Nice new feature for Mint 17 Cinnamon users

[Diziet Sma]

Mint 17.1 'Rebecca' has just been released, and in the release notes I spotted the following:

Compositing in full-screen mode is now configurable and does not require to restart Cinnamon. This means less screen-tearing by default for most users and the option to undirect windows for gamers and users requiring an application to run at full speed without being impacted by the composition manager.

In addition to the above, 17.1 boasts a number of general performance improvements over 17. A smaller OS memory footprint and faster UI being the primary ones.

To upgrade from Mint 17 to Mint 17.1, you will need to open the Update Manager and click on the 'Edit' menu, where you'll see an entry to upgrade. Although it should go smoothly (mine did), you should back up your Mint installation first, to be on the safe side. Once done, you may need to tweak a few things. For instance, I had to reset my software sources back to my preferred local mirror, and update the non-default clock/calendar applet that I use, to get it to work again.

To take advantage of the new option to disable compositing for full-screen games, etc, open the System Settings Control Centre and click on the 'General' icon. Check the box next to 'Disable compositing for full-screen windows' and close the SSCC window. That's all there is to it.. now your Oolite sessions should get a bit of a performance boost. Just how much, I couldn't say, as I've yet to test the difference.

[Smivs]

Sounds good I'm planing to upgrade over the Hols - still on 16 ATM - so will see then.

[Amah]

as a slightly off-topic/on-topic follow-up. You can also suspend desktop-effects in fullscreen in KDE too (settings-system-settings-> Desktop effects-> advanced, iirc)