Cinnamon 2.6: a Massive Update Loaded With Performance Improvements

jones_supa writes: The Linux Mint team has just announced that Cinnamon 2.6 desktop environment is considered stable and ready to download. It is a big update. The load times have been greatly improved and unnecessary calculations in the window management part are dropped, leading to a 40% reduction in the number of CPU wakes per second. Other improvements include a screensaver that does more than just lock the screen, panels that can be removed or added individually, a much better System Settings panel that should make things much clearer, a cool new effect for windows, and a brand new plugin manager for Nemo. Linux Mint users will receive the new Cinnamon as an update by the end of the month.

Comments

Linux Mint gets it right.

[0100010001010011]

I've been a Debian user for a long time but for my wife's laptop or Linux installs on friends machines I almost always turn to Mint.

They're still going to support Upstart & Systemd. The LMDE release was always a rolling release locked to Debian Testing.

They've continued GNOME2 in MATE DE along with the GNOME3 fork Cinnamon.

I've personally transitioned to FreeBSD for my desktop & server needs but if a friend wants to get into Linux with a decent GUI I point them to Mint. Ubuntu has gone full "Windows 8.1" in trying to appease the lowest common denominator when most people just want a desktop they recognize.

Re:Now is the time!

[ArcadeMan]

Since in the last few years the desktop has been replaced by laptops, pads and phones. Only nerds, gamers and power users still have "desktop" computers now. And we're the minority.

Nemo

[Daniel Hoffmann]

Nemo is the best linux file manager I have ever used, it even supports SSH/FTP. The only other file manager that I have used and know to be better is XYPlorer, but it is paid and windows only.

Really, even if you use other display managers you should be using Nemo. What they have done in the gnome fork can only be called butchery to this great piece of software.

Seriously Nice Desktop UI

[WheezyJoe]

The youtube link was not so much a review as a quick runthrough of the new Cinnamon's look, feel and features.
And it's looks really, really good, like it strikes that weird balance between giving you all the control and features you want (that commercial desktops and some gnome-based desktops lack) without over-complicating the interface with a rabbit-hole of settings and interfaces (my biggest gripe with other linux desktops, esp. KDE).

Kudos to the Mint team for going the extra mile on this. It's not easy to get a desktop right, and everyone else it seems has given up on account of the mobile craze (looking at YOU, Microsoft). I think Mint just set the gold standard for a DE. and it's free.