Test Drive: Linux Mint 17 “Qiana” on the EEEPC 900

Some time after Ubuntu release also Linux Mint has came out with its latest version: number 17 codenamed “Qiana”. Even if a little late since the release date I decided to give Mint Qiana a quick look by running it live on the EEEPC. I've been a Mint user for a while, what mostly interest me is to observe evolution of Mint desktop: Cinnamon. The EEEPC 900 is getting old and, even if it's still functional, Gnome Shell is getting less responsive every update. I was so thinking about switching to a lighter window manager.

First impressions

Here is how Linux Mint 17 looks like:

I was particularly interested in exploring Cinnamon configuration capabilities, here is the rich system settings window:

Cinnamon offers a great deal of personalization starting from themes

Applets, small applications running in panels,

and the so called “desklets” applications residing in Cinnamon desktop.

Default desklets availability is very scarce but something more is available on the Internet (even if we do not really need so much clock or weather applications). Here is Cinnamon after I played a little with personalization settings (I know, it looks a little too much like a cellphone)

Last but not least the “Hot corner” settings which allow a personalization of up to four hot corner to show workspaces, windows or the desktop.

the workspaces management screen is quite functional even if I still prefer the Gnome-Shell one.

Conclusions

Mint 17 with Cinnamon behaved well enough, on the performance side Cinnamon has been fluid and responsive but not a big difference from Gnome-Shell when I tested it under the same conditions. If I want a more responsive EEEPC I think I'll have to look for e even lighter windows manager like XFCE.