Fedora 38 Cinnamon edition

[t42]

Just install released last night Fedora 38 Cinnamon edition. I like its accurate Cinnamon implementation (unlike in some other recently emerged projects). They even kept xed text editor, which in Debian Cinnamon replacet by gedit. If you are fine with dnf and firewalld it may be a nice addition, complete with such tools as Red Hat SELinux Troubleshooter. Timewise it took 4 minutes to install OS with anaconda installer and 5 minutes to setup Cinnamon to my taste.

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$ cinnamon --version
Cinnamon 5.6.8

$ uname -rv
6.2.11-300.fc38.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Apr 13 20:27:09 UTC 2023

$ systemd-analyze 
Startup finished in 792ms (kernel) + 3.857s (initrd) + 2.527s (userspace) = 7.177s 
graphical.target reached after 2.301s in userspace.

[nachlese]

... the grass is always greener on the other side
If this is just about the choice of default editor and perhaps some visual design decisions: oh well ...
this can all be adjusted very easily

AFAIK, Cinnamon is based upon Gnome (and is a Mint "invention")
So, gedit as the default editor would make sense.

I could not care less one way or the other - I'd just install and use what I want if the default would not suit me.

[Hoser Rob]

I'd consider Fedora if I was installing on a machine that's quite new, Fedora is more bleeding edge. You don't have tp deal with hacks like backports to get a newer kernel/mesa et al.

However I don't like having to reinstall it every 6 months and I prefer Debian based Linux. I find it hard to imagine using Linux without Synaptic.

RHEL is very tempting for older (>= 3 yrs or so) if you don't mind old software. Red Hat is no question the most stable Linux distro there is. There's a reason it's so popular with enterprise. The only competition is Debian Stable. My main box runs Stable based MX KDE. Might have tried LMDE but I don't really like CInnamon that much.

I agree with the above statement that it doesn't matter which text editor or whatever comes with it. Install what you want. I've been using leafpad/mousepad for quite a while now whether it was preinstalled or not. I don't really think there's such a thing as a 'pure' DE release either.

[t42]

I mentioned xed text editor as it shows careful attitude in Cinnamon implementation. If you need, for some reason, xed in Debian, you need to compile it. And gradually xed interface became more convenient than gedit with all its Gnome awkwardness. Of course text editor is a small matter, I'm using several GUI editors, it is also leafpad, l3apad, Kate, emeditor - avoiding anything electron-based.
It is understandable that Cinnamon editions is not a big deal for Xfce and KDE users, otherwise it is an excellent release, its DE being on par with Debian Cinnamon (still Bookworm is my main system, it's testing, but it is really stable).

[BenTrabetere]

I'd consider Fedora if I was installing on a machine that's quite new, Fedora is more bleeding edge. You don't have tp deal with hacks like backports to get a newer kernel/mesa et al.

I have been running Fedora on one of my "severance package" machines for nearly a year. This machine is a very capable system, but far from bleeding edge. Fedora runs very well on it, and I have grown to like Fedora enough that it is one of the three contenders (along with Manjaro and MX Linux) if I chose to switch from Linux Mint.

However I don't like having to reinstall it every 6 months and I prefer Debian based Linux. I find it hard to imagine using Linux without Synaptic.

I started with Fedora (Cinnamon because I familiar with it and I loathe Gnome) when v36 was released. I have performed two in-place upgrades, and the 36 --> 37 upgrade went without a hitch. I upgraded to Fedora 38 this week, and so far everything is running smoothly. I found the upgrades were as painless and stress-free as the point-release upgrades for LM.

As for living without Synaptic, this is one of the biggest reasons I stick with a Debian-based Linux. I like Pacman and Pamac, and I do not have many objections to DNF. I have very few nice things to say about dnfdragora.

[MurphCID]

I, too, have little good to say about dnfdragora. I run Cinnamon Fedora 38 on the Galago Pro since it works well, gives me reasonable (not great) battery life with TLP enabled, and is functional. All other laptops are Mint. Fedora's update is terminal preferred to update releases. Plus Fedora gives you the latest kernel (6.2.10) and it works well on the latest hardware. As a release this is the best Cinnamon release of any distro, except Mint's own release. The Cinnamon version is also the latest just like Mint. Fedora will stay installed on the Galago Pro since it appears that laptop was made to run something like Fedora. DNF is pretty much the same as APT in my opinion, just a few differences in commands.

[JesseRBassett]

Personally I cannot stand the way Fedora Cinnamon updates itself. The dnfderoga thing is horribly created. Its design in mediocre at best. I'd rather go with something like opensuse and install cinnamon on that if I had to switch operating systems. However Mint just works OOTB. Which is why it is the main driver OS on my mac.

[Hoser Rob]

I'd consider Fedora if I was installing on a machine that's quite new, Fedora is more bleeding edge. You don't have tp deal with hacks like backports to get a newer kernel/mesa et al.

I have been running Fedora on one of my "severance package" machines for nearly a year. This machine is a very capable system, but far from bleeding edge. ...

