JakFrost wrote:Yes, it is Cinnamon.
32 bit.
It does not have a dedicated graphics card.
It is probably 8 or so years old.
They both have pentium 4 processors.
it has 2GB of ram.
I have not tried installing any other editions yet.
Cinnamon requires 3D acceleration and this may cause problems.
For new comers MATE or mint 13 XFCE are better.
for P4, I would Prefer Mint 13 XFCE. Mint 13 is LTS means Long Term Support, and it will be supported for 5 years as against regular releases which will be supported for 18 months.
to add to it, Cinnamon is comparatively more resource consuming ie. needs more RAM to work properly. In short it works well in Core-2-Duo or Dual core processors with 2 GB RAM than in P4 with 2 GB RAM.
Whereas XFCE is a DE for older PCs and is less resource hungry.
Cinnamon uses may be 300 - 350 MB RAM in idle state as compared to XFCE uses 200 MB
MATE is a fork of Gnome2. Gnome2 was very stable and popular DE, but the newer version Gnome3 received criticism and so there was a fork of Gnome 2 called MATE.
MATE is also rock solid, and it consumes less RAM than Cinnamon and more than XFCE.
Linux Mint Developer Clem, forked a part of Gnome DE, called Gnome-shell and called it Cinnamon to take advantage of latest technology and maintain old traditional look.
So in short, I personally think Mint 13 XFCE 32 bit would be ideal for you. Clem suggested MATE for new windows converts than Cinnamon. But for P4, I think XFCE suits best.
But it is 7 month old and so will have lots of updates immediately after install.
If you have a grip with PC like to spend some time, you can install XFCE DE on Cinnamon, so that you do not have to reinstall completely and save some MBs
If you want to feel XFCE DE, open Software manager and search for "xubuntu-desktop" (without quotes) and install it.
After installation, log-out and upon login screen, there is an option to select either Cinnamon or XFCE (or maybe Xubuntu). Select XFCE (or Xubuntu) and you are on XFCE
But this will also install default apps for XFCE e.g.
App Cinnamon XFCE
word processor - LibreOffice Writer Abiword
Spreadsheet LibreOffice Calc Gnumeric
text Editor Gedit Leafpad
and some more like music player. So you end up with 2 apps for same application.
You can also install simply XFCE Desktop Environment, but Xubuntu is tweaked and I find it better. Some users also install xubuntu-core. i.e. just plain simple XFCe with minimum apps
To do this open terminal
You will miss the cinnamon menu. there is Mint-menu, which can be installed. On the other hand, I use a keyboard launcher Synapse. Just open synapse and type name of software e.g. "writer" or "Firefox" (without quotes) and hit enter to launch it. Edit settings by clicking on right side small circle and change shortcut key to your wish and check box to load on start up). It's a fast way to launch softwares.
From personal experience, I think it will take same or somtimes more tie to install Another DE and then manually remove duplicate apps.
If MBs are not a problem, just go for Mint 13 XFCE 32 bit. 32 bit version also supports non-PAE motherboards and processors.
If things does not work well, you can also try rock soild xubuntu 12.04 LTS, but it's not supported by Linux Mint. You will have to ask in Ubuntu forums. There is another lighter distro called Lubuntu (they are all off-springs of ubuntu)
Cinnamon is great if it's working for you. But if it's not, then MATE and XFCE are better options for P4.
I hope this is not too complicated.
To know more about LTS versions and DE's, please visit these thread
What is the difference between Debian, Fluxbox, XFCE, ... - read Robins reply.
Regarding Mint 9 LTS Isadora
Enable Backports to have latest apps in LTS
in brief about DE's
KDE : Very Polished, used by many as windows replacement DE for new windows converts - Heaviest. Now concentrates on touch interface
Gnome3 : Gnome 3 with gnome-shell is developed keeping in mind touch screen.
Cinnamon : New but stable and fast evolving and exiting. It is fork of gnome-shell (version gnome2) - Heavier
MATE : Fork of Gnome2, which was rock solid and most popular DE - Heavy
XFCE : Stable, simple, no-nonsense, stable traditional DE built for old PCs, less features than MATE / Gnome2 / gnome3 but customizable.
LXDE : Lightest DE built for old PCs, less feature rich but customizable
There are many more, but these are main DEs.