 Visitor Reviews |
Ubuntu MATE
|
Reader supplied reviews for Ubuntu MATE
Average rating
8.1 from 74 review(s)
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-05-23
Votes: 13
|
Ubuntu MATE is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu that uses the MATE desktop environment. It is a lightweight and user-friendly distribution that is a good choice for older computers and users who prefer a traditional desktop experience.
Pros:
Lightweight and fast
User-friendly and easy to use
Traditional desktop experience
Large software repository
Active community
Long-term support
Cons:
Not as many customization options as some other distributions
Some software may not be as well-supported as on other distributions
Overall, Ubuntu MATE is a great choice for users who are looking for a lightweight, user-friendly, and stable Linux distribution. It is a good option for older computers and users who prefer a traditional desktop experience.
Here are some of the things that make Ubuntu MATE a great choice:
It is based on Ubuntu, which is one of the most popular and well-supported Linux distributions.
It uses the MATE desktop environment, which is a lightweight and user-friendly desktop environment that is based on GNOME 2.
It has a large software repository, so you can easily find the software you need.
It has an active community, so you can get help if you need it.
It has long-term support, which means that it will receive security updates for five years.
If you are looking for a new Linux distribution, I recommend giving Ubuntu MATE a try. It is a great choice for users of all levels of experience.
|
Version: 24.04
Rating: 3
Date: 2024-05-04
Votes: 2
|
Installed the latest UM24.04 LTS in Virtual box with some difficulties. I noticed that everything that I use has been removed. Mate Desktop no longer works, Software Boutique removed and replaced with Gnome Applications, Solitaire and Mahjongg removed, Vivaldi was taken out before and I had to install it manually.
I can use a browser and Gimp on any other system. The reason why I stayed with Ubuntu Mate for many years were the features mentioned above that are now gone.
What a shame that a once fantastic distribution can't longer continue due to Gnome incompatibilities.
|
Version: 23.10
Rating: 1
Date: 2024-04-15
Votes: 0
|
Ubuntu Mate 24.04 Beta
Just tried the new release of Ubuntu Mate, 24.04 Beta. Was unable to install. After answering 2 or 3 questions during the installation, the installer shut down. It never made it to actually installing the software. I read several comments on-line that many who tried to install it in a virtual machine had the same problem. I was trying to install it to hard metal. Gave up after rebooting and trying 3 or 4 times with the same result. This is the first time I've tried a Linux distro, even a Beta, that was completely unusable. Usually had fairly good luck with Ubuntu and community editions through the years. Not sure what happened to this one. Been reading quite a few comments on Distrowatch how the quality of Ubuntu distro's have been declining over the last 2 or 3 years. May try it again after it leaves the Beta stage.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-03-18
Votes: 11
|
After various trials running MINT Xfce, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu on a low-power laptop (4GB / Celeron N4020), I loaded up MATE and have been pleasantly surprised. I didn't expect a lot but I'm happy with it for this application. It runs reasonably fast on this machine, is stable and easy to configure, and I really like being able to switch between various desktop environments. It does what I need with no fuss and looks good.
One negative that I've found is that there's no tool to change the login background. It's a convoluted process, but it's not really difficult.
I use both SNAPs and Flatpaks, and have no issues with either.
I recommend Ubuntu MATE, and look forward to the next LTS version.
|
Version: 23.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2024-03-03
Votes: 0
|
Burnt to usb stick; tried live, seems like a nice desktop, and I like the Yaru black or dark theme, although you have to specifically choose that theme as it comes in with a white theme.
Once I got the font and colour adjusted to my liking went to install, it went through the whole process apart from actually installing, as it crashed at this point producing a "sorry" nessage, not only that but I tried twice withthe same ending.
I thought one or two dialogues on the installation setup took a long time to get past, one being the update while installing, and this is even if you deselect updating while installing.
Oh well....
|
Version: 23.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-02-21
Votes: 7
|
Works pretty well on this old Inspirion (DELL) Laptop. Its good speed for everything and not to hard to find some settings (Thanks Control Center!)
Can't really point out any issues so far, as Ubuntu Mate has easily been serving my needs with Customization and other parts of my requests.
Have flipped around a little bit with how my desktop looks because of this customization, starting off with Redmond (A windows like look) before switching to a more MacOS-ish look then settling on Mutiny, which essentially is what regular Ubuntu Looks like, note that the welcome application just lets you do this in one click, although one of the settings apps will essentially allow you to do the same.
Theres a good selection of wall papers on their Discourse (Their Forums Basically) and mate-look (Which is wallpapers and special icons and stuff, really useful if you like that "Sweet Style" with the neon apps)
Also allows you to install flatpak in the welcome (Albeit its a TAD hidden in the software boutique)
Its light weight, it looks good, its customization and functioning are there, I haven't had any issues with it,
10/10
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-02-14
Votes: 6
|
Have been using Ubuntu Mate since it was a thing (14.04) after getting a cheap MS-DOS laptop (netbook?) for schoolwork. That ran great on the Celeron N2840 and 2gb of ram after a few tweaks. 10 inch screen and 500gb hdd was more than enough for everything. (Managed to get it to run COD 2!!)
