Featured Comments: Week of 2018 July 8

There was one post that got two comments (from the same commenter) this past week, so I'll repost both of those.

Review: Linux Mint 19 "Tara" MATE + Xfce + Cinnamon

An anonymous reader said, "Mate has been the best since it replaced gnome2. It scales better across different computers and has many parts that just work. One minor thing is to select the themes only in each of their parts. Controls/panel, window boarder and icons mainly. And to not use vetted parts. But there's so much to choose from and it's just looks. Just about anyway you want", later adding, "I meant don't use broken themes. That's all." (I have since replied with a comment clarifying all of those points.)

Thanks to that reader for those comments. I don't really have any other posts planned for the rest of this month, but I do hope to have a book review or something else for next month. In any case, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

Review: Linux Mint 19 "Tara" MATE + Xfce + Cinnamon

It has been some time since I last reviewed a Linux distribution. That is in large part because I've found that the Linux distribution landscape is not as dynamic as it once was, with fewer new distributions vying for market share, while older established distributions have simply continued to exist and develop. As a result, unless you readers have particular suggestions for distributions that I should review (as long as it can be done via a live USB) or a distribution particularly catches my eye, I will likely be sticking to reviewing Linux Mint each time a new release comes out, until and unless Linux Mint declines in quality so much that I need to start looking for new distributions.

MATE: Main Screen + Linux Mint Menu

This time, I'm reviewing the latest edition of Linux Mint, focusing on MATE to test the distribution and its applications as a whole, while more briefly touching upon the DE-specific experiences of Xfce and Cinnamon. I used the USB Image Writer tool on my installation of Linux Mint 18.2 "Sonya" MATE to create the live USB system; based on the language used (e.g. "destroying" all data on the USB drive), I suspect this is just a nice graphical front-end to the "dd" command. Follow the jump to see what it's like; although 32-bit versions are available, I consistently tested the 64-bit versions.

Featured Comments: Week of 2016 November 6

There was one post from last week that got 3 comments, so I'll repost all of those. (This post should have happened two days ago, but I was traveling.)

Review: Manjaro Linux 16.10 "Fringilla" Cinnamon

An anonymous reader wrote, "Manjaro repositories exist since 2014 (more or less). 'free' it's an alias for 'free -h', look at '.bashrc', also 'ls' and maybe 'grep' are often aliases. Note: Manjaro Cinnamon is a Community Edition, I think this clarification is needed."
Another anonymous commenter suggested, "perhaps it is time for a Bodhi linux review?"
Reader Bernard Victor had this suggestion: "You should review Antgeros, a much better Arch based distro than Manjaro. It is much closer to pure Arch, in fact some people call it just an Arch installer."

Thanks to all of those readers for commenting on that post. In the rest of the month, I hope to have at least one more post (unrelated to Linux reviews) put out. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

Review: Manjaro Linux 16.10 "Fringilla" Cinnamon

Main Screen + Cinnamon Menu

I was going to make this post a review of the SpaceFM file manager (RAS syndrome, I know) upon recommendation by a commenter in a previous post. Then I checked it out for a bit, and realized that while it has a lot of potential for graphical customization, I still wouldn't feel particularly compelled to write a full review about that one application. Instead, I'm reviewing the Cinnamon edition of the latest version of Manjaro Linux. Last year, when I reviewed it, it was still relatively tied to Arch Linux. Since then, it has become much more independent, using its own repositories and maintaining a semi-rolling release model (though maintaining ties via the Arch User Repository (AUR)). Given that, I figured it might be time for a new review to see what has changed. I tried it using a live USB made with UnetBootin. Follow the jump to see what it's like.

Review: Korora 21 "Darla" Cinnamon

Main Screen + Cinnamon Menu

I wanted to do this review a few weeks ago but didn't get the chance until now. Anyway, although I have reviewed Korora a few times before on this blog, I have not reviewed its Cinnamon edition until now. I particularly wanted to try the Cinnamon edition mainly because I seem to have bad luck whenever I try other distributions with Cinnamon, so I wanted to see if that would change here. As usual, I tried it as a live USB system made with UnetBootin. Follow the jump to see what it's like.

Review: Manjaro Linux 0.8.12 "Ascella" Xfce

It has been a while since I reviewed Manjaro Linux. In fact, my last review of it was almost 2 years ago. Since then, I have seen a lot of news about how much it has grown and how good it has gotten. I figured I should give it another review.

