this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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is Cinnamon sort of a shitshow? (programming.dev)
submitted 1 year ago by sederx@programming.dev to c/linux@programming.dev
24 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

let me land, i started working in this place and they asked me to maintain the internal linux distro as well. fine, sure.

they run a modified ubuntu with cinnamon on top.. i thought ok interesting choice. no problem right? wrong!

i never noticed since i never used cinnamon much but its missing a shitload of features that regular users expect and that are present in gnome.

some of it its silly,sure. but it has been a challenge, ill just list a few.

  • you cant duplicate your bottom bar on all screens...

  • if you customize your shortcuts and then add the "window group list" applet... it takes over the shortcuts....

  • there is no logout trigger in dconf(WHYYY???)

  • no automatic tiling options can be added(afaik)

  • you cant switch your audio source from the systray icon...

  • tried to remove an applet and now i have a green rectangle in the middle of my screen with no obvious way to remove (see pic)

  • we had to manually modify cinnamon because it wouldnt handle multiple users and gdm at the same time(like WHAT???its fixed now upstream but jeeesus)

  • the issue tracker is a warzone, i opened multiple issues and only once got an answer(the issue above) and theres like 1.6k issues open

we really tried but i dont think we can deploy this much longer, it doesnt seem worthy considering almost none of this is an issue in gnome. im getting tired of getting a ticket and having to reply "well this would work on gnome but on cinnamon we cant,though titties"

to my understanding cinnamon was chosen because more similat to windows but this is not worth it imho... what do you think? have you used cinnamon in professional environments or just stuck to gnome?

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[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People using opensource software have to learn how to be more respectful and level-headed.

"Cinnamon is a shitshow" makes me think you are unable to voice criticism in a reasonable manner and that the rest of the text will be filled with overreactions and dramatization. After reading it, my initial impression feels confirmed.

i never noticed since i never used cinnamon much but its missing a shitload of features that regular users expect and that are present in gnome.

If you never noticed a "shitload" of basic features, maybe they aren't basic nor expected by regular users and you're running into less common usecases.

Sometimes things can be frustrating, I get it. Maybe you wrote this in a moment of anger and just needed to let it out, but IMO those things should be more often done in private. Once the private rage has been quelled and you're in a better state of mind, maybe then consider making a post.

[–] 18107@aussie.zone 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Try Linux Mint with Cinnamon.

Cinnamon was built for Mint. The only time I've run Cinnamon on another distro, I encountered a bunch of confusing bugs.

At least this will tell you which bugs are caused by Cinnamon, and which are due to the integration with a custom distro.

[–] sederx@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

i actually did that and yes at least you get the latest version which solves some of those issues (we cant switch since ubuntu pro isnt officially supported on mint,afaik)

[–] Krafting@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is a mess, I love the team and the project but yeah...

Also, "you cant switch audio source from the systray" yes you can, do a right click, the audio systray is pretty useful and can switch devices and even manually set volume per application

[–] sederx@programming.dev -3 points 1 year ago

had a brain fart on that one , thanks! still users are very confused by the double context menu so they keep opening issues

[–] pezhore@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use KDE as my go-to desktop environment - it's the only option for my Steam Deck (which is shockingly good when hooked up to an external monitor), and I chose it for my Ubuntu 22.04 LTS work laptop.

Yes, it does look different from windows, but depending on what global theme you use, it's shockingly similar:

  • click on the icon in the far lower left to access "Applications"
  • Time/calendar, sound, wifi in the far lower right
  • Single task bar along the bottom that shows currently opened apps and pinned apps

I spent maybe 10 minutes with my 70 year old mother and she felt comfortable using it despite being a Windows user since 3.1 days.

Users are more resilient than you'd think - provide documentation on what's new and you may even be able to sell it as "The upgraded version" of your old platform.

Hell, the fact that you're on Linux already is great! Most of the significant issues I run into when converting people over to the OSS side is software availability (coincidentally the thing that made my Mom switch back to Windows).

[–] sederx@programming.dev -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If we are ever changing I'm putting gnome back, I wouldn't deploy kde in my company.

[–] moomoomoo309@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What about KDE is bad for it? Is it the settings overload if they open the settings menu? 😂

[–] sederx@programming.dev 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Among other things plus it's kinda buggy in my experience which makes sense considering how much stuff it has

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When was the last time you used KDE? If you're a KDE4 user, that's about a decade old? It would be like judging gnome4 and saying it's shit because gnome2 wasn't nice.

[–] sederx@programming.dev 0 points 1 year ago

I had a steamdeck until recently. Not sure why you would assume I was only using kde 4

[–] miracleorange@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What about Xfce or Budgie?

[–] sederx@programming.dev 0 points 1 year ago

I feel I would encounter similar issues, gnome is the center of development for any commercial distro sadly.

I would never use it personally(I'm a dwm boy) but for normal people is perfectly fine imho

[–] o11c@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

From my experience, Cinnamon is definitely highly immature compared to KDE. Very poor support for virtual desktops is the thing that jumped out at me most. There were also some problems regarding shortcuts and/or keyboard layout I think, and probably others, but I only played with it for a couple weeks while limited to LiveCD.

[–] CJOtheReal@ani.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think Cinnamon only works correctly on Mint and maybe Ubuntu (but I'm not sure about Ubuntu)

[–] sederx@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm on ubuntu

[–] CJOtheReal@ani.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

With some tinkering it may work, but just using mint cinnamon is easier

[–] sederx@programming.dev 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not an option in this case we need Ubuntu pro

[–] CJOtheReal@ani.social 1 points 1 year ago

That's unfortunate

[–] sizeoftheuniverse@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

For me the experience is different, but to be honest i am spending more time in the terminal and the browser than notifying what the DE is actually missing.

I mean, i have panel on the bottom with the open apps, a few shortcuts, the network manager, the Bluetooth manager and the calendar. I am not missing anything.

I also run Mint, and things were extremely stable for as long I can remember.