Now on 22.04 on a more modern netbook (11.6" screen, Pentium n5030, 512gb ssd), and 22.04 runs pretty good out of the box; little need for additional tweaks. 8 GB of ram is plenty. No more COD 2 tho; these tiny laptops don't come with fans anymore :(
Highly Recommend this distro! It grows well with you.
|
Version: 22.10
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-01-15
Votes: 9
|
Experience has been excellent so far. My 2008 Macbook with Intel Core 2 Duo has a Broadcom Wireless that most distros can't seem to load drivers for, even other Ubuntu ones. The Nvidia card drivers seem to be impossible to install but the Nouvelle driver with Mate does an admirable job, especially giving me some fan cooling. Mate runs well on the 8gigs of ram and 250 gig SSD. On this machine Ubuntu Mate is the only distro I will run. On several laptops I have tried over 20 different Linux distros over the last 5 years. Ubuntu Mate is a keeper.
|
Version: 23.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-08-23
Votes: 13
|
I think Ubuntu mate is perfect for users looking for a light weight linux experience that doesn't feel too compromised, which can happen quite often with lightweight desktop environments like LXQT. Ubuntu Mate isn't going to win any awards in terms of innovation but it's certainly leagues ahead in terms of appearance and usability compared with LXQT distros while at the same time managing to remain in the lightweight side of the spectrum; I'm currently running ubuntu mate in a very low end machine (dual core celereon cpu, 4gb of ram) and I already feel a noticeable performance improvement compared with Kubuntu and linux mint, the 2 distros I used before this one.
In conclusion, if you're looking for a lightweight linux distro you really can't go wrong with ubuntu mate, it's easily one of the best options out there.
|
Version: 23.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-05-28
Votes: 20
|
I am a low-tech user who has used Ubuntu-Mate for several years. Being low-tech limits my Linux options. I selected the Mate version over Ubuntu because Ubuntu-Mate makes it easy for me to save icons on the desktop. I keep things like the updater there so I can do computer housekeeping with fewer keystrokes before I go online and open files. Just open the dropdown menu, find the software, right click and save to desktop. Ubuntu offers the Mate desktop, but I decided to run Mate through Ubuntu-Mate, thinking the Ubuntu-Mate staff may solve some bugs not addressed by Ubuntu if I just selected the Mate desktop. I know the Cinnamon desktop offers the same feature for Ubuntu now. Oh, since the download file was smaller on Ubuntu-Mate, I was thinking Ubuntu-Mate would run a little faster on my old computer than running Ubuntu with the Mate desktop. Remember, low-tech user here. That was my assumption, not a statement of fact.
I have Mate loaded on two HP's that are about 7 and 9 years old. I use the 7 year old one to do things like banking and taxes where I want my information to be secure. I have updated from prior versions for a couple of years on that one. I play with 9 year old computer when I have time. I have a fresh install of 23.04 on that one.
The 9 year old computer with the fresh install runs almost as fast as the 7 year old computer. The 9 year old HP used to be much slower, so Mate must be running faster now. Being a low tech user, I have no idea what has carried over from prior Mate versions that slows the 7 year old HP down. The main difference that I see is old theme that I think was called blue-submarine is not available in 23.04. The color/theme options are very limited with 23.04, but that may be a tradeoff for speed. I know more themes are available by download, but I am a low tech user who usually fails when I try to use the terminal. That will be something to play with on the older computer when I have time. I want to vote for a little more "visual variation", but with my Linux computers being 7 and 9 years old, the footprint and function may become more important to me soon.
I used to play with other Linux versions in VirtualBox, but something happened a few years ago where I lost the ability to make it full screen. I know that is an issue with Ubuntu, but I used to find a way around it by clicking full screen as soon as I started the virtual system. I finally found some time with 23.04 to work through some other issues to get VirualBox working at about half screen. Now I can play with VirtualBox again if I can find some time.
I don't use a printer at home or do online gaming or Bluetooth anything, so I can't give any advice on those issues. But if you want to resurrect an old computer that Windows refuses to run on or just want to get away from Windows, I highly recommend Ubuntu-Mate for the low-tech user.
If you find a Linux home like I have and can afford it, try to make periodic financial contributions to keep them available: Ubuntu-Mate, Ubuntu, Libre Office, etc. I need to check when the last time was that I contributed.
Thanks Ubuntu-Mate team.
|
Version: 23.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-04-25
Votes: 8
|
Ubuntu MATE 23.04.
It is very stable, given considering it is not an LTS release.
