Discussion on:

Linux Mint launches Cinnamon desktop

Mint drives me bananas with all its Authenticate requests and sudo irritates me - but if Cinnamon will run on my Thinkpad R51 (which will only do fallback mode in Gnome 3 but which ran Gnome 2 fine) then I will grit my teeth and shift from Fedora to Mint.

This looks really promising.

Usable, visually acceptable and to a degree, traditional, which in turn, will make it productive.

I think Clem and the Mint team may have hit on something really big this time and I suspect, Mint will now leapfrog Ubuntu to take a significant lead in popularity.

If you look at the link to the Mint site and read some of the comments Clem has replied to, you can see the energy put into quality and you can also get a view of their vision for the future.

Great news.

I've tried this out and would heartily recommend it.

I installed both Ubuntu 11.10 and Mint 12 in "virtual boxes" (VirtualBox on Win. 7). Both of them "suck" IMO. I have installed XFCE, Gnome Fallback, Gnome-panel, uninstalled MATE and others. It is total frustration, not to mention the learning curve. I liked the use of panels in Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10, especially the "Force Quit", which seems to have disappeared. I know, you can "drag" the icon to the panel (but then figure out how to delete it without doing a google search - and then find out you need to start digging through the file system - gnome - using "gnome classic (no effects)" or any other desktop doesn't provide removal from the panels). It seems Ubuntu/Mint/Win. 7 were trying to imitate Apple desktops. If I wanted an Apple, I would have bought an Apple. Another problem I had (more due to VirtualBox) was to build an xorg.conf file that supported my Nvidia GeForce (9200) card and my AOC 19 inch display. Fortunately, I found out how to do this when I had a simialr problem with an old Toshiba lap-top - could not get a "full" screen display unless I provided a xorg.conf file for the configuration. The NVidia drivers Ubuntu/Mint use don't seem to support all Nvidia cards. Personally, I'd tell anyone to stay with Ubuntu 10.04 (or 10.10) or the Mint equivalent if they prefer Mint (provides too much stuff I never use) - I can either install what I need with Ubuntu and uninstall what I don't want with Mint. Same holds true for XP vs Win. 7. I have an old Acer lap-top (512MB) that runs just fine with Win. XP Pro and Ubuntu (10.10 Wubi install - Windows directory - couldn't get 10.04 to install on it - even the live CD hung - 10.04.1, 10.04.2 and 10.04.3). The old 512MB Toshiba lap-top has just Ubuntu 10.04 installed and my new desktop (came with Win. 7) uses VirtualBox to run Linux (faster than the lap-tops).

If you add 10-12 apps to the Favorites bar in the menu, you'd get the menu going out of the top of the screen, and you'd never be able to click on the first icons. Try and see.

If you do the same to Unity's side bar, you can always access your apps. Why do some people trying to reinvent the wheel again?!

Before I'm accused of running off at the mouth, I should mention that I am an I/T Engineer of more than 16 years experience in desktop, network and security support. My experience ranges from OS/2 and Token-ring LANs up to and including Windows 8 and security software beta testing. I agree, Ubuntu 11.10 is a miserable, ill-performing Kluge. At least it was on my systems. In most cases, it simply misbehaved (i.e. needing to double-click more than once or even twice on some icons, numerous lock-ups, windows simply opening and then disappearing). Othertimes, it just would not boot up successfully sans strange video glitches that might have made a screensaver jealous. I went back to Ubuntu 11.04 and had none of the same problems. The Ubuntu Linux forums were of almost no help at all, and many of the questions I had were either ignored or answered with what I can only describe as sarcasm and arrogance. I understand that most Linux afficionados are tech savy. I also appreciate that those techies are often 'unpaid Help Desk' volunteers. What is clearly NOT appreciated is the way in which some of those techies can't realize that when one does Help Desk or O/S support on any system, there must be in addition to a wide range of knowledge, a level of basic courtesy and forebearance. Not everyone who tries these distros can absorb the needed learning curve as quickly as one who "lives in the O/S". This is not to condemn Linux forums en masse, but rather to offer what I hope will be viewed as constructive criticism.To be fair, there are many Linux techies out there who are helpful and eager to share their knowledge. To the ones who seem to get personally insulted or cop an attitiude when confronted with a question or a problem in a distro, take a moment and remember what it was like for you when you started doing this work.