Thursday, May 17, 2012

How To Replace Unity with Cinnamon 1.4 in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise"

Posted by Unknown on 3:46 PM

 *UPDATE 5/25/2012* Cinnamon has now been updated and stability problems with Ubuntu 12.4 LTS has now been fixed.

You have installed Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise" but you don't like the default Unity interface and you wish to trash it and replace it with another desktop environment (DE). This tutorial will walk you through step by step to removing Unity and replacing it with Cinnamon 1.4 which is my preferred DE at the moment. Warning: Cinnamon 1.4 in its current state is still unstable with Ubuntu 12.04, however you can use this tutorial to install another DE or if you don't mind the minor crashes (which doesn't happen to some) then stick to Cinnamon you will not be disappointed.

The default Unity desktop looks like this:

Default Unity Desktop
Default Unity Desktop
























After this tutorial it will look like this:
Default Cinnamon Theme
Default Cinnamon Theme


























You will notice that after you install Ubuntu 12.04 you only have the option to use Unity and Unity 2D.




So first thing we need to do is log in to Ubuntu in either 3D or 2D it does not matter.

Now fire up the terminal and type the following

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable

Click ENTER when asked.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinnamon



Now just wait for the process to finish.

Once finished, you can reboot your system and now on the login screen you will see Cinnamon, Gnome Classic and Gnome Classic (No Effects) have been added as optional DE this is for fallback in case Cinnamon fails to start.
Cinnamon successfully installed


Log in either with Cinnamon, Gnome Classic  or Gnome Classic (No Effects).


If you logged in with cinnamon this is what you will see.























Now we want to trash Unity for good.

Open up the terminal and type the following

sudo apt-get remove gir1.2-unity-5.0 indicator-application indicator-appmenu indicator-datetime indicator-messages indicator-power indicator-sound libindicator7 libnux-2.0-0 libunity-2d-private0 unity unity-2d unity-2d-launcher unity-2d-panel unity-2d-places unity-2d-shell unity-2d-spread unity-asset-pool unity-common unity-lens-applications unity-lens-files unity-lens-music unity-lens-video unity-place-applications unity-scope-musicstores unity-scope-video-remote unity-services

Wait for the process to finish and logout.

If successful you should no longer see Unity and Unity 2D as options.






















Congratulations! You have replaced Unity with Cinnamon. If you prefer to use another DE you can use this tutorial but instead of installing Cinnamon install the one you prefer.

Next tutorial I will show you how to do more customizations. If you liked this tutorial please share it.

1 comments:

Wow this is just what I wanted This is GREAT......AAAAAAA+++++

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