Nostalgia and efficiency - MATE Desktop Tour
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- Опубліковано 22 лип 2021
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It's time we started taking a look at MATE, the last major desktop environment I have never used. All I know about MATE is that it's basically a continuation of the GNOME 2 desktop, which I have used for a long time back when I started using Linux in 2006 on Ubuntu Dapper Drake. Let's see if that is true, and if GNOME 2, or MATE, is still up to the challenge in 2021.
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What is MATE
MATE, written like "mate", but pronounced MA TAY, like a special kind of tea-like beverage, saw the light of day in August of 2011. It's one of the projects that spawned from GNOME announcing GNOME 3 and the GNOME Shell: some people wanted to use the new underlying foundations but retain a more traditional desktop, and created Cinnamon, and some others just wanted to keep things as-is, and created MATE.
The desktop
The layout is very simple: you have 2 slim panels, on the top, and the bottom of the screen. The top one hosts most system controls, like the three part menu, shortcuts, and system applets. The bottom one lets you interact with windows and desktops, with the show desktop button, the window list, and the virtual desktop switcher.
The menu is one of the things I miss most from the GNOME 2 days: it separates cleanly the Applications, the places you'd want to browse, and the System preferences. It's probably the most sensible menu layout I've ever used, and no other desktop I've been working with has ever came close to its practicality.
The rest of the desktop though, isn't really to my liking anymore. Small icon shortcuts in the top panel can't measure to a dock in terms of mouse aiming, and the default applets aren't really information packed, or super useful in terms of interacting with your system. The sound applet just gives you volume, without a way to select an audio output or input, the date and time applet doesn't let you see calendar appointments, and there is no notification applet that lets you go back to notifications you might have received and missed.
The window list isn't really to my liking either, since I'm so used to docks, or icons-only task managers, and it doesn't feel very space efficient.
Some other things have aged a bit: the lack of animations of the window manager, notably.
Look and feel
Speaking of looks, I used the default Menta theme for GTK, the windows, and the icons. Here again, you definitely feel the older GTK look and feel, with soft gradients, plain color highlights, and big, raised buttons.
It's pleasing enough to use, although the green tint to the highlights and the icons isn't really my personal preference. The icons look exactly like older GNOME icons, in the Tango style, which isn't really my thing either, but they're consistent, recognizable and colorful at least. It's a bit refreshing to see a desktop that hasn't gone towards flat design, even though it does make it feel straight out of the early 2000s.
MATE makes use of menubars in their applications.
Configuration
MATE is pretty configurable. You'll find plenty of menus, hardware monitors, disk mounters, and other googly eyes in there, and you can create new panels, stack them on the same screen edge, make them autohide, expand to the full width of the screen, change their background color... You name it.
In terms of settings for the desktop itself, MATE gives you both the system menu, sorted between Preferences, and Administration, as well as an all in one Configuration panel.
Options are numerous here. You have the all important acceleration profile settings for the mouse, all the options to change the theme, the icons, the mouse cursor, the fonts, the wallpaper and anything else, you can edit the main menu itself and reorder it, you can enable centered window placement, and you can change the default apps for a lot of filetypes, among a ton of other settings.
In terms of RAM usage, MATE on Fedora, on a cold boot with 16GB of RAM, uses 1.1 to 1.3 Gb. It's definitely a bit heavier than XFCE out of the box, but barely. This makes it really suitable if your computer is a potato or if you want to have as much unused RAM as possible. - Наука та технологія
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I don't get this centered windows thing. Never bothered with it but how does cascade work in it? or are new windows just supposed to cover older ones? Because there is such a thing as a miss click and as a linux user that doesn't do file transfers via the CLI I do sometimes just open two file navigators and transfer files by just dragging from one windows to the other. I'm just lazy like that.
Mate tea is an institution in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile. They love it and it is a regional icon. Me, as a Mexican, I also love it!
I need to try it someday!
