John Karr on 2 Dec 2012 12:43:48 -0800


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Re: [PLUG] Cinnamon desktop?


If you add the official Cinnamon Repository from Launchpad, you can install
cinnamon directly on Ubuntu precise or qntal and then switch sessions
without needing to do a fresh install of mint. 

ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable

-----Original Message-----
From: plug-bounces@lists.phillylinux.org
[mailto:plug-bounces@lists.phillylinux.org] On Behalf Of Eric at Lucii.org
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2012 10:26 AM
To: Philadelphia Linux User's Group Discussion List
Subject: Re: [PLUG] Cinnamon desktop?

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About 6(+-) months ago I installed Mint (64-bit) with Cinnamon on my main
Linux workstation.

I quickly switched to KDE, not because of Cinnamon per se, but because of
performance.  It seems that the 64 bit version is a really poor performer on
my system (Athlon 64x2 system with 4GB RAM) and Cinnamon demanded too much.
KDE helped but I believe I need to go back to a 32 bit system.  That switch
is on my "free time" list :-(

On my laptop I upgraded to Ubuntu 12.04 this week (in steps from 10.10) and
found that I truly detest what Unity has become.  It may be the greatest
thing since canned beer (debatable standard) but I found it to be hell.  I'm
now running Xubuntu on the laptop and it works well.  I don't love it
though... but for the most part it does what I need and it does it rapidly.

With Ubuntu 10.04 and Compiz I was able to craft a customized system that
was quick and efficient.  For example, if a chat window from my daughter
appeared it automatically was the top window on all desktops.  I plan to
re-try Mint with Cinnamon in the 32 bit form as soon as I can.

Eric



On 11/30/2012 11:48 PM, JP Vossen wrote:
> Is anyone using the Cinnamon desktop in Mint or Ubuntu?  Thoughts?
> 
> While I like Unity on some form-factors (like the Mini9) and for some
users (non-power), I'm not sure it's what I want on my personal large-screen
workstation, or for the kid's laptop.  And with the 2013-04 deadline getting
closer, I need to finally finish upgrading from 10.04 to 12.04 (I'm sticking
with LTS).
> 
> For me, it seems like Unity really wants to run most things full-screen,
and that's just too much and too ugly on a big screen.  I know you don't
*have* to run full-screen, but...  I also really like the Gnome2 interface,
it just makes sense to me in  way that Windows (and KDE) never did.  XFCE
and LXDE are nice too, but lubuntu-desktop is *very* Windows-like (good for
switching Windows users though), and I'm just not thrilled with
xubuntu-desktop.  (And annoying, Lubuntu 20.04 is *not* LTS.)
> 
> 
> So, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MATE_%28desktop_environment%29 is nice,
but it's just Gnome2 forked with some minor changes, EXCEPT, no "Indicator
Applet Session" in top right.  I could use that or--for 12.04 LTS
anyway--"Gnome Classic" (handy:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PreciseGnomeClassicTweaks)...  But...
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_%28user_interface%29 is *really*
cool.  It's a Gnome3/shell fork that still looks a lot like Gnome2, but the
menu is actually *much* nicer and cooler, and it combines the best of both
worlds with menu discovery and typing speed.  I don't care that much about
"pretty" or eyecandy, but that's all there if you want it.
> 
> The default Cinnamon has everything at the bottom (like Windows/Lubuntu),
but you can easily change that in the Cinnamon control panel, and it's
already 2-panel (Gnome2-like) by default in
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cinnamon-remix/.
> 
> Another nice thing about MATE and Cinnamon is that they track indicator
messages for you!  Why Unity doesn't do this is beyond me; if you miss it
it's gone.  Forget about trying to read it, copy and paste from it, etc.
It's just there and gone.  MATE and Cinnamon let you get 'em back and read
'em.  Duh...
> 
> Linux Mint itself looks really nice, but--like Lubuntu--the default looks
far too much like Windows for me.  That's easy enough to change, of course,
and Mint is 95% Ubuntu anyway, but for now I think I'd rather run Ubuntu +
Cinnamon.  For one thing, it's then really easy to just 'aptitude install
*-desktop' for something else.
> 
> Cinnamon on Ubuntu 12.04 #
http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2012/09/20/install-cinnamon-1-6-in-ubuntu-12-04-lt
s/ * sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable * sudo
aptitude update * apt-get install cinnamon
> 
> I know why they did it, but the window controls on the left still really
bugs me.  Unity and Gnome Classic still do that, all the others have them on
the right by default, but Cinnamon is cool because it's really easy to move
them around (nice GUI conf, no gconf-editor).
> 
> I have a test laptop with a bunch of this stuff installed on Ubuntu 12.04.
I'm not sure it's an entire hour, but I could bring that and demo this stuff
at the next PLUG W/N meeting(s) if nothing better presents itself.
> 
> And by the way, how cool is this?  With a Mac or Windows, you are just
stuck with whatever crap the vendor gives you.  (And I don't care what you
Mac people say, I hate the Mac GUI.)  With Linux, and to be fair the BSDs
and some other systems, you can find something that works well for you, and
then change it as needed.  'aptitude update && aptitude full-upgrade', not
having to worry about licenses, and above all, all this freedom of choice...
This is why I can't understand why anyone uses anything else.  (Yeah, yeah,
games and Windows-only crap...  We're getting there... :)
> 
> Later, JP
----------------------------|:::======|------------------------------- JP
Vossen, CISSP            |:::======|      http://bashcookbook.com/ My
Account, My Opinions     |=========|      http://www.jpsdomain.org/
----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
"Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
software required to protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
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> 
> 

- -- 
#  Eric Lucas
#
#                "Oh, I have slipped the surly bond of earth
#                 And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings...
#                                        -- John Gillespie Magee Jr
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___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
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___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug