Cinnamon Desktop Environment

[Welly Wu]

I have a new System76 Lemur Ultra Thin (lemu4) notebook PC with Ubuntu 12.04.1 64 bit Long Term Service and Linux kernel 3.3.6-030300 along with Mozilla Firefox Aurora 17.0a2 and Cinnamon 1.4 stable. I have been playing around with different desktop environments in the past few months and I have just settled upon Cinnamon 1.4 stable. Why? It is hyper fast and super stable! It is not Ubuntu Unity! I can easily read the fonts without causing eye strain. It resembles Microsoft Windows and KDE with the GNOME elements. It is in active development and future improved versions are being released on a timely basis. It is actively supported within the Linux Mint community. Ubuntu users can download and install a Cinnamon PPA and get the Cinnamon goodness for free. It supports GTK3 which is important for certain third-party, closed source, proprietary software applications that I installed like Adobe Air and Zinio Reader 4. Finally, it just works (TM)!

I have been ignoring Cinnamon 1.4 stable for quite some time, but I decided to give it a go tonight because I got fed up with the quirks associated with GNOME 3.4.1. I value clear and concise organization for my software applications and I like how Cinnamon retains the original GNOME 2.x layout while incorporating some of the better aspects of GNOME 3.x, KDE, and Microsoft Windows. It is very thoughtfully well put together. It is designed for modern digital work flows for desktop users. There are no fancy effects that are frivolous and obviously designed for a touch centric input devices such as smart phones, tablets, and e-book readers to add confusion, complexity, and degraded PC performance. It is light on system resources and it is extremely fast on modern PCs. It is also super stable as I have yet to encounter any serious bugs that disrupt my digital work flow. It gets out of the way just enough to let me focus on my work without being too bland or boring. Cinnamon adds the right blend of spice to the desktop without overpowering any particular elements. It is very well balanced and thoroughly useful.

Cinnamon 1.6 is in preview now, but I decided to add the Cinnamon Nightly PPA. I plan to see what the fuss is all about after upgrading, logging out, and logging back in.

[Welly Wu]

I couldn't get the Cinnamon Nightly PPA to work properly. I am using Cinnamon 1.4.0-1 UP3 right now which is the latest stable version. I love it a lot. I think that I will continue to use it throughout this entire week to see how much I can learn how to use it to maximum productivity.

[Toz]

Moved to the Community Cafe.

[Jakin]

The last time i tried Cinnamon 1.4, it was very unstable for me. As well as sorely missing alot of extras and plugins, that others DEs have, and so it wasn't very productive for me..
I do agree that it is very lightweight though :)

[wheeze]

Cinnamon 1.6 has been officially released.

http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/?p=207

[mamamia88]

Cinnamon 1.6 has been officially released.

http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/?p=207
just installed it from the AUR using yaourt and I have to say I think I would actually prefer stock gnome3. It's been my experience that cinnamon doesn't run well on anything but mint. Maybe if i had something more powerful than a netbook. back to xfce it is.

[forrestcupp]

I recently tried Cinnamon out and it just felt lacking. Then I tried the latest KDE out and wondered why Cinnamon even exists.

But to each his own.

[Welly Wu]

After some fits, I finally got Cinnamon 1.6.0 on my Ubuntu 12.04.1 64 bit Long Term Service. It is terrific. It has a much cleaner and sleeker look and feel and there are a lot of cool new and useful features without drastically altering the speed and performance of the Cinnamon desktop environment. Cinnamon now feels more complete and useful. I am surprised that it only took them about 4 months to crank out this update. I think it is an important update that a lot of Linux Mint users have requested for quite some time. Cinnamon is now my preferred desktop environment for this week. I am going to stick to using it for the rest of this week before I make my determination as to whether it will replace the default Ubuntu Unity desktop environment or not. Cinnamon 1.6.0 is 99 percent compatible with my software applications. It feels just right. It has the right balance of features, capabilities, simplicity, reliability, and speed and performance. I consider it to be a good alternative to Ubuntu Unity. It helps me to get my digital work flow done in a precise manner without too many disruptions and that is essential. So far, I really like the new features and improvements of Cinnamon 1.6.0. I think that it will grow on me over time and I will continue to prefer to use it in the future as my default desktop environment. I love the fact that it is pretty customizable unlike Ubuntu Unity and there are add-on themes, extensions, and applets that I can download and install to further enhance its features set and capabilities. That is very important to me. It helps me to get my own custom Cinnamon desktop environment to work exactly the way that I want it to work for me.

I think that Ubuntu users should check out Cinnamon 1.6.x. Give it a try. See what I am seeing and if it's not for you, then remove it. Be of an open mind about the Cinnamon desktop environment. I like the new Nemo file manager. It adds important new and useful features that are missing from the traditional Nautilus file manager. It's fast and it is compatible with my folders and files some of which have special permissions and restrictions and very heavy encryption.

Cinnamon 1.6.0 takes up slightly fewer system resources than the older 1.4.x version and it is faster. They really cut out a lot of unnecessary code and they tightened it up quite a bit. It's leaner, faster, and friendlier than the older version.

Cinnamon 1.6.x makes using Ubuntu a joy. I can focus on my work and not have to put up with the Ubuntu Unity problems. Cinnamon is under constant development and improvements are evident. It has a much faster release cycle than Ubuntu Unity which is another important fact for me.