Hay algún lugar en México para comprarlo? He querido probarlo pero no sé dónde xd
I had a bunch of Syrian coworkers and it's also very common there, where it's sometimes drunk with milk instead of water (!). I am big mate drinker and really wanted to like the DE for that alone but it turns out that I don't have any nostalgia for gnome 2, sadly.
It is also really popular here in Lebanon!
@holloway حلوي أو مرّى؟
Mate is what I use on all my computers, the customizable yet minimalistic nature of Mate is exactly what I want from Linux. I use it on Pop.
Btw you get more audio options by right clicking the applet, like selecting audio devices.
For me MATE on Pop turned out a complete mess... Can you please recommend the best implementation of MATE among major distros?
@@LindenAshbyMK Garuda has a much better implimentation of MATE, and its what I'm using right now. Its much better than Pop in general.
Mate is my favorite DE.
@@LindenAshbyMK Fedora mate is maybe not the better but it works well
@@ikytsu7822 I'm on Debian/MATE for a long time now and I couldn't be happier. My distro hopping is over.
You still have LXDE/LXQT to review as a major desktop.
Lxde is boring for me, it works but it's not fun to use it. Lxqt is interesting but little bit too much antikonservative in my opinion. If lxqt will have same massive pool of basic applications as mate I will be use it, because it has very interesting workflow, it's nice overall, but if I installed on void (Iam weird I now...) It didn't work (icons missing, touchpad menu somewhere in hell of files...). Even in Debian lxqt is not that great. I think in future it will be great. It need some time
MATE is the best DE for those of us who have tried everything and just need to get shit done.
I fully agree: MATE certainly looks dated now but it remains a very efficient desktop for doing serious work. Also it is very simple to understand for new comers mostly thanks to its App/Places/System menus (just follow menus / categories to discover the system). A modernized look for the icons would be cool as well as a better color set (too much green...) though.
I love that icon look 😉
@@fgsaramago Me too. And all the green. My fave colour.
Ubuntu MATE is one of the best looking MATE shipping distro. It's nice that you said in advance that it's gonna be the next video
I knew people would ask for it 😅
Mint MATE and Ubuntu MATE look very nice, but from my experience the best looking MATE desktop belongs to Solus MATE. Solus' team wanted to make all the Solus editions to look as close as possible to Budgie theme and they did a great job.
Gnome was way better thought out than Windows back in the XP and Vista days. It was better than Windows 7 too if you focus only on its Control Panel. I can't say the same things about Gnome 3 in any point in time... Cinnamon and MATE have done a great job at preserving that legacy.
I've Ubuntu Mate installed on a old laptop I have. I must say its very efficient, faster and gets the job done without hanging. I highly recommend someone who is having a old hardware.
Yes, somebody please make the MATE-style menus for KDE. Please and thank you!
Congratulations on going full time - it is going to be a treat for us! Enjoyed this video as I do all your videos!
I love how you underpinned that they have improved the underpinnings.
Joking tho, love your videos! Always looking forward to new ones.
That Applications/Places/System immediately recalled the first look of my present working laptop 7 years before (a Dell Core i7 beast that came from the factory with Ubuntu), which was, actually, my first encounter with Linux. However I'm highly dependant on KDE Plasma and that laptop now runs Manjaro KDE and has been and is still doing that absolutely amazingly in the last two years.
Your videos are really good, keep it up
kudos on going full-time later this year too!
I'm currently installing Debian 12 with MATE on my late 2009 MacBook. It's a classic desktop environment, and got into it via the earlier Ubuntu versions too. I love the retro look, and find it just great to use. It's a real shame that Ubuntu changed.
MATE is love, MATE is life
edit: borderline dyslexia
For me is kde.
You made me wanna try openSUSE MATE 🤣
If you want MATE try solus , Ubuntu MATE or endeavour os (or just vanilla arch). The only places where I found em to be nice (never tried opensuse so can't say)
@@ShivaM-dc4xe I used to daily drive openSUSE with mate 🤣
open SUS
OpenSUSSY
Great review of MATE!
