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How do I tell if I have Mint Mate or Cinnamon installed?

Hi All,
I'm a four hour old newbie to Linux and need help already (my own fault, put it down to excitement)
How do I tell if I have Mint Mate or Cinnamon installed?
Down loaded both 64 bit Versions to replace Win 7 (taken the plunge at last, and it's been so incredibly easy, I could shoot myself for having dilly dallied for years) So pleased after playing with the version,I first loaded, it's a revelation, I forgot to take note of which one I installed and I don't want to load the same one twice. Also, is it possible to load both and alternate between them.
Thanks in advanced, no doubt you will hear a lot more from me.
Cheers Bob

Usually you should see some indication on your login page. Anyway Mate looks like the first and Cinnamon looks like the second image.
jdk

Have a look at the text editor: if it's called Pluma, then you've got Mate.

You can add the other one using the Synaptic package manager. Then there's somewhere on the log-in screen where you can click and choose which desktop to use in the session. Of course, that does clutter the menu: two text editors, two terminal editors, two file managers, two video players … you get the idea!

Suggestion: pick one (at random, or whichever one comes up first) and play with it for a while before examining the next. Find what works great and what seems frustrating about the one you chose, then look at the next. Don't worry, most people who use Linux try different desktops and even different distros endlessly. That's one of the best parts!

On the subject of choice, when I got Fedora One I installed both Gnome and KDE and used them in alternative weeks until I decided on Gnome.

caja is the file manager in mate.

Code:

$ inxi -Fxz

System:    Host: harry-RV410-RV510-S3510-E3510 Kernel: 3.16.0-5-exton x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.2) 

          Desktop: MATE 1.8.1 (Gtk 3.10.8~8+qiana) 

          Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana 

Machine:  Mobo: SAMSUNG model: RV410/RV510/S3510/E3510

          Bios: Phoenix v: 02UC.P026.20100916.LX date: 09/16/2010

CPU:      Dual core Pentium T4500 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB

          flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 9176 

          Clock Speeds: 1: 1600 MHz 2: 1600 MHz

Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile 4 Series Integrated Graphics Controller

          bus-ID: 00:02.0

          Display Server: X.Org 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)

          Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz

          GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel GM45 Express

          GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes

Audio:    Card Intel 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller 

          driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 

          Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.16.0-5-exton

Network:  Card-1: Marvell 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller

          driver: sky2 v: 1.30 port: 3000 bus-ID: 04:00.0

          IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>

          Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)

          driver: ath9k bus-ID: 06:00.0

          IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>

Drives:    HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (21.9% used)

          ID-1: /dev/sda model: SAMSUNG_HM321HI size: 320.1GB

Partition: ID-1: / size: 18G used: 6.5G (40%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6 

          ID-2: /home size: 160G used: 56G (37%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 

          ID-3: swap-1 size: 4.19GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda7 

RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present

Sensors:  System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0C mobo: 37.0C 

          Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 

Info:      Processes: 166 Uptime: 5 min Memory: 608.5/3886.2MB 

          Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 

          Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.1.29

and if still confused. inxi will tell you like I showed above.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Murphy (Post 5280884)

Also, is it possible to load both and alternate between them.
Thanks in advanced, no doubt you will hear a lot more from me.
Cheers Bob

Yes, not only possible, it's my prefered way to operate. I maintain two root directories, so that I can have one to use and one to play with (next version, whatever.) You will have to at least think about how your hard drive(s) is/are partitioned.

You are allowed 4 partitions per SATA drive. (If you are using SCSI, you get 7, but haven't seen a PC class machine with a SCSI boot drive yet.) You have to remember what you put where, and how you formatted it, but that's just a note. Sample configuration:

partition mount point size what is it used for
sda1 ...... / ......... 100Gb 1st Linux OS
sda2 ...... / ......... 100Gb 2nd Linux OS
sda3 ...... swap ...... 8Mb swap space
sda4 ...... /stuff .... whatever is left, general storage available to either OS. I often mount it to /home/toad/stuff for ease of access.

sda is your first physical hard drive, what would be C: in Windoze. 1 thru 4 are partitions, similar to Windoze equivalents.

Thanks for all the replys. Brilliant. Just wonder why I never had the same response from Window forums. Am now a "born again PC user" Cheers all, Bob