The biggest problem that I have with Ubuntu Unity is the fact that it looks and feels like Apple Macintosh OS X too much. I hate Apple, Inc.! They are as bad as Microsoft Corporation if not worse for overcharging their customers for extremely expensive products and services. Ubuntu Unity and OS X simplify the user interface so that a 2 year old can learn how to use it. That's not me. By oversimplifying the elements of a good desktop environment, you take away important and useful features for fluff that only looks good, but it lacks a truly useful purpose that anyone can enjoy. I don't like the direction in which Canonical is taking the Unity desktop environment. Now, they are adding more features such as a more features rich HUD that is more contextually aware of each specific software application and they are reaching for the Ubuntu One cloud by making websites function like desktop Apps. In other words, Canonical is just playing copy cat by cherry picking the best features found in Microsoft Windows 8 and Apple Macintosh OS X Mountain Lion and grafting it into Ubuntu with their own style. It just does not work and it drove away a lot of Ubuntu users in the past.

Cinnamon offers a refreshing alternative desktop environment that is designed for desktop users with a keyboard and a mouse or a touchpad. It makes no apologies for doing so. Cinnamon is modular and flexible. It does not dictate your digital work flow for you. You are in full control of how you choose to use your PC running Ubuntu or Linux Mint. It makes it possible to enjoy neat new features that don't try to mimic other people's ideas too blatantly just for the sake of me too effect. It does not try to overburden your PC by consuming too many resources and slowing it down. Ubuntu Unity 6.4 is slower than 5.6 in Ubuntu 12.10 32 and 64 bit at least according to Phoronix in its Beta 1 testing results. Cinnamon 1.6.0 is significantly leaner and faster than 1.4.x. See the difference?

Finally, Cinnamon makes it possible to organize and maximize your digital work flow in a cogent manner. It is not confusing and it does not require a learning curve. Each new additional feature was carefully thought out before it was coded into the next release update. Linux Mint users are not shy about their love for Cinnamon and they have not abandoned Linux Mint due to Cinnamon or MATE as a result. I strongly prefer Ubuntu over Linux Mint because System76 offers me two years of help and technical support for Ubuntu. Yet, I can add the Cinnamon PPA and get the look and feel of Linux Mint without having to re-install the operating system bare metal all over again. That is a positive win win scenario for me. There are some things that Ubuntu are doing well that Linux Mint can not match yet. The biggest plus in Ubuntu's favor is its huge base of Linux users that can attract the attention of software vendors to develop software applications and Apps for Ubuntu in the Ubuntu Software Center. Then, there is the huge number of PPAs to further customize Ubuntu to add new features and expand capabilities. Ubuntu is a known brand and it is well supported. It's just this crazy Unity desktop environment that is driving Ubuntu users to Linux Mint or other GNU/Linux distributions or even Apple or Microsoft that is the big problem.

[Welly Wu]

Using the current Phoronix Test Suite 4.0.1-Suldal, my testing confirms that Cinnamon 1.6.0 is nearly as fast asXFCE 1.4 and LXDE 0.5.x on my System76 Lemur Ultra Thin (lemu4). The slowest aspect about Cinnamon 1.6.0 is loading the desktop environment after I log in because I have quite a number of applets and extensions that I added to customize it. Otherwise, daily usage case workloads indicate that Cinnamon 1.6.0 is nearly as fast as XFCE and LXDE without encumbering system resources and sacrificing speed and performance for additional features and capabilities. Your results may differ.

[NormanFLinux]

Cinnamon used to require high graphics card acceleration to run. Thanks to the new Gallium llvmpipe software graphics rastering engine, stock Cinnamon can now be run on even low powered machines that don't have high graphics cards.

There is a 2D Cinnamon session but its best run on operating systems that don't have the llvmpipe software rendering engine installed by default.

It looks like Windows 95/XP - just an old-fashioned desktop environment. In GNOME 3, I highly recommend Caffeine be installed and kept running in the tray to disable the screensaver as there is no way to turn it off in GNOME.

I like Cinnamon 1.6 a lot and am running it in OpenSUSE 12.2. Its also been ported to Arch and Fedora. I'd like to see a Linux distribution that uses it as its default environment.

Its come a long way since the first version came out in the winter and its just gotten better and better. Sure you can beat GNOME 3 Shell into something usable but why bother with all the work? Cinnamon already takes care of it for you and you can run the operating system the way you always have before.

Old dogs in Linux do NOT need to learn new tricks! :D Thanks for the review.

[smellyman]

I recently tried Cinnamon out and it just felt lacking. Then I tried the latest KDE out and wondered why Cinnamon even exists.

But to each his own.

agreed

[GeForce 9500GT]

After some fits, I finally got Cinnamon 1.6.0 on my Ubuntu 12.04.1 64 bit Long Term Service..........

Do you have a sort of manual or how-to to install Cinnamon 1.6 under Ubuntu 12.04? I've installed 12.04 with Cinnamon 1.4 and it feels much better than Unity but looking at your post Cinnamon 1.6 must be much better.

[Welly Wu]

Yesterday, the official Cinnamon stable PPA got updated to version 1.6.0. I just waited until 7 PM EST to download and upgrade to Cinnamon 1.6.0 from 1.4.1.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

https://launchpad.net/~gwendal-lebihan-dev/+archive/cinnamon-stable

Cinnamon stable PPA

Do not use the nightly PPA. It will break your Cinnamon desktop environment on Ubuntu 12.04.1 64 bit LTS. It never worked for me.

[Welly Wu]

Cinnamon 1.6.0 is very stable and it makes the right set of compromises and it balances the new features quite nicely. This is an intriguing desktop environment. It has a light weight and minimalist user interface, look, and feel while adding on useful new features:

http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/?p=195
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2135

Notifications applet, configurable ALT+TAB, keyboard navigation, and Windows quick lists are alone worth the upgrade. These new features modernize the digital work flow and it makes Cinnamon 1.6.0 capable and proficient as a modern desktop environment. I have not tried the scale and expo new features yet, but I have enabled them.