Manjaro Welcome + Whisker Menu

For those who don't remember, Manjaro is a distribution that based on Arch Linux. It maintains a rolling-release base, and it is compatible with most Arch repositories, though some of its repositories are its own. It officially supports KDE and Xfce, though community editions exist for other DEs as well.

Several weeks ago, I tried to test it using MultiSystem, but the live USB didn't boot. This time, though, it worked using UnetBootin after following this set of instructions. Follow the jump to see what it's like.

Featured Comments: Week of 2013 December 15

There was one post this past week that got a few comments, so I'll repost all of those.

Review: Linux Mint 16 "Petra" Cinnamon + MATE

Reader Michael Freeman said, "Compiz doesn't work in Petra? It works fine in Maya LTS with MATE 1.6. What version of Compiz comes with Petra? Do you have all the needed packages installed?"
An anonymous commenter had this to say: "I must say that I am surprised by your assessment of Cinnamon 2.0. I have Petra installed and have been using it as my daily driver since the day it was released. I find it to be incredibly stable and not at all laggy, but rather snappy. Of course, everyone's hardware is different. Give it a go in a VM if you have the resources, you may find you like it. Cheers!"
Another anonymous reader followed up on the first comment: "Compiz worked fine for me on petra 32bit. First of all u have to install all the packages needed. Then you have to set an autostart entry like 'cinnamon --replace' and change the default desktop manager from 'marco' to 'compiz' using the dconf editor. If you're using live session without a persistance file to save settings, you have to install and run it manually every time you boot. check here - http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1298".

Thanks to all those who commented on that post. I'm at home for break now, but I don't have any posts particularly planned. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

Review: Linux Mint 16 "Petra" Cinnamon + MATE

Cinnamon: Main Menu

This is the second review that I'm doing at the moment. Linux Mint 16 "Petra" came out in MATE and Cinnamon guises recently, so as a fan of Linux Mint, I'll be reviewing those now. I tried each edition separately on a live USB made with UnetBootin. Follow the jump to see what each is like.

Featured Comments: Week of 2013 June 9

There was one post that got a handful of comments this past week, so I'll repost some of those.

Review: Linux Mint 15 "Olivia" Cinnamon + MATE

Reader Mechatotoro said, "Thank you for the time to write about Mint; your review is very useful and enlightening. I really appreciate your objective observations! Again, thank you and good luck with your studies."
An anonymous commenter had a different experience: "I have been using Mint 15 since the RC release and it has been rock solid for me as well."
Reader Bernard Victor had a similar counter: "I am using Mint with Cinnamon desktop. I have found it very stable and responsive. Desktop effects work well. I think it is the best all round distro that I have tried. I also have PClinuxOS loaded which is not half as responsive though seems pretty stable. Could be that some of your problems result from only usinga live USB system."
Commenter on4aa supported, "I am happy to read a rather objective Linux Mint review, pinpointing the same desktop environment issues that made me leave Linux Mint Debian Edition. [...]"


Thanks to all those who commented on that post. This coming week I will have another review along with maybe one other post coming out. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

Review: Linux Mint 15 "Olivia" Cinnamon + MATE

It's that time of the year again. Linux Mint has just released the latest version of its distribution, and I'm going to review it.

Cinnamon: Main Screen + Cinnamon Menu

What has changed since the previous version? Cinnamon has gotten more bug fixes as usual. More importantly, its settings have been consolidated into one program, and it has become less immediately dependent on GNOME than before. Meanwhile, MATE has also been moving away from old libraries toward newer ones used in GNOME 3 as well, allowing for things like Caja to look a little more like Nautilus. There are other changes in store for Linux Mint itself, like new separate tools to manage software repositories and drivers, respectively (in opposition to how Ubuntu is doing it now).

I tested both of these as live USB systems made with UnetBootin. Follow the jump to see what they are like.

Review: Linux Mint MATE 201303

For those of you who have been waiting for a review, I think I may have said before that my writing would shift more to science-y stuff and away from distribution reviews. However, that does not mean that reviews will stop entirely. I'm on spring break now and have a little more time to do these reviews, so today I am reviewing Linux Mint MATE 201303, which came out earlier this week.

Main Screen + Linux Mint Menu

This is the version of Linux Mint based on Debian rather than Ubuntu. It uses a variant of a rolling-release model, in that while existing users can get the latest and greatest software simply by applying updates as usual, the updates come in large bundles (I almost want to say they are like the Microsoft Windows Service Packs, except that they work) rather than individual package files. This means that the most common packages used on a Debian-based Linux Mint system are tested so that they can be guaranteed to work not only individually but also together, so that the problem of an individual update breaking other dependencies becomes moot. Around the time of releasing a new update pack, a new ISO file snapshot of the distribution is released, as was the case this time around.