I'm thinking of installing Fedora on my laptop. Also great job, your videos are super informative!
5:02
The lore continues :P !
Always 😅
GNOME 2 is simple enough to understand I picked it up as a little kid using Mandriva. I think MATE might not be super pretty but it's one of my go-tos. Funnily enough, TDE is also one of my favorites, so maybe I just have a thing for the classics.
Seeing the word mate is enough to make an Aussie cry. Mah Tea? Maaate.....
I've used Ubuntu Mate on a VM. I can say that Mate is glorious.
Do you have links to the wallpapers you use on your home system? i cant help but have my eyes drawn to your background on your ultrawide
Linux Mint do a nice Mate desktop. I then theme it further with the Pling store app image. Mate is definitely my go-to desktop for my daily work flow.
In addition to Kubuntu, I use Linux Mint Mate...quite good. Not good enough anyway for me, so I added a dock and Compiz to have customized animations and a 3D desktop..plus an icon theme for KDE (Oxygen). So far so good. Some additional widgets like in KDE would be beneficial but it's not a deal breaker. The RAM usage is quite good as well.
That's awesome!! 😎😍
When you combine mate with compiz... performance and modern animations. Using it as my daily driver on Mint.
MATE is 100% not to my taste and I was thrilled with the GNOME 3 paradigm, but this is 100% what I love about Linux. People can move onto new things and new ideas without leaving people who liked the old ones behind.
Yup! That's the beauty of open source. There's even a KDE version of MATE called "Trinity" which is a continuation of KDE 3 just like how MATE is a continuation of GNOME 2!
I really am impressed with MATE, and the way Nick comes up with new jokes.
Thanks 😅
You should do a video about Trinity and the Ubuntu Unity distro. One is a fork of KDE 3.5 for the people who likes KDE. It even has some live CDs of distros with this desktop already installed, even some Ubuntu ISOs. The other one is a full complete distribution, with the same objective of MATE and Trinity, but with Unity, old Ubuntu’s desktop before 18.04 released. You will definitely like them.
You are going full-time!? Felicitations!
kinda makes me feel old the first version of linux i used was Fedora 14 the last Fedora with gnome 2. i remember hating gnome 3 and unity,but looking back i could never go back to gnome 2 i guess i got used to plasma and gnome 3.
@ The-Linux-Experiment:
When doing research on what desktop-environment to try (at the time, I was comparing between "Cinnamon", "MATE", "XFCE", and "KDE" [before the version of KDE called KDE-5]), I read that the desktop-environment called "MATE" is a fork (in this case, "a continuation", not, "a derivative / a split from / a split of / a splinter-faction") of the desktop-environment called "GNOME2".
Also: When asking the Linux-Mint developers about the-desktop-environment-called-"Cinnamon" in the LinuxMint-Help chatroom in the I.R.C. chat-server called "Spotchat", (this was back when I was using version 16 of Linux-Mint, which came with version-2.0 of the "Cinnamon" desktop-environment), I was told that you CANNOT install Compiz in "Cinnamon", but you CAN install it in "MATE". (I was told-also the reason why but I don't recall it at the present moment 😯. Sorry :-( ).
("Compiz", as far as I know, allows you to have some of that eye-candy---&---visual-effects you were talking-about :-) . (Including one that got me curious about Linux, the 3D-desktop-cube :-) )).
I'm enjoying Mate, but I'm a crusty old Linux admin from way back and Gnome2 is what I'm used to.
@David-Huff:
When doing research on what desktop-environment to try (at the time, I was comparing between "Cinnamon", "MATE", "XFCE", and "KDE" [before the version of KDE called KDE-5]), I read that desktop-environment called "MATE" is a fork (in this case, "a continuation", not, "a derivative / a split from / a split of / a splinter-faction") of the desktop-environment called "GNOME2".
[You're in good hands if you're already accustomed to GNOME2, as MATE is just a continuation of that :-) .]