I have not tested Cinnamon 1.6.0 extensively under very heavy digital work flows yet. However, I may stress test it today to see how it performs and what kind of system resources it consumes compared to Ubuntu Unity 5.6. So far, everything is working out smoothly without any problems. The notifications applet is quite unobtrusive and it still lets me know about important system messages or alerts stemming from Ubuntu, Cinnamon, or my social media accounts and e-mail messages. I haven't figured out how to configure the ALT+TAB feature yet, but I am working on it soon. My understanding is that it is similar to the Microsoft Windows 7 Aero Peek feature except it only works when using the ALT+TAB key combination together. So far, I don't know how to get it to work, but that is due to the fact that I just upgraded to Cinnamon 1.6.0 yesterday. The windows quick lists are another feature that I need to try out and learn about in depth. I have not figured out how to make it work yet.

The biggest difference between Cinnamon 1.4.1 and 1.6.0 is that it has a much more minimalist and cleaner look and feel. Everything is polished up quite a bit with Cinnamon 1.6.0. I am figuring that there will be point updates that will be released fairly soon to address specific Linux Mint users that are trying to figure out how to use these new features. According to GNOME system monitor and system load indicator, Cinnamon 1.6.0 consumes about 10 - 15 percent less system resources under moderate load conditions. This translates to a more responsive Ubuntu that is significantly faster. Working with multiple software applications and windows is smoother and more responsive. Fewer applications crash now and notifications are less prominent and they do not force you to shift your focus on each alert. The other big difference is the menu system is faster and smoother. Navigating through the menu system is easier and search results are more precise and faster. The Nemo file manager has a couple of new buttons that make searching for folders and files faster and easier with greater precision. It has better organization and a cleaner look and feel than Nautilus.

For those that prefer simpler and more functional desktop environments, Cinnamon 1.6.0 gets high marks. It's a bit easier to navigate and it's much faster and more responsive. One positive aspect is that it consumes less pixels of resolution on the screen or monitor which leaves more ample space to manage windows and software applications. I only have a low resolution 1366 X 768 HD resolution screen so this is critical. It's like Google Chrome web browser in that regard. You get more real estate to work on your stuff with fewer things getting in the way and fewer problems or crashes.

I can see why Cinnamon is so popular among Linux Mint users. One thing is that it does not require you to log out and log in as frequently to make changes take into effect. You can add applets, extensions, and themes and make changes instantly. It has a beautiful collection of wallpapers and themes.

I am finally getting more than 4 hours of battery life using Cinnamon 1.6.0 on my System76 Lemur Ultra Thin (lemu4) notebook PC which tells me that it consumes very little system resources.

[Welly Wu]

Here is a list of the new features including highlights regarding Cinnamon 1.6.0:

http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/?p=207

[forrestcupp]

Here is a list of the new features including highlights regarding Cinnamon 1.6.0:

http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/?p=207

Well, they finally added "configurable panel heights", which was something that used to drive me crazy about Cinnamon. The panel is so small, and the buttons and icons are hard on the eyes. Before, you had to edit code in 2 or 3 different scripts to change it, and it was still buggy and imperfect to where it was unusable if you tried to change the size of all that. I'm glad to see they finally got that worked in.

Maybe by the time 2.6 comes out, I'll try it out again. :)

[GeForce 9500GT]

Is this (https://launchpad.net/~bimsebasse/+archive/cinnamonextras) usefull when using the Cinneman Desktop Environment?

[forrestcupp]

Is this (https://launchpad.net/~bimsebasse/+archive/cinnamonextras) usefull when using the Cinneman Desktop Environment?

That actually looks very useful.

[mips]

That actually looks very useful.

Only if compatible with the latest cinnamon 1.6...

[orange2k]

Just installed it - and it works great...

I've also installed all the cinnamon extras and they seem to be working just fine...

:guitar:

[gd1107]

Just installed 1.6 from the stable PPA. When I log in, I only see my old gnome panels. From what I was reading, its probably a 3D issue, so then tried logging into Cinnamon 2D and I only get a black screen with a cursor.

Using the latest ATI update drivers on a HD4670.

Any ideas?

[BigSilly]

Only if compatible with the latest cinnamon 1.6...

See that's the only problem I have with Cinnamon. I remember the Mint team citing the breakage of extensions between Gnome Shell versions as one of the reasons for creating Cinnamon. Oops then!

Still, I have to say it's really a pretty neat DE/UI, especially if you're a hankerin' after some conventional desktop fun.

[LinuxGuyInVA]

One thing that seems problematic (and maybe it's my environment
that caused it) are the keyboard shortcut settings. I had custom
keys for navigating the workspaces (switch to workspace 1, etc.)
and not only are they lost, but I can't find a way of restoring
them. The menu->preferences->keyboard route just brings up
gnome-control-center which seems dysfunctional at least for keyboard
shortcuts.

I'm perfectly happy to find an alternative way (command line,
gconf-editor, whatever) to restore my settings, but not having
*any* way to customize shortcuts is rough.

[LinuxGuyInVA]

Meant to say: this is for Cinnamon 1.6. The shortcuts worked in 1.4.

[NormanFLinux]

Along with developing its own file manager - Nemo - as time goes on Cinnamon is well positioned to become a new desktop environment in its own right, alongside GNOME, KDE, XFCE and LXDE. It would become the fifth such desktop environment in the history of Linux. The goals of GNOME and Cinnamon are mutually incompatible and GNOME is not the direction in which the Cinnamon desktop developers want to go. While initially a fork of GNOME 3, it has far more ambitious objectives and looks set to realize them in the future.