Ubuntu MATE provides additional software and configuration applets which makes user experience better, like Mate Tweak
The coolest thing in Ubuntu MATE is its `Welcome` app, which is very good and simple cause it has illustrations & screenshots. It is very easy peasy to change your desktop to look like Mac, Windows, Ubuntu or a bunch of other looks with a click of a button (cause you have screenshots of what it will look like)
Also `Welcome` app makes changing/downloading Themes easy.
And finding additional walpapers.
And installing Chrome, Vivaldi or another 8 desired browsers.
It gives you directions & link to Ubuntu MATE discord server.
IMHO it is the coolest `Welcome` app I saw.
Besides that Ubuntu MATE gives you `software boutique`, which is very cool easy to use AppStore which is very fast and stable
(yes I am looking to you Gnome Software & KDE Discover you both are slow and unstable).
More importantly `software boutique` search is faaast. (which is not the case with KDE Discover & Gnome Software)
And the `software boutique` has hand picked list of the best apps with SCREENSHOTS and good description, so if you are new to linux, you can easily install the best tool without googling.
Compared to other distros which package MATE, `ubuntu MATE` polished the deskop very good, it has nice light/dark themes and all the widgets are configured nicely, so the distro is same level as (Linux Mint MATE), but has the advantage of having newer software than (Linux Mint MATE).
Other distros package MATE little bit worser, so you are looking at probably the best (IMHO) or 2nd best (Linux Mint MATE) MATE experience.
Pros:
- fast distro
- lightweight distro
- easy to use
- beginner friendly
- nice themes
- software released once in 6 month BUT STILL VERY STABLE
- ubuntu based
cons:
- Everything related to keyboard layouts is horrible.
If you install more than one layout, Ubuntu mate will not have a keyboard combo to switch layouts by default.
(GNOME for example sets + explicitly for you.
Also you cannot add more than 4 layouts (GNOME for example can add unlimited number for you).
And if you have 3 or 4 layouts it is horrible to manage them, cause usually you work only with 2 layouts at a time, and rarely switch to 3rd or 4th.
So it would be nice layout switcher to work as + so that you switch to previously used layout if you press + once, and to switch to next layout if you press + 2nd, 3rd time and so on.
It is how GNOME works now (which is cool, and which is why it is manageable to have a lot of layouts in GNOME)
So until this is fixed MATE it is not the best tool for translators and polyglots and people who live in countries with 3 or more languages in use.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-03-12
Votes: 9
|
I don't like distro hopping, but still get curious about what's out there. Mostly I just need to get to work and my primary apps are Libre Office (which I have used for years, love it) and Firefox, and Brave. Mate stays out of the way and the Ubuntu backing keeps it stable. I know there are great distros for power users, but if you just need to settle in and work and don't require anything fancy, Mate gets you there. It's interface is easy and file system works well. You also have access to numerous software that's super easy to install.
I've had my wife using it for years, she doesn't know the difference between Windows Mac or linux; she has gotten used to flying arougn and creating her own unique way of doing things on Mate.
|
Version: 22.10
Rating: 3
Date: 2022-11-28
Votes: 0
|
First of all, Ubuntu Mate messes up your boot sequence when you install it. It would not let me re-access my dual ports, so I could not return after trying mate. I end up deleting my partitions accidently trying to rid myself of this awful os. The ui is outdated and very limited. The docking system was limited and I could not figure out how to just have a bottom dock without all the extra crap on it. Mate feels like windows with all the forced apps. The Software Boutique was trash and didn't offer much in apps. The funny part is that they actually ask for donations for something as awful as this. The experience with this os makes me not want to try another Linux flavor. Ill just stay with the trusted ubuntu regular.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-11-05
Votes: 15
|
Ubuntu Mate feels like very dated desktop in terms of apparence, not going to lie about that, however aside from that dated look that can easily be fixed with themes (GTK2/GTK3) I must say the biggest advantage overall is how effective and eficient is, everything is quick, responsive and intuitive, I started using Linux recently with Gnome 40 and Cinnamon and it was really easy to adapt
I love the Mate layout switcher, I tried Cupertino (because of the global menu) and Unity and so far everything has been great, I recommend Ubuntu Mate to anyone and not solely the old school Gnome 2 fans from back in the day, it is a productive DE and Ubuntu flavour, also it has flatpak by default so it is a plus if you don't like snaps
|
Version: 22.10
Rating: 8
Date: 2022-10-30
Votes: 1
|
Please substitute the Software Boutique, its just horrible, offering almost nothing to install. Neither Snap nor Flatpack. Everything else greatly appreciated like Muon, Discover or even Synaptic beats this out of box-experience with the Software Boutique!
Please swap Software Center to something reliable! That`s why the distro is underestimated in comparison to Linux Mint with Mate! Here some users would immediatelly be addicted to!