I found Ubuntu MATE has the best font rendering
You can use Compiz Reloaded with MATE and have more eye candy than you could ever want.
When i first tried out Linux in 2009, gnome 2 was the second desktop I gave a go. I liked it because it functioned just like Windows XP. For me it was as simple as swapping a petrol car for a deisel car, no problem. I was dismayed when Ubuntu dropped it, but happy when Mate arrived as it's reincarnation.
I'm one of those people who Nick talked about who just likes something that's simple and easy to use, without any superfluous bells and whistles to get in the way. I happily used Linux Mint mate for five years until support expired for Sylvia a few months ago. I now use Salix running xfce which I also get on with.
MATE + Compiz! The Fedora spin actually enables Compiz when installed on adequate (not virtualised) hardware :D
From what I get from this
Pros: no bells and whistles to distract you
Cons: no bell and whistles to distract you
the skeumorphic theming is what really makes it nostalgic
I like the mate desktop because its a very optimized desktop not only for old pc and new pc but wanted to boost performance. Is is FREAKING GREAT FOR THE RASPBERRY PI!
When I was using Gnome 2 back in the days, I had a custom setup where I removed the bottom bar and I replaced it with GLX-dock (sadly a dead project now) and I added compiz-fusion as a compositer to bring desktop animations and "exposé" like features.
That was the best desktop experience I ever had on Linux, with features that sadly no more exist now. Later when Gnome 3 was announced, I really thought they would keep Gnome 2 paradigms while integrating a modern compositer like compiz... I was so disappointed 😅
@ Stéphane-Piquemal:
When doing research on what desktop-environment to try (at the time, I was comparing between "Cinnamon", "MATE", "XFCE", and "KDE" [before the version of KDE called KDE-5]), I read that "MATE" is a fork (in this case, "a continuation", not, "a derivative / a split from / a split of / a splinter-faction") of "GNOME2".
[You're in good hands if you're already accustomed to GNOME2, as MATE is just a continuation of that :-) .]
What features no longer exist?
@@3333218 With compiz-fusion I had a "wall" view where I can see all my virtual desktops as a zoomed out grid and from there I could move my windows from a desktop to another while keeping their reel coordinates.
@@stephanepiquemal8297 But isn't that just like KDE?
@@3333218 I don't know, I'm not using KDE. I was only speaking from a Gnome user perspective.
You do great videos Nick, but yes Ubuntu Mate is a fantastic distribution for anyone just wanting things to work as easy as possible! ;)
I would love for a DE or theme that goes skeuomorphic in a nice modern, customizable way, that would be epic.
Skeuo-what?
@@3333218 Skeuomorphism in GUI are icons and interactive elements resembling real buttons and switches using 3D like effect. It was a thing before flat and material, minimalistic design became a standard. Look at Win XP, Vista and 7.
@@mattx5499 Oh that's pretty cool!!!
@@mattx5499 I wonder if skeuomorphism could work with diagetic buttons in a 3D space, if we were to change up how the desktop metaphor works.
@@3333218 After years of using different operating systems with different designs I must say that it's rather unlikely that we are going back to these old designs. People are expecting computer graphical environments to be as close as possible to their mobile devices. That's why Gnome 3/4 is the dominant DE on Linux with default icon packs looking like those from Android. With these designs it's easier to make everything look consistent and touch friendly so the interfaces could be easily translated from a desktop/laptop screen into smartphone/tablet screen. That benefits for convertible devices with detachable touch screens like Jingpad A1 etc.
I prefer MATE because I love Gnome 2. If you want Gnome 2, MATE is your route to re-live the old Gnome 2. For me, Gnome 2 *IS* the classic desktop of Linux. So lean, so light on resources. I also like the LXDE and LXQt desktops, but Gnome 2 has to be Linux's old and venerable flagship d/top environment. Incidentally, may I point out that MAC OS X and previously MAC OS's desktop environment bear some striking similarities to Gnome. I don't know who borrowed from whom, but there are some prima facie similarities between Gnome 2 and the MAC OS desktop environment.