[MG&TL]

Along with developing its own file manager - Nemo - as time goes on Cinnamon is well positioned to become a new desktop environment in its own right, alongside GNOME, KDE, XFCE and LXDE. It would become the fifth such desktop environment in the history of Linux. The goals of GNOME and Cinnamon are mutually incompatible and GNOME is not the direction in which the Cinnamon desktop developers want to go. While initially a fork of GNOME 3, it has far more ambitious objectives and looks set to realize them in the future.

With respect to the LM developers, I just don't think they have the manpower. While a desktop shell is one thing, developing what you're proposing will take a lot of effort, especially while maintaining their other projects.

But that will remain to be seen. :)

[sgarman]

One thing that seems problematic (and maybe it's my environment
that caused it) are the keyboard shortcut settings. I had custom
keys for navigating the workspaces (switch to workspace 1, etc.)
and not only are they lost, but I can't find a way of restoring
them. The menu->preferences->keyboard route just brings up
gnome-control-center which seems dysfunctional at least for keyboard
shortcuts.

I'm perfectly happy to find an alternative way (command line,
gconf-editor, whatever) to restore my settings, but not having
*any* way to customize shortcuts is rough.

I also have this problem. Please let me know if you find a workaround!

Scott

[Welly Wu]

With the combination of Cinnamon 1.6.0 and the Jupiter software application, I am getting 4.5 - 5.0 hours of battery life on my System76 Lemur Ultra Thin (lemu4) notebook PC. This is an additional 45 minutes - 1 hour of extra battery life. I am also using Linux kernel 3.3.6-030300. This is quite excellent. Everything is super stable and reliable. Few applications crash nowadays and Cinnamon is extremely fast and responsive. This is the way that Ubuntu certified PCs should work. It makes using Ubuntu a joy to use and I configured Ubuntu for maximum security while following most of the guidelines in the various security threads and stickies in the security sub-forum here in Ubuntu Forums. I also have WiTopia Personal VPN PRO for additional security and privacy.

Cinnamon is an old fashioned desktop environment and there is nothing wrong with that. It uses GTK3 which means that my Zinio Reader 4 and Adobe AIR for Linux works right out of the box so that I can read my Zinio digital magazines. I also have Adobe Reader 9.4.1 to read Adobe .PDF files for my textbooks and other magazines. Cinnamon makes navigating through various windows and software applications logical and easy. Version 1.6.0 was indeed a massive step forward and the raft of new features is not overwhelming. It is quite intuitive to learn how to use the new features and they are genuinely useful. It makes it easier to use than Ubuntu Unity as there are fewer keyboard combination key strokes and fewer mouse clicks. Cinnamon 1.6.0 is really light weight and it consumes very few system resources. This prolongs battery life and it increases energy efficiency by a significant amount of additional time. This is critical for mobile Ubuntu users as it makes for longer useful productive work sessions.

The best thing about Cinnamon is the menu system. The integrated search box makes it easy to find the specific software application that you want to launch and the contextualized organization is logical and it makes it easy to find additional software applications that you want to launch. I have found that it is less bothersome to navigate through the menu system and there is less scrolling and fewer mouse clicks necessary to find the exact software application that I want to launch.

The speed and performance of Cinnamon 1.6.0 is quite astonishing. It is not the very fastest desktop environment, but it ranks highly compared to XFCE 1.4 and MATE 1.4 along with LXDE 0.5.3. The critical difference is that Cinnamon 1.6.0 supports GTK3 so a wider number of software applications are compatible.

I like the new themes and wallpapers that are included. It makes for a fresh user experience and it makes Cinnamon prettier to use. The list of applets and extensions is quite interesting and it adds useful new features and capabilities to enhance the Cinnamon user experience. I look forward to additional new applets and extensions along with themes and wallpapers in the near future.

I am looking forward to Cinnamon 1.8.0 being released in the next few months. Not much is known about its new features yet, but the series of incremental point update releases for Cinnamon 1.6.0 will further fix bugs and improve the desktop environment on the whole. Cinnamon has a relatively fast update release cycle so it may not be appropriate for Ubuntu users that are looking for maximum stability and reliability. If you absolutely must have the same look and feel for your desktop environment, then use another alternative solution. For me, this is not a major problem as I welcome change and I look forward to new features being added to Cinnamon.

I won't say that Cinnamon is the best desktop environment for everybody, but it is a good fit for me. I understand why some users might think that it is too sparse or that it lacks features found in KDE or Ubuntu Unity or GNOME or GNOME Shell, but those desktop environments are heading in a direction of 10 point pressure sensitive touch interfaces and screens and monitors. I have no use for those features. I need a solid and reliable desktop environment designed for keyboard and mouse users on a desktop or notebook PC. I am not convinced that grafting features designed for tablet and smart phone form factors into the desktop is a good idea, but I also do plan to upgrade to Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64 bit on October 26th, 2012. That is a whole can of worms to open.

Give Cinnamon 1.6.0 a try. Be of an open mind. For me, it strikes the right balances and compromises for Ubuntu users looking for a more traditional and old fashioned desktop environment. The speed and performance alone are worth adding the Cinnamon Stable PPA and installing it on your Ubuntu or Linux Mint OS. It is so highly responsive that the user experience is very fluid and natural. It gets out of the way just enough without leaving you wanting for more features or glitzy features.

[NormanFLinux]

With respect to the LM developers, I just don't think they have the manpower. While a desktop shell is one thing, developing what you're proposing will take a lot of effort, especially while maintaining their other projects.