The Look & Feel is great, but there are little bugs with Plank, Brisk and Nemo.
|
Version: 22.10
Rating: 3
Date: 2022-10-22
Votes: 8
|
Installed Ubuntu Mate 22.10 on a spare laptop today and after 2 hours, reloaded Debian. The brisk menu would remove itself from the panel after every reboot. This happened 4 times so it wasn't just a fluke even though everything else seemed to work fine. Version 22.04 seemed to work ok so I'm not sure about this bug. To bad cause I was really looking forward to this new version and what it could offer with updates. Ubuntu Mate has always been a solid performer until now so maybe I'll try it again after they fix the bugs . . .
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2022-09-02
Votes: 4
|
Just a couple of points regarding 22.04:
1. Removal of grub-customizer from 22.04 is a death note for 22.04 for ZFS root users. Sometimes upgrading the kernel, the zfs-dkms doesn't automatically build or upgrade, requiring a maual upgrade of zfs-dkms. In 20.04, I would use grub-customizer to then put the zfs root entries on top for booting directly into the new kernel. I know 22.04 now has grub-customizer as a third party repo pkg now, still a hassle because you need to add-apt-repostitory
2. Snap is a disaster. Snapped up programs are slow, it is good for embedded ARM kiosks, oh well
3. Only nvidia cuda 11.7 and above support 22.04, that means for some tensorflow and pytorch versions requiring older cuda versions, you need to do the thing in docker instead of native. Kepler K80 support is also dropped in 11.7.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-08-31
Votes: 7
|
While I didn't use Ubuntu back in the GNOME 2 days, I do remember wanting to use it on my PC, and when I did switch to Linux I was surprised how different the vanilla Ubuntu was compared to what I remembered from the 2000s
Later I discovered Ubuntu Mate and a huge amount of memories came through my mind, I always have thought that Kubuntu and Ubuntu Mate are probably the best flavours of Ubuntu however for different reasons, despite how different Ubuntu Mate is compared to regular Ubuntu I would argue that the user experience is way more user friendly (and hardware friendly too) for a first time Linux user and still provides a good experience for advanced users
Ubuntu Mate biggest strength is that is the only Ubuntu flavour with flatpak support out of the box, and that Mate as a whole is a very stable DE, while subjective I would argue this is a trade off from the "eye candy" some people like (including myself) due Mate outdated 2000s look, luckily it is very customizable and if you don't like the default look you can easily install themes (something that regular Ubuntu Gnome has been criticized in the past) and make it look more modern and more "yours" in a way
Overall I do recommend Ubuntu Mate, outdated look aside it is still one of the most efficient and customizable DE out there while still being a user friendly and hardware friendly distro.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2022-08-26
Votes: 21
|
Upgrading to 22.04lts from 20.04lts was disappointing.
I have used Ubuntu mate for years with satisfaction. I have, or should I say, I had appreciated this distro.
Several days ago just after the official announcement of upgrading, I tried it for my PCs.
For just one PC this upgrading was successful, while for the others (3 PCs) it was very disappointing.
On a PC (desktop type) I found some troubles such as * Welcome & Software boutique never appear etc.
On other PCs (portable ones of the same type) Virtual Box don't work as it did without problems.
So I downgraded these portable PCs to 20.04lts. I will continue to stay with 20.04lts for these machines for some time (I don't know how long it will be.)
I wish that the announcement of upgrading this time would have been done when the new version proved to work without so many bugs.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 3
Date: 2022-08-25
Votes: 1
|
Installed 22.04 in Virtualbox to have a look what has changed. I'm still using happily UM 20.04.
I noticed they have given up the Mate menu, which is a no-go for me. The Brisk menu is not only ugly but also unusable, and one wonders why they removed the menu that comes with Mate from the package. Installing Mate menu manually is too uncertain for me looking forward.
Vivaldi is also no longer added to the Software Boutique and was replaced by Edge, but who wants to use a Microsoft browser?
Offering Snap software is really annoying as each of the packages takes an incredible amount of space.
UM 20.04 will be my last version, which is a shame. It used to be one of the best 3 years ago. I will use LM Mate instead, which does the job. Yes, Scite as Snap will not be used but directly installed. I had never thought that it is possible to turn a simple editor like Scite into a 3GB program.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2022-08-20
Votes: 5
|
I tried upgrading from 20.04 and found that among other things, the new Ubuntu MATE 22.04 tries to force you to use the snap version of Firefox, which doesn't integrate properly with the file manager Caja. For my use case this is simply unacceptable and I had to find a work around on line. (purging the snap and connecting directly to the Mozilla ppa)
I've been a very happy MATE user for years. The 20.04 version was truly excellent, but this latest upgrade has no benefit and a bunch of new annoying bugs.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-08-20
Votes: 3
|
Until finding Ubuntu MATE, I was a distro hopper for a long time (with it being noted that the amount of distros I've tried across many desktop environments being exceptionally big)
I started using Ubuntu MATE after switching from numerous Xfce-Based distros which for some reason were much slower than MATE (either that or their next release wasn't as good as the predecessor). Also what seemed to be contrary to my own belief (I may be wrong), is that Ubuntu MATE performed faster than most Xfce Distros I have used. My belief is that MATE more resource hungry than Xfce, but just barely more demanding.
