cinnamondesktopmouse
There is a wonderful feature of compiz that allows me to use a key+mouse wheel (I use win+wheel to zoom into the desktop. Is there a way to get the same effect in Cinnamon?
UPDATE: Following Mikko Rantalainen's solution below, I checked gnome-shell-mousewheel-zoom out from git and added the included executable to my start up programs.
The feature you are talking about is called "Auto-Scrolling". It lets you press and hold the middle mouse button and move your mouse to scroll smoothly. In Linux, the default behavior for this action (pressing middle mouse button) is generally pasting text.
However, there is a preference setting in Firefox and an extension available for Chrome/Chromium which would let you use the middle mouse button for scrolling and activate this feature.
Open the "Options" tab: "≡" (Open menu) → "Options".
Navigate to "General" (it should open to "General" by default).
Scroll down to "Browsing". Under "Browsing", you will find the "Use autoscrolling" option. Put a check mark beside this to activate this functionality in Firefox.
Or just search for "autoscrolling" using the search bar.
For Chrome/Chromium we can use an Extension called "AutoScroll" (from kaescripts.blogspot.com).
Go to this link on Chrome Web Store (obviously using Chrome/Chromium).
Click on the button labeled "+ ADD TO CHROME" to install this extension.
Click on "Add" in the Confirmation Dialog Box.
As far as other applications are concerned, I haven't yet found a solution for them. Anyways, it's the tall webpages that create most of the problems for which both Firefox and Chrome/Chromium have a solution.
Best Answer
See source at https://github.com/tobiasquinn/gnome-shell-mousewheel-zoom
Install for Ubuntu:
Done. Zoom with Alt+Mousewheel.
Update 2015-03-17:
Since around Cinnamon 2.2 API has changed so much that the Gnome Shell Mouse Wheel Zoom application no longer works with Cinnamon. However, Cinnamon has integrated zoom as an accessibility feature. All you need to do is to open Cinnamon Preferences and select
Accessibilityand toggleZoomtoON. After thatSuper+Mouse wheel up/downzooms the desktop. You can even adjust the scrolling behavior inOptions...– I recommend using full screen for the zoom and selectingMagnifier cursor pushes contents around.