Cinnamon 2.0: Installation in ArchLinux + Review

I've always said that if I have to use a GTK Desktop Environment other than Xfce, the best choice for me would be Cinnamon, the fork of Gnome Shell which comes by default in Linux Mint.

This weekend I took advantage of some free time and dedicated myself to installing Arch Linux + Cinnamon in a HP Mini 110 Netbook and here I leave my impressions.

[specs]

• CPU: Intel Atom 1.0GHz
• GPU: Intel N10 Family DMI Bridge
• HDD: 250 GB
• Brand: HP
• Model: MINI 110 3800
• RAM: MB 1024

[/specs]

Installation

Cinnamon 2.0 Its main characteristic is that it no longer depends on Gnome Shell to install and run, so it is declared as a separate Desktop Environment.

In the case of Arch, a complete installation of Cinnamon it could be done in the following way:

$ sudo pacman -S cinnamon cinnamon-control-center cinnamon-desktop cinnamon-screensaver cinnamon-session cinnamon-settings-daemon cinnamon-translations nemo

El Session manager from LinuxMint is MDM, which belongs to the project MATE if I remember correctly, and as in Arch this package does not appear in the official repositories, because I installed LXDM, the Project Session Manager LXDE.

$ sudo pacman -S lxdm

And later we activate it with:

$ sudo systemctl enable lxdm.service

I chose LXDM and no other like for example LightDM, because LXDM is very light.

Accessing the Desktop

Once I access Cinnamon for the first time, I come across something like this:

Appearance

The appearance of Cinnamon in general it is quite well done.

In this version we have the possibility to change the height of the panel, as well as the size of the text and icons, but this option will be hidden unless you select Switch to Advanced mode in Panel preferences.

Not only this option is hidden, but also the possibility of activating and deactivating the Desktop Effects, in addition to other options, something that seems to me a mistake.

Usability

Cinnamon is not very different from Gnome ShellAlthough having a "traditional" desktop is a plus for usability.

Something that I loved and that in GNU / Linux (that I know of) only has it Thunar, is that now they added the option to send or move files and folders to removable devices. It seems strange to me that Dolphin o Nautilus have not implemented something like that.

Cinnamon has copied some things from KDE, something that seems very good to me. An example of this is that now, when we are making a copy or something like that, we can close the progress window and an icon automatically appears on the panel that shows us the time remaining in a circle:

Once the process ends, Cinnamon notify us (as KDE), being able to eliminate notifications if we wish:

The management of our account, access to System Preferences and the possibility of activating / deactivating notifications, can be done comfortably thanks to an applet in the panel:

And what about the options to manage the details of our account? Simpler and more beautiful, impossible:

Additionally, Team Administrators can now easily manage the users and groups they belong to. This tool was written from scratch:

Cinnamon 2.0 includes other improvements such as the edge tiling, which allows us to arrange the windows on the desktop:

Another interesting feature (although not very useful for me) is the possibility of assigning a sound to certain actions on the desktop or windows:

Performance

Cinnamon starts consuming from 166Mb a 170Mb, a not inconsiderable figure and much less if we take into account that Gnome Shell on the same computer it starts with 266Mb.

Of course, this is accessing from the option Cinnamon, because if we do it from Cinnamon (Software Rendering) there if consumption shoots up.

I feel very slow the response of the applications menu, as well as when opening the Control center. The latter takes about 5 seconds to open, even with all desktop effects disabled.

Meanwhile Nemo, the file manager opens quite quickly, as do the rest of the applications, but the fading transition of the pop-up windows seems a bit slow to me.

Although performance is affected by these factors, consumption remains quite low. Ram consumption does not exceed 280Mb with several applications open: Port, Nemo, LibreOffice, Midori, Gedit..

If I open other applications like Rhythmbox, consumption exceeds 300Mb, but considering that I have 700Mb I don't think it's bad at all.

The reality is that I did not take the system to the maximum or much less, I suppose that connected to the Internet, with several tabs in Midori and doing other tasks the consumption would be a little higher.

But there is not the problem of CinnamonIt is not the consumption that affects it but the performance, which is very poor.

Conclusions

This version of Cinnamon it has taken a step in its natural evolution and can be clearly seen. The fact of copying some of the functionalities that appear in other Desktop Environments seems great to me, because it makes it a very complete alternative.

In all the time I was using it, no problem occurred and the desktop behaved stably.

For new users, Cinnamon is a good solution, as it maintains the traditional look that many are used to, but uses the latest technology in GNOME, offering very nice effects and functionalities.

Of course, it still has a lot to polish. There are components (such as the Menu or the Control Center) that take a while to execute and although the test equipment is not very advanced, let's say, with other Desktop Environments (for example KDE or Xfce) it works better.

I recommend it? Yes, above GNOME-Shell. I am sure that in future versions, as these details that I comment are polished, Cinnamon it will gain in maturity and with luck, it will be a worthy rival for other Desktops that have taken longer to develop.

Result

[5 of 5] Appearance [/ 5 of 5] [4 of 5] Usability [/ 4 of 5] [3 of 5] Performance [/ 3 of 5] [4 of 5] Ease for beginners [/ 4 of 5] [5 of 5] Stability [/ 5 of 5] [4 of 5] Personal Appreciation [/ 4 of 5 ] [4points] [/ 4points]