Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Cinnamon Desktop VS Openbox

Compare Cinnamon Desktop VS Openbox and see what are their differences

Cinnamon Desktop logo Cinnamon Desktop

Cinnamon is a Linux desktop which provides advanced innovative features and a traditional user experience.

Openbox logo Openbox

Openbox is a highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.
  • Cinnamon Desktop Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-10
  • Openbox Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-06

Cinnamon Desktop features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Cinnamon Desktop offers a familiar, intuitive interface similar to traditional desktop environments, making it accessible to users transitioning from other operating systems like Windows.
  • Customization Options
    It provides a wide range of customization options, allowing users to modify themes, applets, and desklets to tailor the desktop to their preferences.
  • Performance
    Cinnamon is designed to be lightweight while still maintaining a modern and full-featured experience, resulting in efficient performance even on older hardware.
  • Active Development
    The Cinnamon desktop environment is actively maintained and developed, ensuring regular updates and improvements.
  • Fedora Spin Availability
    As a Fedora Spin, Cinnamon Desktop benefits from Fedora's cutting-edge software and features, providing a polished and up-to-date user experience.

Possible disadvantages of Cinnamon Desktop

  • Resource Usage
    While Cinnamon is more lightweight than some other environments, it still consumes more resources than extremely lightweight alternatives like LXDE or Xfce, which may not be ideal for very low-spec hardware.
  • Limited Advanced Features
    Compared to more complex desktop environments like KDE Plasma, Cinnamon might lack some advanced features and tools appreciated by power users.
  • Less Community Support
    Relative to some other major desktop environments, Cinnamon has a smaller user community, which may result in less community-driven support and fewer third-party extensions.
  • Occasional Stability Issues
    Users may occasionally encounter bugs or stability issues, particularly when using extensions or performing heavy customizations.

Openbox features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Openbox is a highly efficient window manager that requires minimal system resources, making it an excellent choice for older hardware or systems with limited resources.
  • Customizable
    Openbox offers extensive customization options, allowing users to tailor the look and feel of their desktop environment to their specific preferences.
  • Fast Performance
    Due to its lightweight nature, Openbox provides fast and responsive performance, resulting in quicker application launches and smoother overall desktop experience.
  • Comprehensive Keybindings
    Openbox supports complex keybindings, enabling power users to create efficient workflow setups through keyboard shortcuts.
  • Extensible
    Openbox can work seamlessly with other tools and additional software, allowing users to extend its capabilities with tools like panels, widgets, and additional plugins.

Possible disadvantages of Openbox

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Openbox requires a more hands-on approach and can be challenging for beginners to set up and configure due to its extensive customization options.
  • Limited Out-of-the-box Features
    Unlike full desktop environments, Openbox does not come with many built-in features, requiring users to install and configure additional software to achieve a fully functional desktop.
  • No Desktop Icons by Default
    Openbox does not support desktop icons natively, so users need to rely on additional tools like 'xfdesktop' or 'pcmanfm' to add this functionality.
  • Minimalistic Appearance
    While some users appreciate the minimalistic look, others might find it too bare-bones compared to more feature-rich environments like GNOME or KDE.
  • Manual Configuration
    Most customizations in Openbox require editing configuration files manually, which can be time-consuming and error-prone for users unfamiliar with text-based configurations.

Analysis of Openbox

Overall verdict

  • Openbox is a great choice for users seeking a lightweight and highly customizable window management solution. Its performance benefits on lower-end hardware and flexibility make it a valuable tool for power users and enthusiasts alike.

Why this product is good

  • Openbox is a highly configurable and lightweight window manager for the X Window System. It's known for its speed and simplicity, allowing users to control their desktop environment efficiently. It provides a blank canvas for users wanting to customize their workspace, making it ideal for those who prefer a minimalist setup or have limited system resources. The configuration is done through plain text files, offering flexibility for advanced users who wish to personalize their user experience meticulously.

Recommended for

  • Advanced users looking for customization options
  • Users with older or less powerful hardware
  • Minimalists who prefer a robust yet simplistic interface
  • Linux enthusiasts who enjoy configuring their desktop environment
  • Developers and programmers who want a distraction-free workspace

Cinnamon Desktop videos

Cinnamon Desktop in 120 Seconds - Linux

More videos:

  • Review - What Makes the Cinnamon Desktop Environment so Great?
  • Review - Cinnamon Desktop: Is it Good?

