MATE desktop environment was forked from of GNOME 2 and initial release was in 2011. It provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. MATE has carried number of Gnome Core Applications with it, and developers also have written several other apps from scratch to make MATE better desktop. Now MATE desktop fully support GTK 3, which means all Gtk 2 & Gtk 3 applications works without any issue. MATE is gaining popularity from quite sometime now among those users who like Gnome 2 desktop interface, and it took all hype from Linux Mint Mate version.
Mate desktop uses it's official file manager called 'Caja'. It allows to browse directories, preview files and launch applications associated with them. It is also responsible for handling the icons on the MATE desktop. It works on local and remote filesystems. Caja is a fork of Nautilus, and it's got lots of improvements such as: undo/redo, diff viewing for file replacements and so on. One thing to clarify that MATE removed deprecated libraries since 1.6 version. MATE has it's own Terminal which is a fork of GNOME Terminal. Archive manager 'Engrampa' is default for the MATE environment. It allows you to: create and modify archives, view the content of an archive, view a file contained in an archive, extract files from the archive. Engrampa is a fork of File-Roller.
There is now an official Ubuntu version called "Ubuntu Mate" that means if you don't want to continue this process, you can simply download Ubuntu Mate iso and install it on your PC. But you can follow this procedure if you wish to use MATE desktop environment on Ubuntu to along side with your current desktop interface. MATE is under active development to add support for new technologies while preserving a traditional desktop experience.
Mate desktop uses it's official file manager called 'Caja'. It allows to browse directories, preview files and launch applications associated with them. It is also responsible for handling the icons on the MATE desktop. It works on local and remote filesystems. Caja is a fork of Nautilus, and it's got lots of improvements such as: undo/redo, diff viewing for file replacements and so on. One thing to clarify that MATE removed deprecated libraries since 1.6 version. MATE has it's own Terminal which is a fork of GNOME Terminal. Archive manager 'Engrampa' is default for the MATE environment. It allows you to: create and modify archives, view the content of an archive, view a file contained in an archive, extract files from the archive. Engrampa is a fork of File-Roller.
There is now an official Ubuntu version called "Ubuntu Mate" that means if you don't want to continue this process, you can simply download Ubuntu Mate iso and install it on your PC. But you can follow this procedure if you wish to use MATE desktop environment on Ubuntu to along side with your current desktop interface. MATE is under active development to add support for new technologies while preserving a traditional desktop experience.
Mate offers some fork applications for its own desktop:
- Caja: Caja is official file manager and it is a fork of Nautilus.
- Pluma: Pluma is a text editor which supports most standard editor features and Pluma is a fork of Gedit.
- Eye of MATE: eom or the Eye of MATE is a simple graphics viewer for the MATE desktop which uses the gdk-pixbuf library and it is a fork of Eye of GNOME.
- Atril: Atril is a simple multi-page document viewer and is a fork of Evince.
- Engrampa: Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment and Engrampa is a fork of File Roller.
- MATE Terminal: MATE Terminal is a fork of GNOME Terminal.
- Marco: A Window Manager (from metacity).
- Mozo: Menu item Editor
Changes in Mate 1.12.x:
- Fixes and improvements for GTK3 support across the entire MATE Desktop including GTK 3.18 support.
- Touchpad support is significantly improved and now features multi touch and natural scrolling.
- Multi monitor support has been improved so the display settings use output names and the revised UI lets you set the primary monitor.
- The power applet now displays model and vendor information so you can distinguish between multiple battery powered devices.
- Improved session management which now includes screensaver inhibition while playing media.
- MATE now listens to the org.gnome.SessionManager namespace.
- Extended systemd support.
- Long standing bugs and many little usability paper-cuts were fixed.
- For example, panel applets are no longer reordered when changing screen resolutions.
- Translations updated and a number of components now retrieve strings directly from gschema (requires intltool 0.50.1).
How to Install?
To install Mate 1.12.1 in Ubuntu 15.10 Wily open Terminal (Press Ctrl+Alt+T) and copy the following commands in the Terminal:To install Mate 1.12.1 in Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial open Terminal (Press Ctrl+Alt+T) and copy the following commands in the Terminal:
To install Mate 1.8.1 in Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty open Terminal (Press Ctrl+Alt+T) and copy the following commands in the Terminal:
'Mate Menu' and 'Mate Dock Applet'
Right click on panel slecet 'Add to Panel' and find 'Mate Menu' then add it (You can keep both menus if you want). Right click on Menu for options like Move, Lock, etc. It can be added to bottom panel.
Install Mate-Menu and Mate Dock Applet for Mate desktop with these commands:
How to remove?
To remove Mate desktop and PPA from Ubuntu 15.10 Wily enter following commands in the Terminal:To remove Mate desktop and PPA from Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial enter following commands in the Terminal:
To remove Mate desktop and PPA from Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty enter following commands in the Terminal:
That's it