If you mean bleeding edge as in Arch or Fedora I agree. But it's the most bleeding edge among major distros that do not require you to be an expert to actually use (esp Gentoo).

[MurphCID]

Running Fedora 38 Cinnamon edition on the Galago pro gives me 5-6+ hours of battery life, and unlike both Mint 21.1 and POP!_OS 22.04, I have only heard the fans running when I was installing it, and doing my configuration. Fedora is a more advanced distro in that it has far fewer good GUI tools, and depends more on the user having some Linux knowledge or strong google-fu. There is a lot more configuration to be done on Fedora than Mint or POP, but it works, well. Will I leave Mint? Nope. But the best tool for the job in this case happens to be Fedora 38.

Fedora turned the Galago Pro from a: "Why in the heck did I buy this thing?" to a "It's a pretty good laptop, I think I will keep it."

[Tolayon]

Fedora Cinnamon was the first distribution ever that I installed in a VM (at that time Fedora 31).
I like that this spin not only uses Xed (which for me is secondary), but also comes with all the Mint themes and icons preinstalled.
Dnfdragora, however ... Let's say it's a crutch, something you can use, but with lot of patience (Python upon Python and lots of repos).

I always install Gnome Software on Fedora Cinnamon, which also can be used to update and even upgrade the system.

However, lately I have come to appreciate simply Fedora's flagship version with Gnome. Once you know how to do it, you can make it look like Ubuntu or use "Dash To Panel" instead of the dock. I even find vanilla Gnome relatively usable, but wouldn't want it as a daily driver.

[mediclaser]

I almost switched to Fedora because its Cinnamon desktop makes me feel at home (like Linux Mint). But I don't like the mandatory upgrade to the next version every 6 months. I'm too lazy for that.

[MurphCID]

Update on the Galago Pro with Fedora 38 Cinnamon; it is running great, no issues, still dislike dnfdragora, but stable as all get out, and good battery life. I can say I recommend it a lot for those who need the latest kernels for their hardware.

[Hoser Rob]

I don't like the 6 month release cycle either ... if you install Fedora you may want to seriously consider a separate /home partition.

Like I saiid before, I'd consider Fedora for really new hardware, but after about 3 years I suspect I'd install Debian Stable something or something based on it like MX).

[MurphCID]

I do not mind it, after a little trying, the update was fast and simple in terminal, and all my files, desktops, wallpaper were there as before, no noticeable changes other than a new kernel, and more up to date stuff. It was relatively painless. It makes the Galago Pro work so much better, and I get good to very good battery life.

[BenTrabetere]

I don't like the 6 month release cycle either ... if you install Fedora you may want to seriously consider a separate /home partition.

I rather like the 6-month the release cycle, and the upgrades have gone smoothly for me. I think Fedora represents a more stable interpretation of a rolling release distro. I still like the boring stability of an LTS distro, but I have used Fedora long enough now to know it is an option.

I do not have a separate /home partition, but I do have a separate partition for my personal files (with symlinks to /home). My "data" partition is on a separate physical drive, and the drive also has a Timeshift partition. This is the setup I use on all of my systems, and it works for me. As always, personal and config files are backed up regularly.

[MiZoG]

First of all: Fedora + Cinnamon = cheating that means it is really a good conservative choice for a not conservative distro.
Cinnamon is a solid desktop developed in "human" pace with stability in mind.
And very good OOB everywhere. Manjaro Cinnamon is "cute". Even on Debian "vanilla" Cinnamon is definitely serviceable.

I did try Fedora 38 for 2 weeks. Gnome because I'm not cheating.
And Fedora 38 + Gnome 44 was not solid-rock. Several crashes and more messages about crashes happening "behind the scenes".
Of course it was all up to Gnome. Gnome had a quick point release for 44 series with a lengthy catalogue of bugs and memory leaks addressed.
But sorry my Fedora friends I will not be there when you receive it.

[t42]

Fedora + Cinnamon = cheating that means it is really a good conservative choice for a not conservative distro.

... quite opposite, not cheating, but loyalty to ...Cinnamon.
Good definitions of Fedora: "not conservative distro" )

[DisturbedDragon]

Fedora distribution updates are super easy and quick. A few CLI commands and you're on the new version. Running Fedora on with different and no DE on a few laptops, desktops and servers. All are rock solid and the laptops benefit from real world speed gains plus much more battery life than other OS can achieve.

[MurphCID]

Had a massive glitch where an update came across and for some reason killed Google Chrome, and some other programs. Firefox worked fine, mostly, but I have no idea what happened. So I re-installed POP!_OS, remembered why I dislike it, and installed Mint 21.1 with the 6.1 OEM kernel. I will most likely re-try Fedora 38 today once I get home. Fedora also was recommended by System 76 for the Thelio system I have on the way.

[t42]

Just install gcc in Fedora 38 and ...

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gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 13.1.1 20230511 (Red Hat 13.1.1-2)
Copyright (C) 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Even in Debian Bookworm / testing it's 12.2 !