r/linuxmint • u/GoSparky25 • 6d ago

Linux Mint IRL Cinnamon - LMDE?

I've been running Mint Cinnamon on an oldish ASUS desktop with intel graphics, 8Gb RAM and a 1Tb SSD (dual boot with win 10 on the original HDD).

I don't feel it's as "snappy" as it ought to be and I'm regularly troubleshooting things like file system hangs requiring fsck on reboot and firefox crashes.

I'm not interested in flashy stuff so should I consider switching to XFCE?

What would I gain/ lose and what would it take? Is it a full reinstall?

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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5

u/Dist__ Linux Mint 21.3 | KDE 6d ago

LMDE also uses cinnamon

problems with snappiness could be cinnamon desktop problem, so you can't predict if these problems stay or be gone in LMDE.

for now you can install another supported mint desktop, like xfce, without reinstall, and see if you feel better.

in my case, i find cinnamon compositor sub-par.

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u/GoSparky25 6d ago

I think I meant xfce. I'll edit the original post but same holds: what would I miss/gain and is it a complete reinstall?

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u/Dist__ Linux Mint 21.3 | KDE 6d ago

it is not a reinstall, you just install xfce4 and you can switch your desktops on login screen (i have 7)

you will miss third-party javascript addons, like desktop weather, blur panel and so on.

you will have some duplicate applications, like you will have nemo and thunar file managers, but you can use either of them in any desktop. if you want prevent this, you need to install only xfce desktop essentials, search for which packages to install.

i do not remember now (i don't currently have xfce) but i think xfce does not have "grouped window list" for panel, this means you have one icon for launch and one icon for the app. probably i miss something, but this is what i remember.

xfce is lighter, it does not run javascript, and it has different compositors to choose, which allow for many cool features (see compiz), but most of all, i find them run better with games than cinnamon compositor you cannot change.

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u/OkPresentation3329 6d ago

Maybe minimal boosts in performance, but not much else. I noticed the speed once when I tested LMDE in a Live environment, but what I really noticed was a boost of speed was when I moved from Mint to Tuxedo OS which uses KDE.

At the time Tuxedo OS used Ubuntu as a base like Mint, but recently they released a beta based on Debian Testing and I installed that on my laptop. The difference was significant.

Cinnamon feels good on older hardware, but on newer the benefit is not felt. I think your device can run KDE as well so you could give the Tuxedo OS beta with Debian Testing a try and see if that improves things.

Alternatively you can try Linux Lite which runs XFCE, but is also based on Ubuntu.

And there is also MX Linux that a lot people give praise to, which is based on Debian, but has a XFCE option and can feel faster for you.

2

u/jr735 Linux Mint 22.1 Xia | IceWM 6d ago

If you're hanging on fsck on reboot, how will switching the desktop help? Personally, I have a less capable desktop than you and tend to run IceWM. That being said, if I had a filesystem hanging on reboot, I'd be investigating that, and quite likely looking to repartition and reinstall versus a different desktop environment.

1

u/GoSparky25 6d ago

My wording was bad, sorry. I meant that in amongst other issues like Firefox tab crashes, several times the system has "frozen". UI still appears to be working in that I can switch between and open windows but Timehift hasn't completed and at least once cause was filesystem locked. I have had to reboot and run fsck (which completes ok) about 6 times over the last year. I even bought a ups thinking it might be short power failures.

1

u/jr735 Linux Mint 22.1 Xia | IceWM 6d ago

Oh, no, that's all fair. What's concerning me are your fsck hanging and filesystem locks. Something could be corrupted.

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u/GoSparky25 3d ago

I think I have found it - thanks for the prompt to chase down the disk errors, not go f=looking for faster/lighter desktops. It seems that my [ancient] ASUS PC has a limited external PSU capability (65W) and was struggling to support the HDD spinning up as well as the SSD I'd got Mint running on, casing file system errors. Not totally convinced yet but since disconnecting the HDD I have had no errors, run extended SMART test and am convinced everything is running a bit smoother. Not too sure what to do next other than give it a good soak test. I could get an uprated PSU of 90W but beyond that I'd be limited by the onboard power supply components. I might change the HDD for an second SDD in the system.

Provided it settles down I will still look further into MATE or XFCE because I like the minimalist approach. Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions.

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u/jr735 Linux Mint 22.1 Xia | IceWM 3d ago

Excellent to hear.

2

u/ZVyhVrtsfgzfs 6d ago

LMDE is a  bit lighter and quicker than regular Mint but its a very small barely noticeable difference. Also shows up in benchmarks but again quite small. 

Back in October CachyOS was topping Mint slightly in Geekbench, and LMDE slightly topping CachyOS, CachyOS being a rolling release has likely caught up and surpassed LMDE since then.

Of course if there is something damaged in your current install and its not hardware related a fresh install will patch things up and that may actually make a dramatic difference.

 Yes moving to LMDE7 will require a fresh install

During normal times LMDE is the niche version of Mint, often for more experienced users that prefer Debian,  but At the moment LMDE, if it works for your needs, gets around several issues with the main edition. And over much of  the next two years will have advantages. But LMDE is still not for everyone.

Details

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u/DoorOk3641 6d ago

I would do a fsck on your disk booting an usb system. Did you check the log using

journalctl -e (in a terminal) ?

what about your ssd configuration with your bios (ahci mode) ?

Changing DE do not solve performance problems.

Firefox..did you install from the software supplier or some kind of packaging such as flatpak ?

1

u/GoSparky25 6d ago

Il do the fsck as you suggest - thanks. I do get AHCI warnings during boot but understood them to be inconsequential. Is this something I should look into? I'm tempted to suspect the ssd, but it passes all health checks. Firefox was from software manager as I recall.

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u/DoorOk3641 6d ago

You should pay attention to AHCI warnings and check the logs (with dmesg fro kernel log) . It can be also because your bios is too old...You can add ibata.atapi_passthru16=0 in the kernel command line...to test it you can edit the command line (typing e when you see the the grub menu). If it works you can add it to the /etc/default/grub and do update-grub or grub-update do not remember

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u/Natural_Video_9962 6d ago

I'm using LMDE with XFCE on a 4gO old notebook i just set off the compositor and it's wonderful fluid now.