I reviewed the [32-bit] MATE edition using a live USB made with MultiSystem; I wanted to review the Cinnamon edition too, but it refused to boot, so I will leave my assessment of it at that. I also did an installation of this (which regular readers know is rare), so you will have to follow the jump to see what this is like.

Featured Comments: Week of 2012 December 9

There was one post that got a handful of comments this past week, so I will try to repost most of those.

Review: Linux Mint 14.1 "Nadia" MATE + GNOME 3/Cinnamon

An anonymous reader said, "It's too bad you didn't get to experience Mint 14 with Cinnamon. I have it running on both a Pentium E5300 desktop with Nvidia 440 GT, and on a 6-year-old laptop with Intel C2D T7200 with Intel 945GM integrated video, and it runs great on both."
Another anonymous commenter had this to say: "Cinnamon now comes with Nemo instead of Nautilus. I like it, but I am o so missing the ability to have scripts and actions from within Nemo. In my opinion it was made default file browser too early."
Reader ArcherB shared this experience: "I just installed MATE on top of my standard Ubuntu installation. Works great without the stability issues of Mint. Tried Cinnamon, but, like the author ran across, it was simply not stable enough for me. It would launch and run for a while, but then weirdness would crop up. It would either lock up, "tear", or certain aspects of it would fail. MATE works fine for me, so I'll stick with that and KDE."
Commenter Jonc said, "I've run into no stability problems with Mint 14.4 Cinnamon. Or any other problems. One of the pleasures of Cinnamon is that it requires little customization, unlike many other distributions that tout their configurability but release products that are ugly and disfunctional in their default state. I've found MATE to be slow after using it on Mint, Fedora and OpenSuse. The transitition from Gnome is incomplete (Check the Startup Apps: several instances of MATE processes running in parallel with their Gnome equivalents). I also wonder if the resources behind MATE are enough to sustain it and if it can make a successful transition to GTK3. If I wanted to run a Gnome 2 desktop, I'd go with CentOS. Now, that does require a good bit of tweaking to get a good looking usable desktop, but it is fast and very reliable."

Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. This coming week, I have final exams, but after that is finished, I'll probably have a post out looking back on this semester along with possibly another review. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

Review: Linux Mint 14.1 "Nadia" MATE + GNOME 3/Cinnamon

Wow. It's been a really long time since I've had the time to sit down and do a review like this. The reason for that is because this semester has been incredibly busy in pretty much every way, and today was finally the last day to turn in problem sets and other assignments. Now, I can finally do this review.

Main Screen + Linux Mint Menu

Linux Mint needs no introduction here. However, one thing to note is that this is the first release since version 4.X "Daryna" to have a version number with a digit after a decimal point. The reason for that was that some sneaky bugs got past final-release testing, so they needed to be fixed and the ISO file needed to be released as an updated image. Right now, the editions with MATE and GNOME 3/Cinnamon are out in final form, so those are the ones I am going to be reviewing today. For reference, the KDE and Xfce are coming soon, as those already have release candidates out now.

I tested this as usual on a live USB system made with MultiSystem. I did not test the installation. Follow the jump to see how this fares relative to my current preferred version 13 LTS "Maya".

Featured Comments: Week of 2012 October 7

There haven't been any "Featured Comments" posts in the last few weeks due to the general dearth of posts in that time stemming from my busy schedule. There was one post this past week that got a handful of comments, so I will repost all of those.

Review: Cinnarch 2012.10.01

Reader Alexandre Filgueira, who is the lead developer of Cinnarch, said, "Hi, [...] Thanks for the review. It was very interesting. I wrote down some things that you said to improve the distro I will include a link to your review in our monthly stats."
Commenter Greg shared, "I accidently messed up my install by editing the menu while trying to move my WINE app from Other to WINE submenu. I unclicked my app off the other menu and my screen started flashing and then got an error saying OOPS. So I couldn't log in anymore without this error. So I chroot into my install from the livecd, cleared my home folder and rebooted. My install went back to a more "default" Cinnamon. I have the show desktop back, the icons were the gnome icons, the menu had the widget instead of the Cinnarch logo. I like it. Also, I uninstalled files-bzr and installed nemo-fm. I think it's better because it gives more options, like a location bar, which I have a hard time living without."
Reader Eddie agreed: "Totally correct. Cinnamon is a work in progress. It's not bad now but still needs some polish. Just a checking it seems that the problems are more related to Cinnamon than Gnome3 and I do believe they are upstream problems as you stated. Anyway, nice review."

