Linux Mint Forums

Having updated my system with Pack 4 and loaded cinnamon I now have the session choices of Gnome, Gnome Classic and Cinnamon. I understand what Cinnamon and Gnome are but what is Gnome Classic ? Is it based on GDM3 and what are the advantages if any of this over Cinnamon. I have some graphics problems with Gnome 3 and Cinnamon and not sure whether to use classic or install Mate

Gnome Classic = Gnome Fallback mode. Which doesn't need 3D acceleration to be able to run (which Gnome Shell and Cinnamon do need with Linux Mint 12, though they won't with Linux Mint 13 according to dalcde). It was developed by the Gnome 3 developers as a, eh, fallback for when running on computers that don't support the needed level of 3D acceleration (usually depending on the graphics card driver in use).

Gnome Classic looks similar to the old Gnome 2 interface with a panel on the top and bottom of the screen, but it is nowhere near as configurable. The Gnome devs are planning to eventually get rid of Fallback Mode too. If it boils down to a choice between Gnome Classic and MATE, I'd choose MATE without hesitation as it is a proper continuation of Gnome 2 (albeit with a different name).