As many of you will know, I use Linux as much as possible. I’m yet to find anything I like about OS X and Windows is… Well, it’s Windows. I appreciate the freedom of using Linux. A little over a year ago, I decided to accept a challenge I had noticed on the Ubuntu forums that no one could ever manage to remove Windows and not go back to it. Well, I’m here to tell you it can be accomplished. I have Windows 7 on one desktop and on my laptop, because my employer requires me to use a Firefox extension that will only run in Windows versions of Firefox. But they both have Linux installed on them, as well. Another desktop dual boots two Linux distros and my iMac is now running Linux Mint 12.
And let me say Linux Mint 12 is one of the most impressive Linux distros I’ve ever tried.
I’ve always been a fan of the GNOME desktop environment, but I have to admit the GNOME 3 concept is one I’ve not been real happy about. GNOME 2 is what I’ve been accustomed to using and the idea of having to adapt to GNOME 3 just hasn’t been real exciting to me. I particularly enjoy using Linux Mint Debian Edition, which allows me to run a Mint-version of Debian. GNOME 3 has been moved into Debian Sid, so it’s inevitable the next LMDE update will contain GNOME 3.
When the team at Linux Mint released Mint 12, code-named “Lisa”, with the GNOME Shell, I decided I would leave two of my machines on Mint 11 “Katya”, so I could avoid running the new desktop environment. My iMac was running Ubuntu 11.04 and I’ve been waiting for the new LMDE release, to switch it over. I decided to go ahead and install Mint 12 on it, to see if I cold start getting used to the GNOME Shell.
The team at Linux Mint released Mint 12 with MGSE and MATE. MGSE (Mint GNOME Shell Extensions) allows users to use GNOME 3 in a more traditional manner. And it is a pretty fair way to start acclimating to the future. Mint 12 also has MATE, which is a fork of GNOME 2, allowing a system to be run on both versions of GNOME. It’s a little buggy around the edges, but it was certainly Mint 12 with something close to GNOME 2.
The good news is the Mint team has released Cinnamon, which is forked from GNOME Shell and is based on Mutter and GNOME 3. And Cinnamon takes Mint 12 clear over the top. It puts things back into familiar places and makes them easier to use. It is an extension of the Mint 12 philosophy, which is to make an operating system that works well and looks elegant whilst doing it.
As you can see, the Mint 12 Cinnamon desktop looks just like previous releases of Mint 12. There is only the one panel, located at the bottom, as in previous versions. The GNOME 3 icon is located in the upper right corner and allows access to the GNOME 3 menus.
But tapping the Command (or Windows) key now opens the Mint menu, which is looking particularly rich in this new release.
After running Mint 12 on the iMac for an afternoon, I went ahead and installed it on my Windows desktop. And now it is time to update my laptop with it, as well. Using Cinnamon sessions makes Mint 12 an incredible release. And the best part about Cinnamon is that Clem and the Mint team have announced Cinnamon will be worked into LMDE, as soon as GNOME 3.2 is moved into Debian Testing.
And to think I was dreading new releases, because of GNOME 3. Now, I’m really anxious to get the next LMDE update, so I can get this running on my LMDE machine.
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