GUI - Confused

[jimrothstein]

I recently installed Linux Mint 12 ("Lisa") after using Ubuntu for several years in which I never 'peered under the hood' very much. So I am very much newbie.

But I seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot with Linux Mint - at least as far as gui (desktop | ui etc.) is concerned. (My favorite apps, packages, etc. all seem to work fine.)

I've tried to read, work through the tutorials etc. but quickly get fouled up. Here is my problem: I am simply lost as to what gui pathway I am on, or should be on (Gnome, no its MGSE, no try MATE or ... ) I know it has all been discussed, but it seems to me like a quickly moving target.

My immediate goal is simplicity (and stability) I am willing to be patient as new Mint releases come. I don't want to know all the reasons or alternatives (ok, shoot me.)

So ...
-What is simplest (or 'official') pathway to follow?
-What should be on my system: Gnome 3|MGSE|Update 4| ? (Remove all else? MATE? Cinammon? Gnome 2)
-When I logon : Do I want to select Gnome, Gnome 'classic', Gnome no effects? Something else?

If possible to just list in one place (not even explain) what should be running, I'd be happy for now. (Apologies if posted elsewhere, but I missed it.)

Thanks.

[Danko8321]

Hello and welcome to our humble community

Well, even though I'm not much of a newbie anymore (Please do notice the 'much') I agree with you; there are way too many UI's and Logins by default.

My first idea would be "give them all a try and when you have chosen the one that you like better you can remove the rest (well, most of it)". Anyway, no mater if you do that or not, I believe some clarification is necessary; MSGE is not a login session or a shell, it is just a set of extensions that run on top of Gnome Shell (The newest version of Gnome); if you use an App called "Advanced Settings" you can turn some (or all) of them off as you please, reaching a pure Gnome Shell experience. Now, Gnome Classic is just a session that was designed for people that didn't have enough juice to run Gnome Shell (which, as you may have noticed, is quite a resource hog); oddly enough, there are quite a few people out there that prefer Gnome Classic to Gnome Shell (mostly because it is more like Gnome 2 and works with Compiz [I think?]), so, go figure.

Anyway, let's move on. MATE is a fork of Gnome 2 (a very beloved but no longer supported DE) and is pretty much the same as older versions of Mint (I.E. Julia or Kaya); it behaves almost exactly the same and is not as heavy as Gnome Shell. Cinnamon *is* a shell; it runs on top of Gnome Shell, but is radically different in it's approach. It looks and acts similar to older versions of Gnome (I.E. Gnome 2), but is actually based on the much more stable Gnome Shell and has some interesting features in it.

So, if you want to decide which one you should use and you want simplicity and stability, my first candidate would be Cinnamon; it has a lot of interesting features and is fairly easy to use, not to mention that it is very stable. I use it on my machine and it is a pleasure. To install Cinnamon, you can paste the following in a terminal:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install cinnamon

That is my humble opinion: Cinnamon is the best DE currently out there. I hope I have been of some help. Cheers. Danko.

[RETNUH]

-What is simplest (or 'official') pathway to follow?

To do what?

-What should be on my system: Gnome 3|MGSE|Update 4| ? (Remove all else? MATE? Cinammon? Gnome 2)

MGSE is gnome 3 with Mint tweaks. Update pack 4 is for LMDE.

-When I logon : Do I want to select Gnome, Gnome 'classic', Gnome no effects? Something else?

Choose whichever DE you prefer. I'd give Cinnamon a spin if I were you though.

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install cinnamon-session

I think you'd benefit from finding out what is what. Then you could probably decided what you want.

[craig10x]

And once you decide, i wouldn't be removing things...just have it boot into the particular session you prefer (which you select from that "cog wheel" you see when you log in) it will default to whichever one you used last...for example if you install Cinnamon session and like that, just select it from that cog wheel and every time you boot up you will go right into it...no need to remove components...not a good idea, really and totally unnecessary...

[Inkit]

it seems to me like a quickly moving target.

Know what you mean.
It's quite simple actually. Your computer is just a machine, and Mint is just a software that helps you work on it. Just as you would need a web browser if you want to browse the web, you need other things for other functions. For example, you need a file browser to browse your files, and you need a photo manager if you want to browse through your photos collection.
And you don't have just one software to do this. For example, there are a few different web browsers that you can choose from, and the same is the case for your file browser and photo manager too. You may not know this but if you don't like the default file browser you can install another one.
This concept extends to your desktop environment too. You can choose from gnome, KDE, xfce, lxde and a few others. The desktop environment is what gives you the working environment that you are accustomed to. Gnome and KDE is one of the higher end ones in that you can do a lot with it, the desktop cube being one of the best known examples. xfce and lxde are much lighter and offer a faster environment, but no extra features.
It may all sound a little confusing initially, but the more you read up on it, the more everything falls into place. It looks like you've been hunting around and gotten confused with different things. My suggestion would be to take your time. Mint is remarkably robust, and even if you do manage to screw it up, you can always reinstall. Just make sure that you have everything backed up.
As the old saying goes "Rome wasn't built in a day" so take your time. It'll all come to you.

