Friday, May 24, 8:55 pm

Cinnarch – Where Arch meets Cinnamon

Written by Bill Toulas on October 7, 2012. Posted in Arch Linux, Linux distributions

Arch Linux is now one of the most popular Linux distributions out there and that is for a good reason. It is the distribution with the largest number of available packages, the most recent/up-to-date packages, the rolling release nature, one of the most complete and comprehensive documentations and one of the biggest userbases out there (that is certainly the most knowledgeable too).

What most people that try Arch find difficult is to install and maintain it, but basically install it. Arch isn’t going to offer any pre-installed desktop environments making it difficult for Linux newbies to enjoy it, and a challenge even for the experienced as you’ll either need to have a second machine available in order to read on-line instructions, or write them down somewhere and just go for it!

This is completely stupid and I can’t think of any real reason why Arch developers choose to do that other than the fact that they want to keep their userbase “newbies-immaculate”. Thankfully, there are many distributions out there that offer an Arch based and 100% Arch compatible system with a desktop environment pre-installed like ArchBang and Bridge Linux.

Cinnarch is just another example of that kind, as it is a 32 and 64-bit distribution that offers a completely Arch based and compatible system with Cinnamon pre-installed. Apart from the popular desktop environment, it offers every day use applications like the Chromium browser, LibreOffice suite, Adobe Flash Player etc. The installer is not there yet as it is a text installer, but I am sure this won’t a problem for the majority of you.

Download YouTube Video | YouTube Converter

And even if you hate text installers and you just don’t want to do things this way, you will be please to know that a graphical installer is coming round the corner…

Download YouTube Video | YouTube Converter

Cinnarch uses the Arch Linux official repo and AUR providing tons of available packages for every need and as it is based on Arch, it is also a rolling release distribution so you’ll only install it once and then upgrade/update for ever and ever till the end of times, which is exactly the way every Linux distribution in the year 2012 that respects itself and its users should be working like.

Now what if you don’t like Cinnamon? What if you want something else like Gnome Shell or KDE? Still it is much easier to install Cinnarch and then install the desktop environment of your choice like a human being :) plus you will have most of the applications you need pre-installed. You can either keep Cinnamon as a back up DE in case something goes wrong with your other DE of choice, or uninstall it later! Why install a simple Arch? Go for Cinnarch!

Cinnarch Homepage

For questions please refer to our Q/A forum at : http://ask.unixmen.com

arch

Cinnamon

cinnarch

9 Comment(s)

Bill Toulas

Contact: billytoulas (at) gmail (dot) com

pks

You know there is nice command line browser built-in that you can use to browse the comprehensive Wiki page regarding installation?
- conor rynne
  
  you do know Arch does not include an X server by default, and so only has one terminal, meaning you cannot read the wiki and actually perform the commands at athe same time?
  - Amir Dizdarević
    
    Not true. When I installed Arch, I had 1 terminal open to do the installation and another one reading the text version of the Arch installation guide.
  - vellon
    
    You do know that most Linux distributions (including Arch) ship with six virtual terminals as default, meaning you can read the wiki and actually perform the commands at the same time? Obviously you didn’t…
Rom

As a Linux user since 6 years and Arch ‘newbie’ since a few weeks I can tell you that Arch is not made for newbies. I don’t understand why you think it’s “completely stupid” to have a “newbies-immaculate” environment. Being easy for newbies is definitely not the goal of Arch (even if it’s not so difficult to install and maintain when you have understand the ‘philosophy’ of Arch). Use KVM if you want to try it.
- Axlin
  
  Exactly. What the hell article was this? Berating Arch for not catering to newbies is like berating Ferrari for not offering a low-cost minivan for families. Guess what? That’s not in their desired demographic. Arch has never pretended to be anything other than a distro for *advanced* users (i.e., people who actually know what they’re doing and have no problem with RTFM) with a KISS philosophy who also desire a bleeding edge, yet reasonably stable, rolling release model. If you want something more newbie-friendly, look for something else, because Arch simply isn’t for you. Or try your hand with Arch spin-offs like the mentioned Cinnarch, Archbang, Bridge, Manjaro, etc. Just don’t expect the same 100% newbie-friendly experience as Ubuntu or Mint, since, you know, it’s based on *Arch*.
  - kk
    
    well ik the arch isnt newbie friendly i mean its good that way i think there is a good learning part of linux people should understand and i love arch very much for forcing me learn, but the forum site sucks man i mean i had a problem with my installation and when i searched arch for a solution all i got was try another distro or go with ubundu … i mean like i been a debian user for a year sure they weren’t that happy to help a newbie in trouble but they were much better than this that i can garenty ,look i know what u mean u love ur distro and u don’t like people saying crap about it but u should understand even if its not newbie friendly there should be some way for newbies to actually work with it i mean everyone was a newbie at one point so u should understand there feeling too. and good luck cinnarch i hope u be like lmde which is a debian based system which is just super in the fact that the forum site is awsome they help as much as they can i know since i secretly ask questions there as lmde user :P so cheers to cinnarch :D
  - darkdream
    
    I agree, who ever wrote this article is fucking stupid and should not even be using Linux. The whole goal of Arch is for users who want to know more about the inner workings of Linux! And after using Arch for 6 months and tried out Funtoo( Gentoo ), ARch is a walk in the park.
Rich

CinnArch gave me the ideal opportunity to try Arch; something I’d looked at before but was put off by the attitude of a lot of posters in the forums. I much prefer Cinnamon to any other DE. Yes, I’ve had a lot to learn, but the Arch Wiki is excellent and covers almost everything I’ve had to do.

My main problem has been installing Citrix Receiver. My efforts on that front came to an end when I had two conflicting packages; both of which were required dependencies. Other than that it’s been great. Wi-fi set-up was the major obstacle at first, but after booting back into Ubuntu to research a few times, all was good. I don’t really see a problem with maintenance (touch wood), just installation.

I have been on Linux for 3 years solid, however – there’s no way I would have attempted it before.

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