I was blown away in comparison to what I had used before. It's very stable and elegant while retaining the resemblance to Windows OS so you don't need to sacrifice your current familiarity with the desktop layout; its very beginner friendly. Its Software Boutique is a nice collection of software for everyone and it includes essential downloadable software and additional software for anyone (although for more software flexibility I would download GNOME Software or Appgrid, etc...)
I've got Ubuntu MATE running on a small form factor PC with 8GB RAM, 500GB SATA SSD, and Intel J4125 @ 2-2.7GHZ, no fuss.
It's got everything a Linux distribution needs: stability, elegance, support (quite a bit!), and fast performance. The future of this Linux distro seems bright to me!
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-08-20
Votes: 1
|
i upgraded from 20.04 to 20.10 to 21.04 to 21.10 and recently to 22.04. Everything works. Firefox works, caja works, I can do everything. The snap is not causing any problems for me. Maybe upgrading all along the way, is the difference. No data lost or corrupted. No hiccups streaming. Only one internal error notification during the first week. Since then, running smooth.
The only negative difference, is the virtual machine running in qemu. It boots up slower. I assume it could be qemu needing to integrate better with the newer version of ubuntu Mate.
The chromium browser is also in snap. No problem there either.
My wife likes using my computer better than her Windows 11 computer. She loves all the custom scripts I wrote in Python. Ubutnu Mate fits Python like a glove.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-06-22
Votes: 22
|
Like the commenter below I've tried dozens of distros but this is the one I've kept.
Ubuntu gets a lot of hate but for us non-tech people it's the easiest to install, run, update, find software for, you name it.
Ubuntu MATE has a few other handy tools as well - you can change the desktop look with a click, the updater tool is great (even between LTS versions) the software boutique is also easy install of various things, and there's also Synaptic there for other stuff.
To me, it just works. I also have no problem with Snaps - apart from Firefox I have another one on this laptop and they run fine and update in the background to save me worrying about that. I love that I can have a stable system in the background but also the latest software for other things I choose to install (and I find that Snaps run much better for me than Flatpaks or AppImages).
I don't care about loading times because once they're up they're up, and if I close and re-open it's instant - anyway the Firefox snap loaded quicker than Brave installed from its repository, so make of that what you will.
I get that geeks won't like any of the above (hey I don't even care about systemd or non-systemd, makes no difference to me), but I'm just a normal user who wants and needs something that works and doesn't give me a headache - I'm not interested in tinkering and if something goes wrong I can find a solution pretty quickly thanks to Ubuntu's popularity.
For that, Ubuntu MATE is perfect. Thanks Martin, and all the others who make it that way.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-06-05
Votes: 1
|
I was a Lubuntu user until they dropped LXDE. To me, that was it. I had to find another linux distro.
After trying hundreds of distros I decided to try all the distros that had MATE as option.
After trying them all I decided to install Ubuntu Mate.
The Arch alternatives were annoying, full of things to customize and etc...
At the end I was left with two options. Linux Mint Mate and Ubuntu Mate.
The Mint option was heavier so I decided to go for Ubuntu Mate. Everything worked out of the box and thats what I wanted. Having the things perfect and ready. The repos are nice, I have synaptic .
The only thing I miss is .....Guayadeque Music Player . I dont understand why I dont find it in the repos or in the software app or at synaptic. Its a bit annoying and frustrating. That is why I give Ubuntu Mate a 9 out of 10.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-06-04
Votes: 3
|
l tend to distro hop regularly, always trying the latest versions or downloading new distros out of curiosity to try, but my fall back distro for every day has been Ubuntu Mate ever since Vivid. A couple of things have always been consistent with it, firstly it would crash when l first attempted to use Tweak, and secondly it had Etcher in the Software Boutique which never downloaded, at least for me. l see that Etcher is still in Boutique, but at least it has a warning now that it is unsupported, to be fair the stock usb formatting and iso writing is perfectly acceptable unless you require persistence, which l don't normally.
The install went as normal, no issues, and surprise, Mate Tweak worked without crashing, set up my usual Pantheon desktop, l think l read somewhere that the team were aware of an issue and this version should fix it so kudos to them. l was interested to see that Firefox is now installed as a snap package, for some reason it took appreciably longer to load, but it did have a nice feature of putting Facebook in a container for privacy.