But that will remain to be seen. :)


LM is not reinventing the wheel - they are going back to what works and like Ubuntu is seeking to do with Unity, they can rewrite applications to work with what they're doing. At least that they're no longer subject to GNOME's whims and if GNOME gets rid of something they want or need, they can keep it. Its simply a matter of building on what they already have and its not like they have to rebuild everything from scratch - they don't need to or have to do it. That's why I think building more than a desktop shell is within their reach - now that they have the look and feel of the desktop environment they want, the rest should fall into place.

[Welly Wu]

Cinnamon 1.6.0 has problems with third-party applets. I have LockBox, System Load Indicator, PSensor, Zinio Alert Manager, and Jupiter along with Weather Applet and they don't display correctly after I suspend my PC and I resume from suspend mode. System Load Indicator and the Weather Applets usually don't display correctly which means that they don't function properly either. I am thinking about removing them, but they are useful to me. I am hoping that a point release update or the next major release update will resolve this problem.

[jejones3141]

Cinnamon looks really nice, but the window list applet seems to lack functionality one has come to expect from window lists, namely that I can't minimize/unminimize/give focus to/resize/move/close a window by clicking, double clicking, or right clicking on its entry in the window list. I don't see any configuration options for the window list applet. Until I discovered scale/expo, the window list seemed like a roach motel: windows go in (via minimize), but never come out.

I can, with some time, get used to that, as much as one has come to expect the capability from the past--though I'd rather not have to. Other folks who I've set up with Linux may not be as flexible, so that much as I'd like to point them to Cinnamon as an alternative to GNOME fallback mode (who knows how long that will continue to exist?), I am not sure I can.

Am I overlooking some setting?

[Welly Wu]

Well, the week is over and I wanted to give some final thoughts about Cinnamon 1.6.0. Applets that are not a part of the Cinnamon desktop environment usually work, but sometimes there are glitches and they don't respond until I log out and log back in. This usually happens when I suspend my PC and resume from suspension. The notifications applet is a part of the Cinnamon desktop environment and it too suffers from this same problem. I checked out the Expo and Stretch feature and I don't really find them to be that useful. Perhaps they need more development and maturation to become truly useful.

My gut feeling is that Cinnamon 1.6.0 feels to be like a work in progress. It is not fully polished in terms of its features set and much more work needs to be done to bring it up to par. As it stands right now, it is useful and functional, but it needs more minor point updates rather than significant updates with new features to be added at a later time.

I switched to KDE Plasma 4.9.x this week. I am going to try it out for one week to see how it goes.

Cinnamon was a nice and refreshing change of pace from Ubuntu Unity, but it is not ready for prime time yet. It has the potential to be become a terrific desktop environment, but it needs more work on fixing minor bugs.

[Welly Wu]

I just noticed a problem with my Cinnamon DE. The top search bar and Mozilla Firefox icon are cut off. I can only see the menu from the accessories folder down to the bottom. I removed Cinnamon and I re-installed it and I rebooted my PC, but I get the same problem.

Does anyone else here have the same problem?

How can I solve this problem?

[Welly Wu]

I fixed the problem. I simply edited the menu and I removed Accessibility, Education, and Games from the menu. Now, I can see the whole menu system including the Mozilla Firefox web browser icon and the search bar.

Solved.

I am back to using Cinnamon 1.6.0 again.

[forrestcupp]

I just noticed a problem with my Cinnamon DE. The top search bar and Mozilla Firefox icon are cut off. I can only see the menu from the accessories folder down to the bottom. I removed Cinnamon and I re-installed it and I rebooted my PC, but I get the same problem.

Does anyone else here have the same problem?

How can I solve this problem?

Besides the lack of features, it's all the buggyness like this that makes me not want to use Cinnamon. You have that one thing fixed, but as soon as you go messing with things, something else will pop up. By this time next year, Cinnamon will probably be awesome. But it's not for me right now.

[BigSilly]

(Touches wood) So far my experience with Cinnamon has been extremely positive and bug free. I love the fact that it has a lots of modern effects, but doesn't have a lot of overhead, so it remains quite light on resources and very fast. I installed version 1.6.1 from the Mint repos, and all so far is very, very good. Better in fact than my recent Gnome 3 experience.

You can only use what works for you, and Cinnamon really works well for me. It's got all the features I could possibly want from a Linux desktop. Perhaps the only thing I'd like to see, not especially for my benefit, but accessibility options would be a great addition.

[GeForce 9500GT]

Besides the lack of features,
Which features you mean? There's a site which provides users with extensions and applets (http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/).


it's all the buggyness
True, that was my experience as well. It ran nicely but after a while i got one error message after the other.


like this that makes me not want to use Cinnamon. You have that one thing fixed, but as soon as you go messing with things, something else will pop up. By this time next year, Cinnamon will probably be awesome. But it's not for me right now.
Cinnamon does has a great potention, but it must be made better. Better in means of more stable and better integration with non-Linux Mint operating systems. But my overall opinion is that Cinnamon has a future.

[BigSilly]

True, that was my experience as well. It ran nicely but after a while i got one error message after the other.

What error messages are you getting? I honestly haven't had a single error report or anything since I started using it. I'm currently using it on Mint 13, but I also have it on an Ubuntu install.

I do agree that Cinnamon has a future, and an important part to play in Gnome even. Lots of people say Gnome is dead, but to me it's more prevalent than ever, what with Shell, Unity, and Cinnamon. It's all Gnome at the end of the day, and it's testament to the power of Gnome that all these divergent UI's can come out of it imho.