Openbox videos

Get Rid Of That Bloated Desktop Environment And Install Openbox

More videos:

  • Review - Manjaro Openbox: First Impressions and Review
  • Tutorial - Openbox V8S Review- How to get Free TV!!!
  • Review - Open Box Review (Bx8 M-Audio Speakers) #Openbox #SpeakerReview
  • Review - Openbox A1 - Review
  • Review - OPEN BOX - @ikmultimedia TONEX #fyp #opening #openbox #review #guitar

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Cinnamon Desktop and Openbox)
Linux
20 20%
80% 80
Operating Systems
100 100%
0% 0
Window Manager
8 8%
92% 92
Desktop Environments
55 55%
45% 45

User comments

Share your experience with using Cinnamon Desktop and Openbox. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Cinnamon Desktop and Openbox

Cinnamon Desktop Reviews

9 Best Linux Desktop Environments to Use in 2023
Cinnamon is the most widely used edition of Linux Mint. It is a stable, reliable desktop environment that runs on all major operating systems and Linux distributions like Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu LTS, Artix, and Manjaro Linux. Cinnamon is user-friendly and adaptable. You can make it uniquely yours with little effort. Themes, plugins, and modules are all used to customize...
Source: geekflare.com
The 8 Best Ubuntu Desktop Environments (22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux)
Cinnamon desktop is another fork of the GNOME desktop. It has a rather conservative design and is similar to Xfce. It is uncomplicated to learn and from this reason might be a good choice for someone who is new to Linux.
Source: linuxconfig.org
6 Best Linux Desktop Environments to Try in 2022
Cinnamon has grown into a complete desktop over time. Cinnamon gives the first priority to its users’ experience. You can see animations and effects all around the desktop. If you’re transitioning from Windows, you may get a familiar experience with Cinnamon. Linux distros that have adopted Cinnamon are Linux Mint, Ubuntu’s Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix, Fedora, EndeavourOS, and...

Openbox Reviews

Top 10 Best Desktop Environments in 2020
People who’re deep into Linux, love Openbox’s simplicity. It’s extremely lightweight, and comes with only a text-based right-click menu that lists all your applications. The menu is customizable too, and you can add scripts or functions within the menu as a link.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Cinnamon Desktop seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 5 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Cinnamon Desktop mentions (5)

  • Fedora Atomic Desktops
    A Fedora distro with a different desktop (or sometimes a specialized purpose): https://fedoraproject.org/spins/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Want to learn how to daily drive a linux distro as a humanities student
    Fedora, in my eyes, seems to fit what you want to do; it has boatloads of documentation, it "just works" if you want it to with an easy installer. You can also use the DNF package manager to get a lot of programs. And if you dislike how it looks by default, there are many spins. Source: over 1 year ago
  • What do I need to install on fedora to get it functionally close to Nobara?
    You can pick the default Fedora with GNOME Desktop or one of the alternative desktops (Fedora Spin for KDE, Cinnamon, LXDE, XFCE, etc). Source: over 1 year ago
  • 13" laptops which don't require [fractional] scaling
    All of that sounds like a GNOME-specific problem. Please download a Fedora 38 LiveCD with Cinnamon and test everything there. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Advice on Distro / DE
    To piggyback, if you're not a fan of the point-to-point release cycle of Mint, you can check out other distros, such as Fedora, which offer a Cinnamon flavor or spin. Source: about 2 years ago

Openbox mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Openbox yet. Tracking of Openbox recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Cinnamon Desktop and Openbox, you can also consider the following products

KDE Plasma Desktop - Plasma Workspaces is the umbrella term for all graphical environments provided by KDE.

i3 - A dynamic tiling window manager designed for X11, inspired by wmii, and written in C.

LXQt - The LXQt team is proud to announce the release of qtermwidget and qterminal, both in version 0. 8. 0. Read more..

dwm - dwm is a dynamic window manager for X. It manages windows in tiled, monocle and floating layouts. All of the layouts can be applied dynamically, optimising the environment for the application in use and the task performed.

GNOME - An easy and elegant way to use your computer, GNOME is designed to put you in control and get things done.

awesome - A dynamic window manager for the X Window System developed in the C and Lua programming languages.