The one niggle for me in this version is something l have never come across before in any version of any distro l have tried, if l have two fingers on the touch pad of my laptop and have the cursor on the right side of a loaded page for scrolling up and down, the screen flashes erratically on and off until l move the cursor away from the edge, nothing in the touchpad and mouse settings helped so l used synaptic package manager to load a couple of alternative desktops to see if it was a bug with Mate or maybe an underlying conflict but had the same result, so l think l will do a fresh download and clean install., think l might give Elementary 7 a spin when it drops as well.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-05-13
Votes: 5
|
The raspberry pi version is awesome. I'm using it to build a nextcloud server and it works perfectly. The GUI is well designed and the system is lightweight. It provides a lot of tools out of the box and the settings is way easier to change than on the official raspian os.
Although it was meant to be a Nextcloud server, I usually attach a monitor to the Pi and I can use it as a desktop.
I would recommend ubuntu mate to anyone, who would like to test or start a new project on the raspberry pi. Especially if you have the pi 4
I hope we can get the 22.04 soon.
|
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-04-24
Votes: 4
|
Just installed, I come from 9 years of Fedora with Openbox and I'm surprised that in 10 minutes I installed the distro against at least 1 hour of Fedora. Beautiful, fast and for now stable, I had only one problem in the customizations sw (Software Boutique) with the installation of Tor browser that once installed does not seem to work,
but I think to solve it in the next days. Once copied the data also the customizations are fast for the clear organization of the menus. It's the first time I use Mate but I didn't think it was so responsive coming from Openbox and since I wanted to limit the manual customizations on the menus etc. I decided to switch to a distro on which I don't have to intervene at system level. The alternative for me was to switch to XFCE but I don't particularly like its look and feel so here I am in Mate and Ubuntu.
Also Caja File Manager I found very interesting, I did not know it usually using Thunar or lately PCManFM.
Overall it seems to me a distro very accurate in the details and this is an indication of a support group of great quality which is important to have fewer problems as possible :-)
Great distro!
|
Version: 22.04-beta
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-04-21
Votes: 6
|
The best alternative to the traditional Ubuntu Gnome is the Official Canonical Ubuntu Mate flavor. It is light, stable and robust. I have version 20.04 LTS on 3 computers alongside Windows.
To try, I installed the new version 22.04 LTS Beta on an old PC without Efi, 3.6 ghz processor and 4 G ram. Installation was seamless dualboot with Windows. And on the other PC I upgraded over version 20.04. And everything went well, although the new version still needs some fixes.
I just can't understand why Canonical and Mate are summarizing the colors of the themes, only white and dark mode. This is very bad for eyesight. The colorful themes from version 20.04 look great in the new version.
I recommend everyone to try Ubuntu Mate and they will be amazed.
Thanks to Canonical and the Ubuntu Mate Developer Team for providing us with these great Systems.
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-04-13
Votes: 2
|
I am currently running Ubuntu MATE 21.10, on a 2014 Macbook Pro, 16 GB memory, Intel quad-core 8-thread CPU, a 1TB NVME drive (with adapter, since Apple HW uses non-standard SSD interface). MATE is very responsive and there are very few issues. I do have to build the video-camera driver with Apple firmware, and I also build a TpLink wireless USB-3 dongle driver, since the Apple MBP Broadcom wifi is old, slow for X11 over SSH and not well-supported in general. Annoying a bit, and I need to learn how to use DKMS, for auto-builds of these, on Ubuntu kernel updates.
Ubuntu MATE for me, has been very stable, fast and very usable as a "daily driver" Ubuntu for a SW developer, with very acceptable "desktop GUI overhead". I can hardly wait for the next LTS, with a reportedly much improved MATE desktop version.
|
Version: 22.04-beta
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-04-02
Votes: 9
|
Ubuntu Mate has all the advantages of Ubuntu (stability, repositories, codecs...) but without being so heavy for my old intel Celeron. The interface is modern (unlike Xubuntu or Lubuntu), fast, the panel can be configured to take on different looks. The beta version has some small bugs but I have already installed it as my fixed operating system, I was looking forward to Ubuntu Mate 22.04 coming out. I recommend it for everyone who wants the benefits of Ubuntu but wants something "lighter" for their computer. For me, it's better than Xubuntu and Lubuntu, and works quite well on my 2015 Celeron.
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-03-12
Votes: 10
|
I run Ubuntu Mate on a couple different laptops
and I must say I'm really pleased with it.
I'll often use it in a live version as well to test out computers.
Being Ubuntu based means it's solid.
There are some things that aren't to my liking but, there's always
something we don't care for.
Just poke around, make changes, and set it to the way you want it.
You can add or remove things to suit your needs as there are many customization's at your fingertips.
Simply put, Ubuntu Mate is easy to use.
Plus there's lots of friendly help available if and when you need it.
Being low on resource usage allows it to run well on older and lower powered computers too.
Give it a try, you may be pleasantly surprised.
If you don't like it you won't be forced to keep it, just move on to something else.
But you may also find that Ubuntu Mate is your new best distro.