[kuvanito]

after all this talk about cinnamon
how do i install cinnamon in ubuntu 12.10?
i did a clean installation of 12.10 and

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinnamon

reboot but can not choose cinnamon,it's there but can not choose it or click it.i have intel graphics.this did not work for me :(

[neu5eeCh]

I want to like Cinnamon, but it just seems like a cramped and dumbed-down version of XFCE. Not sure why anyone would want to use it except that it's built on a Gnome base and has a little extra bling.

[Version Dependency]

I want to like Cinnamon, but it just seems like a cramped and dumbed-down version of XFCE. Not sure why anyone would want to use it except that it's built on a Gnome base and has a little extra bling.

My thoughts as well. Why bother forking all these projects to create this "new" desktop when XFCE has been offering a similar desktop experience forever? And XFCE is rock solid.

[kio_http]

using the current phoronix test suite 4.0.1-suldal, my testing confirms that cinnamon 1.6.0 is nearly as fast asxfce 1.4 and lxde 0.5.x on my system76 lemur ultra thin (lemu4). The slowest aspect about cinnamon 1.6.0 is loading the desktop environment after i log in because i have quite a number of applets and extensions that i added to customize it. Otherwise, daily usage case workloads indicate that cinnamon 1.6.0 is nearly as fast as xfce and lxde without encumbering system resources and sacrificing speed and performance for additional features and capabilities. Your results may differ.

xfce 1.4?

[BigSilly]

My thoughts as well. Why bother forking all these projects to create this "new" desktop when XFCE has been offering a similar desktop experience forever? And XFCE is rock solid.

Well by that reckoning what's the point in Unity when we have Shell? Shell is lighter and more stable (arguably) than Unity.

You can argue these points all day, and it's largely useless. Use what you like, I don't see why it has to be a war. I personally much prefer to use Cinnamon over xfce on my desktop. I like the effects, I like the workspaces, I just prefer it all round. It's very quick and modern looking, more so than xfce imho.

[Welly Wu]

I launched the terminal and I typed in cinnamon --version and it told me that I have 1.6.1. So, here is what I noticed. The notifications applet continues to work properly after I suspend and resume my System76 PC. The Expo and Scale applets also work properly too. I am getting better energy efficiency and longer battery life. I can usually get four hours and forty-five minutes of battery life on a full charge or more using the Jupiter app. I also noticied that my ClipIt applet displays correctly without any visual glitches. This makes it more useful. This was a good point update release as it fixed some noticeable bugs and it improved energy efficiency. This was also a fast update which is encouraging to see. Cinnamon is still under development so new features will be added shortly.

I think that Cinnamon is my favorite desktop environment so far. K Desktop Environment is a close second because it is mature and polished and it is full featured.

[neu5eeCh]

...I think that Cinnamon is my favorite desktop environment so far....

Glad you've found a DE you like. One trivial feature I would like to see in Cinnamon: The ability to use the mouse scroll button to shade windows. As it is, you can only double click, which I find annoyingly inelegant. Another is the ability to easily maximize applications without window borders (without having to install and tweak Maximus). A much more serious problem, to me, is panel transparency. The problem (through 1.4) is that applying transparency to the panel also makes the main menu unusably transparent. This, to me, is a fatal flaw. I'm more than a little surprised Clem hasn't fixed this.

[neu5eeCh]

What a PITA Cinnamon was today! Although it's Gnome's fault and I've had the same problem with Unity. The new Gnome Print manager doesn't work. I was doing some carpentry today and was asked to look at a laptop someone bought from a local business (they install Linux Mint Maya on used laptops). They couldn't set up their Network printer. Turns out one has to ALT-F2, then run system-config-printer, but c'mon... What kind of crackpot, tin hat decision was this? -- and this includes Unity, Gnome and Mint. They put out an OS that can't connect to a printer? :rolleyes: Way to make Linux look good boys.

[Welly Wu]

I noticed that too. Cinnamon and GNOME don't have a built-in print manager like Microsoft Windows 7. It's difficult to manage multiple print jobs in Linux as a result especially if you are printing to different paper sources and weights and you are printing a complex set of documents including color graphics.

I am still using Cinnamon right now. It seems to be the best one for my needs without forgoing GTK3 or GNOME. It's especially light weight and fast which I appreciate. Cinnamon does a lot of things well and I would be hard pressed to go without it. I plan to go to my public library this evening to work on my essay to MSU, but I want to point out that Cinnamon helps me to get the job done with a minimum of fuss and delays.

I find myself using Cinnamon a lot nowadays so I guess it's my favorite DE. There are still bugs that I have noticed such as the lock screen does not activate immediately after I resume my System76 PC from suspend mode.

I will update this thread of mine later.

[kurt18947]

What a PITA Cinnamon was today! Although it's Gnome's fault and I've had the same problem with Unity. The new Gnome Print manager doesn't work. I was doing some carpentry today and was asked to look at a laptop someone bought from a local business (they install Linux Mint Maya on used laptops). They couldn't set up their Network printer. Turns out one has to ALT-F2, then run system-config-printer, but c'mon... What kind of crackpot, tin hat decision was this? -- and this includes Unity, Gnome and Mint. They put out an OS that can't connect to a printer? :rolleyes: Way to make Linux look good boys.

Yeah the 'printers' app in Gnome-shell is a definite step backward. I put a launcher on my desktop for 'system-config-printer'. Users and Groups is another step backward. Luckily the older Users and Groups is also available and once launched is available in applications. I think the idea was to reduce the number of ways a new user could screw things up. It may have worked, I don't know but that philosophy also makes administrative tasks a pain. As long as more functional apps still work I guess all is not lost. Does look bad to a skeptical new user though, no question.

