Cinnamon: GNOME Shell fork with a GNOME2-like layout


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Cinnamon: GNOME Shell fork with a GNOME2-like layout

cinnamon-gnome-shell-fork.png

Clement Lefebvre, the Linux Mint founder, has started working on a GNOME Shell fork called Cinnamon, which tries to offer a layout similar to GNOME 2, with emphasis on "making users feel at home and providing them with an easy to use and comfortable desktop experience":

Cinnamon is a Linux desktop which provides advanced innovative features and a traditional user experience. The desktop layout is similar to Gnome 2. The underlying technology is forked from Gnome Shell.

Why Fork GNOME Shell?

Why fork GNOME Shell? According to Clement Lefebvre (who talked about this on IRC @ #mate), the reason is that even though extensions are cool, you can only do a small amount of stuff with them and you can't control interactions between extensions, their loading order and so on.

Among the features that we'll probably see in Cinnamon are GNOME2-like notifications and systray icons, option to change the panel position and other panel options like autohide, etc. Some of these features are already available through Mint GNOME Shell Extensions (MGSE), but their functionality is pretty limited.

Cinnamon code already available

The screenshot you see in the beginning of the post is Cinnamon, not the MGSE Bottompanel/Windowlist/Menu extensions.

At a first look, Cinnamon looks and behaves a lot like GNOME Shell with Mint GNOME Shell Extensions, except the MGSE features are built-in (the panel settings for instance, hasn't been implemented yet).

However, if you look more closely, you'll notice that there's no message tray - it has been replaced with a classic "systray" at the bottom and the notifications look like in GNOME 2.

Here's another screenshot in which you can see the Activities Overview:

cinnamon-gnome-shell-fork_2.png

Yes, there's no "Applications" tab so apparently the Activities Overview only has the workspace functionality. At least for now.

Test Cinnamon

The Cinnamon code can be downloaded via Github. Remember, Cinnamon is in it's early development stages so expect to find bugs and missing features!

Source: Web Upd8

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Maybe I'll finally be able to upgrade. I really don't see the point in making the Start menu (equivalent) take up the entire screen. Also a reason I'm steered away from Winders 8.

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I'm sticking with Gnome 2 since it's what shipped with Debian 6, I'll upgrade when they release it in the repos or when it comes default with the next release. This does look better than Unity though, Mint has always looked nice though.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have not heard of this one. I tried MATE DE, which isn't bad. Might look into this later. Thanx for the info.

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I used Gnome 2 for years. I then tried Ubuntu's Unity plugin for two months. It worked but with lots of annoyances.

I now use KDE. Despite the fact it is a bit buggy (probably I should use the Debian stable version!!!) it is a lovely desktop design and I am here for the long haul. Actually I sort of wish I'd discovered it earlier.

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I used Gnome 2 for years. I then tried Ubuntu's Unity plugin for two months. It worked but with lots of annoyances.

I now use KDE. Despite the fact it is a bit buggy (probably I should use the Debian stable version!!!) it is a lovely desktop design and I am here for the long haul. Actually I sort of wish I'd discovered it earlier.

I gave up on KDE the moment they forced KDE4 on us and went to Gnome. Once I get a new system, I will be going MATE or try out Cinnamon.

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I gave up on KDE the moment they forced KDE4 on us and went to Gnome. Once I get a new system, I will be going MATE or try out Cinnamon.

I heard KDE 3.5 was a great desktop. I am using 4.7.3 and it seems very good and stable. TBH I am sort of glad Ubuntu introduced Unity and Gnome introduced gnome-shell. Otherwise it is doubtful I'd have given KDE a try.

Also, I am using Kubuntu. I read today that Kubuntu 12.04 will be a five-year LTS release, just like Ubuntu 12.04. This is cool. :D

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Yes, KDE3.5 was awesome. Trinity DE comes close if you ever want to give it a shot:


http://www.trinitydesktop.org/
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or if you want to download a fully made ISO:

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http://apt.pearsoncomputing.net/cdimages/
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KDE3.5 and Trinity are lighter on resources then KDE4.

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  • 2 weeks later...

imma let you finish but GNOME2 was the best linux desktop ui of all time...

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