Ubuntu Mate is solid, friendly, easy to use, easy to customize, low on resource usage and Ubuntu has a large and very helpful community.
Thanks to all that make this possible!
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-01-21
Votes: 7
|
Overall, Ubuntu MATE is my favourite linux distro.
PROS:
simple
clean
flexible DE
many apps in repository
regularly updated
good community
CONS:
some errors may occur
repository is, sometimes, unavailable
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-01-16
Votes: 6
|
At last, I believe I found the perfect OS for me: it gets the job done for a working machine like me!
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 1
Date: 2022-01-16
Votes: 0
|
This is a pretty big disappointment, which doesn’t surprise me with the *ubuntu distros these days. My problems are that mate on here has been sluggish for a while and has some outstanding bugs that are yet to be fixed. With the distros *ubuntu, I mean like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc.- the Ubuntu family desktop alternatives, they do have the Ubuntu parent distro spyware built into it, they are pretty resource intensive and a bit sluggish- basically nothing has really changed here since the Ubuntu family desktop alternatives all adopted the spyware from Amazon into their distros without any care for the users, other Ubuntu derived distros have not adopted Ubuntu’s spyware. Overall, it is a sad state of affairs with the Ubuntu family desktop alternatives, but it’s good there are Ubuntu based distros out there that refuse to keep everything Ubuntu pushes with no reason for the users and which become increasingly more user-unfriendly and resource intensive. It makes no sense.
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-12-30
Votes: 13
|
Nice to see my beloved GNOME 2! I found this distro complete of everything needed for home use (firefox, thunderbird, qmmp, brasero, gimp, eom, atril, engrampa, pluma, libreoffice, ...) and also development (I am a .NET developer using MS repositories for .NET/ASP.NET stack and VS Code). The ability to choose between different panel layouts is wonderful.
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-11-28
Votes: 0
|
Slow, the mate desktop environment here is filled with applications that I won’t need or use, and that slows down getting anything done. Removal of the programs I don’t want seems to work, but when I restart my computer and I’m back at the desktop, none of the changes were saved. I’m not wasting anymore time here. I recommend Linux Mint Mate over this one.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-11-21
Votes: 13
|
Honestly, I was never too interested in the MATE desktop, as I thought it wasn't very well supported nor popular at all. After reading a bit about how the MATE desktop actually beat its competition with regards to power efficiency, I just had to give it a try... and it completely won me over! As of now, I'm convinced that the MATE desktop is the best desktop there is for Linux. It is the only one stable and fast enough to provide a pleasurable experience. And what's more, you don't have to install plugins in order to make it work like you expect a desktop to work! Simply excellent. At this moment, the latest Ubuntu LTS release has also reached a point of maturity, so it's perfectly usable without noticeable problems. I'm really wondering why Ubuntu doesn't have this as their default desktop. But at least Ubuntu MATE is a part of the official family or whatever. I'm just glad I can have a functional system even today, and I don't need to look back to how good things used be ten years ago. Amen.
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 5
Date: 2021-11-18
Votes: 0
|
Let me prefix this by saying that I think ubuntu MATE is the most important distro for MATE longevity and development and it looks by far the best out of them and I want to love it.
So with that in mind it's sad that there seem to be so many problems with it. Let's go over some of them:
First boot after fresh installation would never reach the login screen, ok why?
Turns out lightdm is somehow messed up. Ok TTY works, let's do initial update & upgrade and afterwards apt remove lightdm followed by autoremove and reinstall it. Well hold up, autoremove also removes nvidia drivers and their dependencies right away. Starting to think wtf, but ok let's boot now despite knowing we'll need to come to TTY again since we probably pulled in some new stuff with the upgrade.
Boot back to TTY and install nvidia drivers. Reboot and everything works as I expected.
Running out of characters but add on to this the fact pulseaudio crashes/has a problem upon most boots and the fact mate-netbook and/or mate-netbook common causes firefox to have double header bar and transparent ghost padding on tiled mode, I sadly cannot recommend this distro atm.
|
Version: 21.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-11-17
Votes: 0
|
Installed Ubuntu Mate on a Desktop Itel 64-bit old PC and a new Raspberry Pi 4 8GB 64-bit ARM mini PC - Ubuntu Mate is the King!
Fast. Very Sable. Tons of software. Light. Easy to use. UI is the best in the Linux world.
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-10-25
Votes: 3
|
Pros
- still one of the best and easy distributions to setup and use
- new theming is excellent
- light on resources
- good choice of sofetware
- works on most hardware
- tweak it just the way you like
Cons
- there might be one that I am yet to find?
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-10-25
Votes: 0
|
I decided to try Ubuntu MATE in a VM and I really like the direction of the desktop. I personally use Fedora with GNOME 40 and prefer a more modern GNOME experience (GNOME 3.36+) however I tried Ubuntu MATE 21.10 and was astounded by the default configuration options. For a beginner there are a lot of options and the distro is easy enough to get a hang of. I would recommend this to beginners with the likes of Pop!_OS and Ubuntu.
