Cinnamon1.2 comes with new configuration tool, 5 new applets and more

Cinnamon1.2 has been released, the new release comes with many new features and improvements. Cinnamon1.2 comes with an Improved Main Menu, new desktop effects (Fade & Scale), for customization,added a new configuration tool called “Cinnamon Settings” (See screenshot1),

1-The new  configuration tool called “Cinnamon Settings” (pic via Linuxmint.com)

and additional configuration options, 5 new applets by default(Accessibility, Recent documents, Removable drives, Trash, andDisplay (XrandR monitor control)),  and added the ability to change the layout of desktop.

2-Cinnamon 1.2 comes with 5 new applets (pic via Linuxmint.com)

Important other changes were made to significantly improve Cinnamon under the hood and these changes are:

  • Cinnamon now uses its own window manager (Muffin forks and replaces Mutter in Cinnamon 1.2)
  • Cinnamon is no longer compatible with Gnome Shell themes. It is possible however for a theme to define styles for both Gnome Shell and Cinnamon and to be compatible with both desktops.
  • Newly open windows are focused by default (instead of appearing in the back with an annoying “Your window is ready” notification)
  • Closing windows on an empty workspace no longer triggers the overview.
  • The overview was replaced by a desktop Scale plugin (similar to the old Compiz Scale). In future release, this plugin will be associated with CTRL+ALT+DOWN and a new Expo plugin will be mapped to CTRL+ALT+UP.
  • Bug fix galore (after this release, 130 issues were closed since the start of the project)
Find more in details about this release in Cinnamon1.2 announcement.
The new cinnamon1.2 is available in LinuxMint12 and you can install it using the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinnamon

If you want to install Cinnamon in Ubuntu, please use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:merlwiz79/cinnamon-ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinnamon cinnamon-session cinnamon-settings