elementary-tweaks-daily
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
$ sudo apt-get install elementary-theme elementary-icon-theme elementary-default-settings elementary-desktop

To install the latest elementary-tweaks:

$ sudo apt-get install libgconf2-dev libpolkit-gobject-1-dev
$ git clone https://github.com/elementary-tweaks/elementary-tweaks
$ cd elementary-tweaks
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr ../
$ make
$ sudo make install
// run
$ switchboard

Note: The following procedure (the original one published) might be outdated by now. Results may be unexpected. You may also need to create a conf file for pantheon manually under /etc/lightdm to find the entry in lightdm login prompt.

Pantheon is the flagship desktop environment os Elementary OS, one of the most beautiful Linux distros. If you are a stock Ubuntu desktop user, you do not need to install Elementary OS afresh to check out Pantheon.

The beauty of Linux is, almost any desktop environment can be installed on any distro like additional software packages. Elementary being an Ubuntu derivative, the process becomes simpler.

To install Pantheon desktop on Ubuntu from the official Elementary OS PPA, run:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:elementary-os/stable
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install elementary-desktop

That’s it! Now logout and choose Pantheon to relish your new desktop.