Cinnamon Desktop Environment

[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.