I remember being 13 and watching a UA-camr called the modern rogue one my laptop running Ubuntu mate UA-cam running through the opera browser man now I'm gonna install ubuntu mate again
Thanks for sharing your insights. Have enjoyed a few of your videos. As a linux user since the 1990s, I am very much a Mate (and RHEL) fan. Gnome 3 is for touch screens, long live the keyboard and mouse! No other user interface provides the high functionality of Mate. Running a 30+system test environment would have been much more difficult with other UIs.
XFCE4 is nice. Gnome 3 is painful. KDE was always to windowish.
Love Mate Desktop and my go to
Since you spend so much time testing desktop, did you ever try i3wm / i3 gaps or easy to install version like Regolith ?
I think he's said he doesn't like the terminal or tiling WMs
You really need to have a look at Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE), it has a nice set of default applications with really nice interface, if bit too eye candy
Are you going to review the new slimbook executive?
Keep up the good work!
Great video as always! Why does the lighting look so weird this time?
PS - I use (an) Arch (based distro) btw
5:24 Just use Compiz for fancy animations. It's been around since forever.
Yes. It has some bugs, but it works, and it's really good.
I know this sounds tryhard but mate with a windows 95 theme is the most productive I've felt on linux. Clear ui elements, simple, perfect workflow.
I am enjoying your coverage of Mate, but did I miss your coverage of Cinnamon somehow? I can't seem to find it.
I love writing comments, you love reading them.
And bless the Holy Algorithm.
Would be very very cool if you checked out Mate with Compiz. Mate is the most common DE used with Compiz nowadays I believe.
Mate desktop is the best combination of comfort, beauty and efficiency. Best desktop for workstation: not overcrowded, elegant and customisable enough.
MATE + compiz 0.8.x = dream team of speed, and eye-candy (animations). It's on most of my older machines.
Picom better
Mate with I3 as it's window manager is a killer combination.
Mate is very underate. The window position support is fantastic, if you configure it.
Nothing can stop me from still calling it mate, it's automatic.
That mate menu really needs a search feature.
Mate is the only DE that I really enjoy. Mainly because first time I used Linux was gnome 2
Well, I am being drawn to choose Linux as my daily driver due to Windows 11. I am a Windows Insider so I have been running the rather buggy software since it came out. It seems to me that it ends up not so unlike Gnome with a centred toolbar at the bottom of the screen. I like it at the top.
So I have installed Fedora Mate on an old machine and it runs very well. I like the Mate desktop as it matches how I used Window 10 - a taskbar at the top of the screen. It makes getting things done better. Now I have tried other desktops and I have to say KDE was the one i liked least. Still Mate is a good and easy to use system and I am hoping it doesn't change too much.
I use Mint Mate edition and love it
I love MATE, both the DE and the beverage from the Rio de la Plata zone!
Try MATE and Brisk menu, also, could you check if it is possible to use Nemo as FM instead of Caja?
It is a shame Ubuntu MATE 21.04 is not yet available in the pi
I tried Mate and its not too bad. I've recently discovered Ubuntu Unity which is a community continuation of unity desktop if you are into that sort of thing like myself.
SPOILER ALERT: Ubuntu MATE is the definitive version of the MATE desktop.
I started my Linux journey with the PIXEL desktop, Raspberry Pi's custom version of LXDE. I don't care if something looks or feels dated as long as it still functions properly today.
that Pixel desktop came with Raspian right? lol, I didn't need HDMI-cec (I don't use PVR/DVR) so I skipped that one.
But I remember Pixel looked a bit like what evolved into Cinnamon?
I also started using Linux that year :)
Try Compiz as the window manager. You can set a bunch of cool animations.
