How To Install Cinnamon Desktop On Ubuntu 11.10 “Oneiric Ocelot”

Cinnamon is a Gnome-Shell desktop fork. It is not strictly a Gnome-2 interface, although the developers aims are laudable – to produce a simpler more traditional desktop interface. Development seems to be rapid. It is usable and certainly fun to play with with a growing number of extensions to install to extend the base installation. Here is the guide to install cinnamon desktop on Ubuntu 11.10.

Open Terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T).

Add repository.

raj@geeksite~/$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:merlwiz79/cinnamon-ppa

Update the system repository.

raj@geeksite~/$ sudo apt-get update

Install Cinnamon desktop.

raj@geeksite~/$ sudo apt-get install cinnamon-session cinnamon

Once installed, logout and select cinnamon by clicking on gear icon in login page.

Now you should get the following desktop.

That’s all!