Switching from xfce to cinnamon

[rlyacht]

I installed linuxmint/xfce a while back, then decided I wanted to try cinnamon, which I'm using now. System info says I'm on Linux Mint 19.1 Xfce, and Cinnamon 4.0.9.

My question is: is my setup now the same as if I had installed linuxmint/cinnamon initially, or is it better (in some sense) to reinstall linuxmint/cinnamon from scratch?

[redlined]

I installed linuxmint/xfce a while back, then decided I wanted to try cinnamon, which I'm using now. System info says I'm on Linux Mint 19.1 Xfce, and Cinnamon 4.0.9.

My question is: is my setup now the same as if I had installed linuxmint/cinnamon initially, or is it better (in some sense) to reinstall linuxmint/cinnamon from scratch?

hi rlyacht!

I'm pretty new to Linux and did some due diligence when considering a similar setup recently. Basically the forum consensus seems split between make separate installs because you are going to mess this mixed DE up in some shape form or fashion; and others vouchsafe the method of combining light with heavy DE but not to combine two 'heavies' (light being XFCE&Mate, heavy being Cinnamon&KDE, saying ok to Cinnamon&Mate or XFCE but not Cinnamon and KDE as advisable)

anyway, I do have an old laptop with my first venture into the world of Mint that I started with LM18.3 Cinnamon DE then installed MATE DE to test for better use on said laptop (which it is). I had no issues to speak of in doing this and could log out from one DE and log back in to the other DE without problems just by switching it in login screen. and besides some confusion, on my part, where certain apps conflict at system level- such as default file manager (Nemo for Cinnamon and Caja for Mate, will be Thunar for XFCE in your case). and really it amounted to ensuring I knew which app I was working with (Nemo or Caja), regardless which DE I was using at the time, due to Mint menu names for both being "Files". You might find other little issues had you began with Cinnamon then added XFCE, as not all apps work on both DE and certainly any "spices" (applets, desklets, and extensions) which are for Cinnamon will not work on XFCE.

[rlyacht]

Thanks, since it works pretty well I will probably just stay with what I've got. I'm not so concerned about whether it's using the right default applications, but more if there's some low-level stuff that is different.