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? Cinnamon?

[ArcadeMan]

Does mint even go with cinnamon? It's always chocolate+mint or apple+cinnamon...

Re:Linux Mint? Cinnamon?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you've ever had my lamb chops with brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger glaze covered with mint sauce, you'd know they go very well together!

Oh man, I wish you wouldn't do that when I'm hungry.

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:Linux Mint gets it right.

[cyber-vandal]

Since when did Windows 8.1 appease anyone? Customers have been staying away in droves.

Re:Linux Mint gets it right.

[ArcadeMan]

I've installed Ubuntu on my mother's laptop to replace Windows Vista. Since she never had a computer before Windows Vista, she didn't have any problem with it being "different" from earlier Windows versions. But even so, she's been more happy with Ubuntu than with Windows.

I wish people would stop with the "useful software" argument, it's almost a joke meme at this point. Home users who only need a computer for Internet-based activities don't need ultra-specialized software that's only available on Windows or OS X.

Re:Linux Mint gets it right.

[Anonymous Coward]

Most people can't install Windows themselves.

And if they're the type that could install Windows themselves, they can install Linux themselves.

And if they're the type where you're installing Linux on their old laptop, I doubt they are going to ask 'Where's my proprietary business software X?', they most likely will ask 'and which is the button for facebook?'

Re:Linux Mint gets it right.

[ArcadeMan]

The latest Windows versions don't support hardware they used to support in earlier versions, so Windows isn't any better.

Re:Linux Mint gets it right.

[Barsteward]

oh jeez,.. someone is still peddling this nonsense. here's an old answer to that old argument. if you upgrade windows, a lot of the time you have change your printer etc because the supplier won't update the drivers, its not a good money making policy to update the drivers. i've not had any problems with HP or Samsung printers on linux

Re:Linux Mint gets it right.

[iceaxe]

On the other hand, I can only use my old but still perfectly functional scanner on my Linux system because you can't get a 64 bit windows driver for it.

YMMV, as with most things in life.

Re:Linux Mint gets it right.

[0100010001010011]

I just tore apart my home lab and I'm reassembling it, reshuffling some motherboards and hard drives.

Tried tossing my Windows drive on a new motherboard. It just crashed.

I found *one* disk from my PC-BSD desktop. Plugged it into the oldest motherboard I could find and it just worked(tm). Missing half of the zfs mirror on completely different hardware.

Between ports, pkg and their installer program software is easier than elsewhere.

I honestly wished that Windows 10 would be them scrapping everything and going with a *BSD. (Just like OS X). Admit defeat, and start over with a different code base. No one knows or cares how it works, just that it does. Apple has managed to move complete platforms 4 times (68k -> PPC, OS 9 -> OS X, PPC->Intel, Intel->ARM). Microsoft has just released C# as open source. It shouldn't be hard.

Then everyone who knows and wants a command prompt will have a real one instead of a half assed Power Shell (or as it is everywhere else Batch file).

Nvidia releases hardware drivers for it. PS4 is based on it (Meaning AMD has drivers for it).

Re:phillistines...

[kiddygrinder]

to be fair there's no real reason to run a screensaver in this day and age

Here is an actual review

[walterbyrd]

All the juvenile bullshit posts on slashdot are getting tiresome.

LMDE2 with Cinnamon 2.6 gets it right. No mandatory systemd, far superior interface to Gnome3.

Taking a look at Cinnamon 2.6 LMDE 2 "betsy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAyXswmVZG0

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.

Re:Nemo

[Daniel Hoffmann]

You could say that both Nemo and the other bastard son "Files" from gnome 3 (also known as Gnome Files) are both forks from Nautilus (the file manager from gnome 2).

Re:Nemo

[Chozabu]

It looks similar to KDEs Dolphin - what's better about it?

Re:Nemo

[Windowser]

Ever tried Konqueror (under KDE) ? Support local files, http, ftp, sftp, ssh, smb, etc
https://tr.opensuse.org/Konque...

Re:Nemo

[drinkypoo]

I built LFS with emerald and compiz and I still built nautilus as the file manager, because it's still the best unless you're on a constrained system.

These days it has flags to manage the desktop (or not) and draw the background (or not) so it plays well with other DEs.

Re:Nemo

[Daniel Hoffmann]

From:
http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/...

All the features Nautilus 3.4 had and which are missing in Nautilus 3.6 (all desktop icons, compact view, etc..)
Open in terminal (this is part of Nemo itself)
Open as root (this is also part of Nemo)
File operations progress information (when you copy/move files you can see the percentage and info about the operation on the window title and so also in your window list)
Proper GTK bookmarks management
Full navigation options (back, forward, up, refresh)
Ability to toggle between the path entry and the path breadcrumb widgets
A lot more configuration options

Short term, it’s also likely to gain the following:
A proper status bar
A layout which is more similar to Caja, where the pathbar/path-entry field is below the main toolbar and only spans accross the view pane
Configurable toolbar buttons for hidden features (view-selection, zoom levelsetc).

It is quite an old post and some of may not be true anymore, but basically gnome3 dumbed down the file manager (like windows did with removing the up navigation button). They do not mention it but I also like the dual-pane mode (aka midnight commander mode)

Re:Nemo

[Gavagai80]

Well... used to. Plasma 5 went ahead and broke FTP file browsing and seems to have made sftp file browsing much more error-prone.

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.

Mint issues

[Sir_Eptishous]

I've been using Mint for about six months now and I think it is the best Linux desktop I've tried.
Forgive me now as I tell you I have no idea whether I'm using Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon or Raspberry Pie.
It is the gui that came with the default install, and I like it.

However, recently I've seen problems popping up, two specifically:
1. When using Google Maps in Chromium it usually brings my system to a complete halt. This is a recent problem, so I'm assuming some update is the cause, either with Chromium or Mint. When this lockup happens the only thing I am able to do is switch to a console and reboot.
2. When the Software Update runs in the background it slows things down tremendously. I can either update, or close the updater. If I leave it open without updating the system stays extremely slow. Like the Chromium problem, this just started in the last month or so. Before that everything was. Nothing new has been installed, except for the normal updates of course.

I'm hoping over the course of time another update or some such will correct these problems.

vs MATE?

[ohnocitizen]

I'm using MATE now and loving it. Are you using Cinnamon and you love it? Why? What makes the switch worth it?

Re:Now is the time!

[Daniel Hoffmann]

My company is in IT and it has a policy to only use laptops, if that is the case for IT companies imagine for other kind of companies. The justification is that it is easier to drag them around to clients and meetings. Many software shops also go full laptop for the same reason.

Re:Linux Mint politics

[jdk1]

He strongly apologized in a 2013 interview:

"I think the one thing I regret the most is giving people the impression I cared about politics and getting involved in something that had nothing to do with me."

Re:So can I switch from KDE?

[fluffernutter]

I kind of view KDE as the window manager that has all the options but it tends to look a little industrial. I'm waiting for a nicer window manager like Cinnamon to have all the options.