After you run out of Desktop Environments, you may try working with other free operating systems like Haiku, something from the BSD family or Illumos and how it compares to Linux
Pretty hardcore
5:03 i liked these icons
I had no idea that I was such a huge fan of the MATE Desktop environment until I tried KDE Plasma. After I was done configuring it, it looked exactly like the MATE desktop and I didn't even intend it to. The only thing I miss from the MATE Desktop is the window tabs. I'm not really a fan of icons with + symbols to indicate that there's more than one window open. I'd prefer a stack or even just multiple tabs that are named.
That brings back memories to 2006 when I first started using Linux. MATE looks more or less like what Gnome used to then. I felt it was the best desktop I had ever used, because everything was so intuitive. I had never used it before, but instantly felt right at home. Then the Gnome developers started taking drugs. ;)
Linux time again👍👍
My own thoughts about mate: somehow outdated...
Hey Nick, try "Application menu" in kde alternative for default application launcher...
btw great video!
@@ElPolloRojo 👍
As someone who used Ubuntu from 8.04 version this is great
Compiz really loves Mate 😉
If i ever catch you somewhere, I'll buy you a Club Mate (delicious Soda that has yerba Mate in it).
Ubuntu Mate is my main distro, btw
keep your hands still!
Do Ubuntu MATE next please, since you asked us to comment here
@@TheLinuxEXP or lxqt since you also haven't done
Mint Mate is ❤️
Nostalgia for me GNOME 1 also KDE 1, then GNOME 2. I don't like GNOME 3 and KDE since v3. Now using Mate and XFCE. edit: I think it's KDE 1 since my first distro is RedHat Linux 6.0
"icons too small" - enlarge them.
"don't like the calendar" - change to another one.
"do not like the theme" - change to another one.
Mate desktop is not Microsoft Windows - you can customize your desktop as you like.
Hey dude, you forgot to do Ubuntu MATE! It is the definitive MATE desktop!
Shot in the dark 🕶️ ( background is not as bright as it always is )
Btw Mate and cinnamon were the game changers back in those days.. Linux mint will always be my fav distro
Yeah, I changed the setup a bit, I’m not as satisfied with the lighting as with what I usually do, I’ll need to tweak it more!
Mint MATE is the definitive MATE experience. :)
yeah ❤️
Not a DE I really liked, the new Gnome 40 with extensions- Applications- Places. Way to go.
You should take a look at Ubuntu mate to.
You should really check out Ubuntu Unity next.
I am not joking in the slightest, it was created by a 10 year old.
A literal pre-pubescent child.
Let that sink in for a moment.
It's absolutely incredible and I can't wait to see what he does in the future.
Kde is love
@@TheLinuxEXP yes , BUT NOT KDE TESTING
I use ubuntu mate desktop on my old laptop. It just chokes on gnome3, but zips with mate. Building your own menues is easy, with the menu editor.
2:47 I have just quickly searched the channel for dedicated Ubuntu-MATE review and I couldn't find it... was it ever released ?
this my favorite desktop enviroment, currently I am using fedora /with gnome3 which didnot approve of but, after seeing the improvments it suprized me yet I still don't like the design I couldn't find mate in the software center so, I decided to redownload Fedora except the mate version.
As someone who started using linux around 2014 I never understood desktops like Cinnamon or Mate. Maybe is because I'm young and never used Gnome 2, for me is KDE Plasma or Gnome40 all the way.
I am in the younger generation aswell. I get your point with Mate, I don't really know why someone would use it. Cinnamon and XFCE on the other hand are quite nice and definetely have their user base. For me it's KDE and Gnome 40 on Notebooks right now, until KDE ships Gestures. XFCE I use for my VMs all the time.
@@MAsoEntertainment I'm waiting for those gestures as well. Was a KDE plasma user until Gnome 40 released
I thought Gnome 2 was perfect back in the day. But I switched to Mint + Cinnamon and never looked back. I agree, it looks kinda dated and I wouldn't want to use it now, but am glad it's still around.
Mate (Gnome 2) looks dated with the default icons and themes. There are few Mate distros that look pretty modern. It's all about theming and layout.