How to install and configure Cinnamon desktop on Linux

Introduction

If you feel like I do about recent changes to Gnome desktop you've probably searched for alternatives. I went with Cinnamon because of:

• ease of use
• high level of customization
• ability to create desktop shortcuts with icons
• general annoyance with Gnome features nonsense

This article explains how to replace Gnome with Cinnamon and also how to further customize Cinnamon desktop to have a reliable working environment.

Installation

Run these commands as root:

apt remove gnome-session
apt install cinnamon-desktop-environment

Restart your computer. Main menu is accessed by clicking the gear button in the lower left corner. To restart or shut down your computer click on the light switch icon. To access Settings click on wrench and screwdriver icon.

Customization

Steps that follow reflect my personal preferences but you might find some of them useful. All changes are listed in no particular order.

Show Trash icon on desktop

Menu, Settings, Desktop, Desktop Icons, set Trash to on.

Increase font size for all desktop icons

Menu, Settings, Fonts, Desktop font, choose your preferred size.

Make root terminal work

Open regular terminal (Menu/Accessories or Menu/Administration), type:

su
<enter password>
/usr/sbin/visudo

Add this line:

<user name> ALL = NOPASSWD: ALL

Press Ctrl + X to exit, press Y to save changes. Go to Menu, Accessories, Main Menu, find Applications, System Tools, Root Terminal. Click on Properties, change command to:

sudo /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator

Click OK, close window.

Add applications to panel bar

Menu, find your application, right click, choose Add to panel. Drag icon in panel bar to change order.

Change panel bar height

This needs to be done by changing CSS attributes. Open this file in text editor as root:

/usr/share/cinnamon/theme/cinnamon.css

Find this tag: #panel Change height (e.g. 32px) and font-size (e.g. 16px), save, restart.

Show folders instead of icons in file manager

Open file manager (click folder icon in panel bar), click Show Treeview (lower left corner).

Disable window shadows

Open this file in text editor as root:

/etc/environment

Add this line:

MUFFIN_NO_SHADOWS=1

Reboot.

Change file manager folder icons look

Menu, Settings, Themes, Icons, change to Adwaita.

Disable window snapping

Menu, Settings, Window Tiling, set Enable Window Tiling and Snapping to off.

Disable task bar minimized application thumbnail previews

Menu, Settings, Applets, find Window list, under Display set Show window thumbnails on hover to off.

Assign shortcut key to show desktop action

Menu, Settings, Keyboard (under Hardware), select Shortcuts, General, Show desktop. Double click the first entry under Keyboard bindings, press your favorite shortcut key.

Conclusion

Gnome desktop was great for a while, and now it's just broken. If you'd rather not grow more gray hair every time you need to update your Linux system do yourself a favor and switch to Cinnamon. It works like a desktop should.