What is simplest (or 'official') pathway to follow?

My suggestion would be to keep following the forums. I learned most of what I know from there. I see a question, and then read the answer and if I don't understand it I search around. As time goes, I learn more and more.

What should be on my system: Gnome 3|MGSE|Update 4| ? (Remove all else? MATE? Cinammon? Gnome 2)

It all depends on what you want. Gnome 3 is the next version, up from gnome 2. MATE is another name for Gnome 2. Cinnamon is a Mintified Gnome 3. They are all desktop environments as explained above. Update pack 4 is for another version, of mint, not the standard one.

When I logon : Do I want to select Gnome, Gnome 'classic', Gnome no effects? Something else?

Once again, it depends on what you want. They are all different desktop environments and you should try them before you make up your mind. If you are unhappy with them or want to try something else too, you can install xfce, lxde or KDE on to your regular install. You just choose which one you want before you log in. There is no problems as such with doing this except that you'll have different applications for each DE that will clutter your menu. For example, KDE and Gnome are not usually compatible, so you need a different app for each function. mate, gnome 2, 3 and xfce use most of the same libraries and the applications can be interused except for a few.

If possible to just list in one place (not even explain) what should be running, I'd be happy for now

If everything sounds confusing, go with MATE. It is not new, hence more stability. Cinnamon too is very good and the Mint developers have worked hard at ironing out all the bugs, but you may come across a couple here and there. Other than that, most of the applications you will need for a normal home user will come default in the DVD version.

[chamillo]

Interesting discussion. Very informative. I had been using Ubuntu for years until they came up with Unity. I didn't like Unity at all and so I decided to switch to Mint (I really liked Katya). I'm no Linux expert by any means, so I too am a little confused with all the environments. I recently installed Mint 12 (Lisa) and I like it, but I have some questions. The website says that this version features Gnome 3 and MATE. What does that mean? Are they two different environments or is one a dependency of the other? I noticed that with Mint 12 I can navigate to my applications from the main menu (bottom panel), but at the top left I can also start a different kind of navigation. Do I have two different GUIs running at the same time? After reading this discussion I want to try Cinammon to see what I like best. Overall, I'm really pleased with Mint and I appreciate all the work by the Mint team. The only thing that the new version broke is the webcam. It doesn't pick up the microphone (but I guess that is a topic for a different discussion)

[Inkit]

Hi,
I unfortunately don't use Mint 12 so can't help you much there. I'll however try to clarify your doubts.
Gnome 3 is the forward development from Gnome 2. Many people are uncomfortable with it because it is a radical departure from the previous version and therefore want to retain Gnome 2. Gnome 2 however will not be supported because it has become legacy. So the mint team have renamed it MATE and have put their own twist to Gnome 2 and will carry forward the project under the MATE banner.
They look similar, but behave very differently. Gnome 3 for example does not work unless you have hardware acceleration. It is also very system intensive when compared to other Desktop environments.
They do depend on each other and although you have the option of removing only the Gnome shell, you cannot remove one entirely without tampering with the other.
Cinnamon is a different, mintified version of Gnome 3.
As for your webcam not working etc, remember that Gnome 3 is very new and although most of the bugs have been ironed out, there are still bound to be some. Gnome 2 came to where it was after years of work and one of the reasons why I moved away from Gnome is because many features that I was accustomed to in Gnome 2 are not available now.
Also I have a very simple workstation and do not have accelerated graphics. Gnome 3 is therefore a waste for me. Gnome 2 works well, but like I said, some features that I use are missing. I therefore use xfce and kde.
And in my opinion these both are very good. For example, I've never been able to get compiz to work because of the lack of hardware acceleration, but I've got the desktop cube working with the wobbly windows and all in kde on the same system. And resources wise, it's idling at the same cpu usage as gnome with maybe about 75 - 100 mb of ram extra.
Initially it used to slow down at the start, but that was because of the nepomuk search function that indexes all files. I've disabled it and also removed a lot of packages that come as standard. It's now as good as Gnome 2 used to be. I also have xfce which I use for work, and believe me, you can "see" a difference in speed when you use it. It's not too fancy and if you're a windows xp sort of person, then xfce is a very good option for you.
Don't know if I've helped you out here, but these are my thoughts on the subject.

[chamillo]

Thank you for your comments. As suggested here, I decided to try a few different environments and although I kind of like the big icon navigation in Gnome 3, I can tell that it is a resource hog (I understand why many Linux users don't like this, including me). I do appreciate the different options available and although it can get a little confusing, this forum has been great. I can now say that I understand my options a lot better and I think I can make a more educated decision with the environment I choose.