Written by Eric Adams on August 22, 2019
Install the Cinnamon desktop environment on a vanilla Arch Linux base and configure the desktop, installing themes and additional software.
Download a copy of the Arch Linux installation ISO from their download page.
Either write the ISO image to a USB thumb drive for bare-metal install or create a virtual machine.
- I recommend using balenaEtcher as I have had issues with other USB creators.
- For virtual machines I use Oracle VM VirtualBox.
I am using the installation helper script Archfi (Arch Linux Fast Installer) which has an ncurses interface to make it easier to manage the installation process yet results in a completely stock vanilla Arch Linux installation. Archfi installs the base system and then enables you to use archdi (Arch Linux Desktop Install) which is an additional helper script from the same author.
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Either boot the PC using the USB drive or create a new virtual machine and attach the ISO to boot into the Arch Linux installation environment.
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Download the Archfi script using the following command:
wget archfi.sf.net/archfi -
Start the installation process by issuing the following command:
sh archfi -
Complete the steps presented by Archfi to install Arch Linux. You can optionally follow along with my video which covers the particulars of using Archfi.
Once Archfi has completed the base installation it will offer the option to continue with archdi. I will use this to install the Cinnamon Desktop Environment and various other software needed for a full desktop experience, such as Xorg, fonts and so on.
- Complete the steps presented by archdi to install Cinnamon. You can optionally follow along with my video to see the specifics of how I install it.
You should now have a fully functioning system with Cinnamon. There are some steps we can take to improve the experience as the Cinnamon installation has no additional software installed by default, including utilities like an image viewer and text editor. The default themes are also lacking so you'll likely want to install some others. A good option is the Arc theme combined with the Papyrus icon theme. I prefer the Mint Themes and have created a guide for installing them here.
lightdm-gtk-greeter was installed as part of the archdi setup. It's fine but not particularly attractive. A better option is the lightdm-slick-greeter which is available in the AUR. You will also want lightdm-settings which is also available in the AUR.
yay lightdm-slick-greeter
yay lightdm-settings
sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
Find the section under [Seat*] and uncomment the line below, adjusting the text as noted.
greeter-session=lightdm-slick-greeter
Save and exit. You will see the change on next login/reboot. From here you can use the Login Manager Settings program to adjust the properties of the login screen.
Linux Mint, the creators of Cinnamon, include several "Xapps" as a part of the Linux Mint distribution. These are available on Arch Linux as a combination of native and AUR packages. You are also free to use whichever programs you prefer. I personally think some of the GNOME apps are more refined and capable so I tend to use a mixture. In any case, most GTK+ apps are going to integrate perfectly with Cinnamon so the choice is yours. These are merely my suggestions.
- Text Editor - xed is the Linux Mint Xapp but it's very basic and lacks many features when compared to something like the gedit, the GNOME text editor. You may also prefer something more capable for writing code such as Microsoft's Visual Studio Code or Sublime Text. I usually have a basic text editor and a more advanced one installed for times when I need to do something more complicated.
- Image Viewer - Xviewer is the Linux Mint Xapp and works well enough. Another good option is Pix which is more akin to something like Gwenview. You can also use EyeOfGnome.
- Video Player - Xplayer is the Linux Mint Xapp and is available in the AUR however it doesn't seem to be working for me at this point and time. GNOME MPV is an excellent player as is VLC.
- Music Player - Rhythmbox is an excellent, full-featured music player.
- Web Browser - There isn't one by default so it's your choice. I recommend Firefox for better privacy and security.
- Nemo Plugins - Nemo is the Cinnamon file manager. It supports plugins to extend functionality. A few worth installing are:
- nemo-fileroller - support compressed file formats (zip, tar, gz)
- nemo-preview - press the spacebar to view a preview of the selected file
- nemo-terminal - embed a terminal panel that follows the directory as you navigate the file system. Use F4 to toggle.
This guide gets you most of the way there in terms of creating a full desktop experience with Cinnamon on Arch. There are still many more things you will likely want to do such as configure printing and other services based on your needs. The General Recommendations page on the Arch Wiki provides a good list of things you may want to set up.
I hope you found this helpful. If you have any questions or comments feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or Mastodon. Thanks for reading and enjoy your new system!