[GeForce 9500GT]

What error messages are you getting?

I can't say what kind of error messages. The only signal i got was a pop-up menu telling me to send a crash report. And after a while my printer wasn't recognized anymore. Real strange.

[GeForce 9500GT]

..........Cinnamon..........version of XFCE.
It's not a sort of crippled Xfce. Cinnamon is based on Gnome3. It uses Gnome3 as a sort of building layer on which Cinnamon runs.


Not sure why anyone would want to use it except that it's built on a Gnome base and has a little extra bling.
Simplicity? Speed? Not that ridiculus Unity environment? The menu looks as it should be in every distro? It's what users really want as a menu or DE? And what extra little bling you mean?

[kevinmchapman]

Simplicity? Speed? Not that ridiculus Unity environment? The menu looks as it should be in every distro? It's what users really want as a menu or DE? And what extra little bling you mean?

It is built on Gnome3, so there is no speed advantage over Gnome3. The other comments translate as "I just want it to be Gnome2"

[neu5eeCh]

And what extra little bling you mean?

Hot corners and all the blingy effects associated with them.

As for your rhetorical questions... Use Cinnamon if you like it, but if one steps back and dispassionately considers the matter, the DE gives the user less than XFCE (except for a Gnome base) and with no advantages that I can think of. I still can't get past the fact that Gnome Shell, Unity and Cinnamon are each shipping with crippled and non-functioning User/Group and Print Manager apps. That just amazes me. Astonishing. The incompetence is -- really -- kind of amazing.

[GeForce 9500GT]

Hot corners and all the blingy effects associated with them.

:evil: cursed thou are hot corners!
I hate that! I hate it when i move a window around on my desktop that it automatically expands over the whole desktop when i let it go!

[GeForce 9500GT]

I still can't get past the fact that Gnome Shell, Unity and Cinnamon are each shipping with crippled and non-functioning User/Group and Print Manager apps. That just amazes me. Astonishing. The incompetence is -- really -- kind of amazing.

Well spoken! Basically Gnome shell/Unity/cinnamon are DE's which doesn't take a step forward but rather a hugh step backwards. For experienced users it is more like an insult rather than an improvement.

[kurt18947]

Hot corners and all the blingy effects associated with them.

As for your rhetorical questions... Use Cinnamon if you like it, but if one steps back and dispassionately considers the matter, the DE gives the user less than XFCE (except for a Gnome base) and with no advantages that I can think of. I still can't get past the fact that Gnome Shell, Unity and Cinnamon are each shipping with crippled and non-functioning User/Group and Print Manager apps. That just amazes me. Astonishing. The incompetence is -- really -- kind of amazing.

I agree with this. Fortunately, both issues are easily solved. I created a desktop launcher to call "system-config-printer". I installed "gnome-system-tools" to get the better 'users and groups' app. It's found in applications.

[chris.olive]

I too tried Mint about six times OK for a day then froze, in two cases a blank screen [blue shades of ?] only Avant on the desktop no bars etc, on reboot after cutting power comes up again the same.
Reinstalled Ubuntu 12.04 works OK until I loaded Digikam when it locked into a blank screen, this never happened before with Digikam I have used it for years.
When I removed Digikam Ubuntu seems to run OK so far, fingers crossed.
I did like Mint and it's interface a lot, I may try again without Digikam perhaps a partition, although when I did this "Mint" did not allow a boot choice in fact I could not boot at all.
As I say may try again I really do not like this Unity desktop at all.
May even try Suse or something.

[Futurian]

I have three of my six Linux installations running 12.04.1; two others run Natty (11.04), and one runs Lucid (10.04.4). Support for Natty is supposed to end this month. I am still trying to figure out what to do with those installations.

I've found much to like about Precise, but am still spending too much time trying to figure out how to tweak it. Both the printer and users-and-groups issues have bitten me. I'm also unhappy with some of the colors on my current desktop and in some windows, but have already spent too many hours and tried too many attempted fixes to feel that I can spend any more time on this issue.

What is everyone else going to do when Natty support ends this month? When Lucid support ends next Spring?

The last Ubuntu upgrade that I was really pleased with, and that did not disrupt my work, was from Lucid to Maverick. At times, I'm tempted to reinstall (unsupported) Maverick. People say it would be subject to security issues that have been fixed in later releases, but how serious are the security threats to Linux anyway?

[jbicha]

The last Ubuntu upgrade that I was really pleased with, and that did not disrupt my work, was from Lucid to Maverick. At times, I'm tempted to reinstall (unsupported) Maverick. People say it would be subject to security issues that have been fixed in later releases, but how serious are the security threats to Linux anyway?

Check for yourself: these (http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/natty/) are the security vulnerabilities serious enough to have fixes backported all the way to Natty; Maverick support ended in early April. Natty support will end later this month.

[stlouisubntu]

Ubutntu Cinnamon Remix has now been released! It is based on Ubuntu 12.04.1 with the cinnamon desktop as default, classic panel configuration (two panels), weather applet preinstalled, multimedia codecs and plug-ins included, and xscreensaver preinstalled as well. For maximum compatibility the 32-bit version uses the non-pae kernel and only non-gl screensavers.) The 64-bit version is also available. During the install, be sure to select the hard drive MBR (the default choice will likely be the usb stick from which you are installing — Ubuntu upstream bug.) Features Cinnamon 1.6.1

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cinnamon-remix/files/

:)

[chris.olive]

Once again I tried Mint with Cinnamon and it works fine for a day then locks and a restart is needed via the power key, it also seems to corrupt the win install somehow, I need Win to run cameras etc. software, So I wiped the disk and installed via the HP restore disks a new copy of 7, Mint still played up even effecting Ubuntu, so at the moment I just run Win 7.
But will see what transpires, but I did like Mint a lot if it would only work.