Commenter Denis Leukhin said simply, "Great review! Thanks."

Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. I was intending to do a review for this coming week, but it didn't work out at all, so I won't be posting anything else about that. I probably won't have time for many other posts, as has become the norm this semester. Anyway, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

Review: Cinnarch 2012.10.01

I haven't gotten the chance to do a review in a while. It's a long weekend, so I finally do have some more free time now, and I need to take a break from the otherwise endless stream of work, so I'm taking a look at Cinnarch now.

Cinnarch is a relatively new distribution on the scene. True to its name, it is based on Arch Linux and uses GNOME 3/Cinnamon as its primary DE. At first I figured that the packaging would be fairly stock, but as it turns out (and as you will see later in this post), there are a few other mild customizations present as well.

I tried this on a live USB using MultiSystem; I did not try the installation. To be honest, this is going to be more of a look at GNOME 3/Cinnamon in general rather than Cinnarch specifically as a distribution, though there may be certain things in the distribution affecting the experience of the DE. Follow the jump to see what it's like.

Featured Comments: Week of 2012 March 18

There was no "Featured Comments" post last week as there were no comments on the previous week's posts. This past week, there was one post that got a few comments, so I will repost all of those.

Review: Cinnamon 1.4

Reader Sean Lynch said, "This is a great review of Cinnamon. Not finding gnome-terminal in /usr/bin is strange. That's where mine is and I did a standard install of mint 12 from the DVD. Have you tried 'sudo apt-get install gnome-terminal'? I would only disagree with one thing you wrote: 'Cinnamon is a new desktop shell for GNOME 3 that aims to emulate either the standard GNOME 2 desktop or the usual Linux Mint-based GNOME 2 desktop' Reading the Cinnamon site and what Clem has written, I think that this isn't too accurate. I believe that Cinnamon is just an alternate to Gnome 3 shell, not a re-implementation of Gnome 2. Cinnamon will never be an exact clone of Gnome 2, but it will be a better Gnome 3. Gnome 2 left a lot to be desired when it was released. It took over a year for it to get to be reasonably configurable and even then it never was as configurable as Gnome 1.4. I'm hoping that about 1 year from now Cinnamon will be pretty nice. I've been using Cinnamon since 1.1 and the stability has increased amazingly. I think that the releases before 1.4 should have been pre-releases with 1.4 as the first stable release. Now, hopefully, more functionality will come. Thanks again, and good luck finding that terminal!"
An anonymous commenter had this suggestion: "@PV in your reviews can you please check if network-manager , modem-manager & mobile-broadband are included so that if we don't have a hard line or use modems or phones we are not w/o internet".
Another anonymous reader had this hypothesis: "Solusos USB boots if written using unetbootin in Linux. May be you were trying in Virtualbox. I am able to use it and it works great." (It was a good guess, but I wasn't trying to create the live USB system from within a VM.)

Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. This coming week, I am on spring break (and I am back home safely), so I will definitely be free to write stuff, but I can't think of anything that I might write about now, so hopefully I can think of something. In any case, if you like what I write, please continue subscribing and commenting!

Review: Cinnamon 1.4

This was actually going to be a preview of SolusOS, both because I wanted to do it and because a commenter had requested it. Unfortunately, MultiSystem refused to write SolusOS to the USB, while SolusOS was unbootable after being written to the USB by UnetBootin. Hence, I could not try it out. Instead, I am trying out Cinnamon 1.4.

Cinnamon Menu

A few months ago, I reviewed Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" with GNOME 3/Shell. Although it used GNOME 3/Shell, it tried to make it better through the Mint GNOME Shell Extensions (MGSE). At that time, I said that while MGSE was a valiant effort to make GNOME 3/Shell more usable, I would rather just use MATE. Well, since then, the Linux Mint developers have ditched MGSE entirely in favor of GNOME 3/Cinnamon. Cinnamon is a new desktop shell for GNOME 3 that aims to emulate either the standard GNOME 2 desktop or the usual Linux Mint-based GNOME 2 desktop, depending upon the user. It also aims to make GNOME 3 a lot more configurable.

Last week, I wrote a post about how I would transform MATE into something that I already use on a daily basis, but I also mentioned that I should withhold judgment about Cinnamon until after actually trying it. Well, I am trying it now to see if it could do a reasonably good job of replacing my preferred GNOME 2 desktop setup. Follow the jump to see what it is like. I tested this on a live USB session of Ubuntu MATE Remix made with MultiSystem.