Cinnamon 1.4 improves workspace management

Cinnamon 1.4 running on Debian Sid

The Linux Mint team has announced the release of version 1.4 of its Cinnamon desktop. Cinnamon 1.4 now supports 39 languages, and it includes new overview modes for virtual desktops, a settings applet to manipulate items on the panel, improvements to the menu and a host of other improvements and fixes.

Cinnamon is Linux Mint's fork of the GNOME Shell interface used in the GNOME 3 desktop. It has attracted considerable attention since it was first announced in December and has progressed quickly, rapidly adding new features.

This version of the desktop interface now includes two separate modes for managing virtual desktops: the "Scale" mode, which is very similar to the Compiz plugin of the same name, shows all of the workspaces in a grid of thumbnails, and the new "Expo" view presents the workspaces zoomed-out in a row next to each other (similar to the "Compiz Wall" effect). Cinnamon 1.4 also includes a new menu that allows users to change the position of applets on the panel.

Localisation has now also been introduced to the desktop shell and version 1.4 has already been translated into 39 languages and improved support for right to left languages. Other enhancements in this version include tweaks to the main menu, new configuration options in Cinnamon's settings application and numerous improvements to several components of the desktop environment.

Detailed information about all changes in Cinnamon 1.4 can be found in the release announcement. The update should be available to users of Linux Mint 12 via their package manager very soon. Users can install the desktop environment manually for several distribution including Ubuntu 11.10, Fedora 16 and openSUSE 12.1 by following the instructions on the Cinnamon project's download page.

(fab)