[screaminj3sus]

Cinnamon 1.6.0 is very stable and it makes the right set of compromises and it balances the new features quite nicely. This is an intriguing desktop environment. It has a light weight and minimalist user interface, look, and feel while adding on useful new features:

http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/?p=195
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2135

Notifications applet, configurable ALT+TAB, keyboard navigation, and Windows quick lists are alone worth the upgrade. These new features modernize the digital work flow and it makes Cinnamon 1.6.0 capable and proficient as a modern desktop environment. I have not tried the scale and expo new features yet, but I have enabled them.

I have not tested Cinnamon 1.6.0 extensively under very heavy digital work flows yet. However, I may stress test it today to see how it performs and what kind of system resources it consumes compared to Ubuntu Unity 5.6. So far, everything is working out smoothly without any problems. The notifications applet is quite unobtrusive and it still lets me know about important system messages or alerts stemming from Ubuntu, Cinnamon, or my social media accounts and e-mail messages. I haven't figured out how to configure the ALT+TAB feature yet, but I am working on it soon. My understanding is that it is similar to the Microsoft Windows 7 Aero Peek feature except it only works when using the ALT+TAB key combination together. So far, I don't know how to get it to work, but that is due to the fact that I just upgraded to Cinnamon 1.6.0 yesterday. The windows quick lists are another feature that I need to try out and learn about in depth. I have not figured out how to make it work yet.

The biggest difference between Cinnamon 1.4.1 and 1.6.0 is that it has a much more minimalist and cleaner look and feel. Everything is polished up quite a bit with Cinnamon 1.6.0. I am figuring that there will be point updates that will be released fairly soon to address specific Linux Mint users that are trying to figure out how to use these new features. According to GNOME system monitor and system load indicator, Cinnamon 1.6.0 consumes about 10 - 15 percent less system resources under moderate load conditions. This translates to a more responsive Ubuntu that is significantly faster. Working with multiple software applications and windows is smoother and more responsive. Fewer applications crash now and notifications are less prominent and they do not force you to shift your focus on each alert. The other big difference is the menu system is faster and smoother. Navigating through the menu system is easier and search results are more precise and faster. The Nemo file manager has a couple of new buttons that make searching for folders and files faster and easier with greater precision. It has better organization and a cleaner look and feel than Nautilus.

For those that prefer simpler and more functional desktop environments, Cinnamon 1.6.0 gets high marks. It's a bit easier to navigate and it's much faster and more responsive. One positive aspect is that it consumes less pixels of resolution on the screen or monitor which leaves more ample space to manage windows and software applications. I only have a low resolution 1366 X 768 HD resolution screen so this is critical. It's like Google Chrome web browser in that regard. You get more real estate to work on your stuff with fewer things getting in the way and fewer problems or crashes.

I can see why Cinnamon is so popular among Linux Mint users. One thing is that it does not require you to log out and log in as frequently to make changes take into effect. You can add applets, extensions, and themes and make changes instantly. It has a beautiful collection of wallpapers and themes.

I am finally getting more than 4 hours of battery life using Cinnamon 1.6.0 on my System76 Lemur Ultra Thin (lemu4) notebook PC which tells me that it consumes very little system resources.

I could not agree more. I've recently installed mint 14 on my lemur ultra, which comes with gnome 3.6/cinnamon 1.6.x. Cinnamon has greatly matured. Its not the prettiest DE around, but it has a very solid feature set, good configuration, its polished, and its biggest advantage compared to unity: Its rock stable. I haven't run into a single bug, everything just works properly. I actually really like unity, but I got sick and tired of noticing new compiz/unity bugs almost every day that I used it. Mint 14 with cinnamon is one of the most stable and trouble free linux experiences I've ever had. Cinnamon has struck a great balance between features, polish, and stability.


My thoughts as well. Why bother forking all these projects to create this "new" desktop when XFCE has been offering a similar desktop experience forever? And XFCE is rock solid.

XFCE is great, but IMO cinnamon has several big advantages. A big + for me is that its based on gnome-shell/mutter and has very solid compositing out of the box. XFCE's compositor is terrible (and useless because it uses xrender which can't eliminate tearing, which is half the reason I like using compositing). Cinnamon has nice features like scale and expo out of the box, and all very nicely integrated. Compiz + XFCE don't integrate as nicely. Cinnamon is also more modern and GTK3 based which is a preference of mine. XFCE has its advantages too, they are both very nice desktops, but they do serve different audiences, so I do not think cinnamon is "wasted effort". Since cinnamon 1.6 cinnamon is also rock solid, its now my preferred DE.

[Aaron Christianson]

[...] get the Cinnamon goodness for free.
You don't say?!

[orb9220]

Yep was away for a few years as Ubuntu didn't have the photography editing & processing tools I needed then.
So been a windows 7 guy.

For my need of higher end post processing and editing of raw images. And hate Gimp with a passion.

Came back to the Ubuntu to check on the progress and wasn't a happy camper about Unity so began the search and found Mint 14 Nadia Cinnamon. Coupled with RawTherapee and Darktable Might I very well may be around for awhile.

Loving how Cinnamon is coming running 1.6 and mint dropped Nautilus and going with Nemo 1.1.2 and seems a little less feature rich Nautilus but less bloat and troublesome Nautilus. And already fixes & added functionality is being done.

Who knows another 6 months will bring?
.