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 6
Date: 2021-10-19
Votes: 1
|
MATE is one of my favorite DE's. In the past, Ubuntu has been one of the best MATE experiences for me. 21.10 seems to a good update except for it's compatability with DEB packages. There are 2 to 3 must-have applications for me that are not available through Ubuntu repositories, but are available as DEB packages. 21.10 MATE encountered errors while trying to install them - even after 3 or 4 tries and reboots. I then installed Sparky Linux (stable), and the DEB packages installed perfectly. Hopefully this will be fixed in future updates of Ubuntu Mate.
|
Version: 21.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-10-14
Votes: 5
|
Outstanding distribution with a simple to grasp desktop that you can customize. You have several layouts to pick from making the set-up that much easier. From a new Linux user to seasoned power user, this distribution is the best implementation of Mate. The next best best version is the community edition of Manjaro Mate but Ubuntu Mate is superior to it and Linux Mint Mate too. With Ubuntu Mate everything works right, extremely useable, fast, and reliable. Ubuntu Mate should be the flagship of the various Ubuntu flavors. It is uncluttered yet extremely customizable.Kudos to the developers!
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-10-12
Votes: 3
|
Fast. Polished. Stable. I'm a long term linux user but because of necessity to use windows for trading apps I stayed on win. When win became unusable cause everyday blue screens I formatted all and installed ubuntu mate. I've been able to use my trading apps (tradingview and ctrader werb) using the web versions and using playonlinux I've been able to completely use metatrader 4 without issues. Using steam I've been able to use also my preferred videogames. Thanks to the predefined utilities in ubuntu mate I've been able to install nvidia drivers and vulkan so I'm able also to play flawlessly War Thunder that I's an heavy weight game for video cards ... Now I'm completely independent from windows and happy to not depend on his terrible blue screens ... I'm in general an addict of debian and his derivatives so I like much also sparky linux wich is rock solid and fast and an easier way to use debian. But ubuntu mate is more eyes appealing ... so ... long live to debian and his derivatives.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-10-07
Votes: 2
|
Assuming you stick to a LTS (Long Term Support), it's unbreakable!
I hate snaps though, sadly Ubuntu is forcing those monsters nowadays
So I don't install anymore an application from the software center
Having said that, MATE desktop gives a lot of options and is extremely efficient!
I strongly recommend this distro, especially for beginners
|
Version: 21.04
Rating: 7
Date: 2021-09-30
Votes: 5
|
Love the desktop, but the stability issues kill the experience of using this distribution. While at first everything works fine, with any amount of tweaking (changing the layout to one of the provided layouts ie 'redmond, cupertino etc') or adding/moving things on the panel, I get major crashes with most elements of the UI. This includes the menu in the panel crashing when trying to edit the layout, indicator elements in the panel crashing unexpectedly (wifi/time/power indicators) which is a big issue for me.
Additionally, some applications including Gdebbi (Debian package installer GUI) crash on startup, with no fixes as of yet.
Unfortunately too buggy to be usable in my case, hoping to see improvements with the next version.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-09-24
Votes: 5
|
I have been using Ubuntu Mate as my daily driver on multiple older laptops as well as the Raspberry Pi version on my pi's. The distro is fast and lightweight even on older hardware, it is also super stable and I never have crashes. The MATE desktop also looks great and is nicely refined, elegant and super simple to select reconfigured layouts. My favourite layout is the Cupertino layout, similar to MAC OS, this layout works brilliantly, is fast, productive, looks elegant and just stays out your way to get your job done. Great Job Guys!
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-09-16
Votes: 4
|
This is by far the best distro based on ubuntu. Best DE. Everything Works. You can change between plenty of layouts according to your taste. Must try. Better than Linux MInt Mate
|
Version: 21.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-09-08
Votes: 1
|
Comes packaged with g++ but not the commands java and javac for compiling java fail out-of-box. Other than that I really like seeing MATE's gnome 2 throwback coupled with Ubuntu.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-07-16
Votes: 4
|
Been trying various distros, including other ubuntu based distros, on an old HP 8710w dual-core and for some reason Ubuntu Mate flies on this laptop. No over heating issues when playing youtube videos either.
One really good installation feature is that you can opt out of the bloat-ware that plagues other popular distros and do minimal just essentials install. Things like VLC and Libre-Office are great, but I don't need them and if did I can install them later.
Overall really pleased
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-06-06
Votes: 6
|
Solid performance and runs really quick on an SSD even in an old 9-year-old laptop. Choice of panel layouts is really good, keeps all users happy with a choice of unity/macos/windows/gnome2 style layouts. Software boutique works well and will keep most casual users happy. Apt on command line for the advanced, or install ubuntu software or synaptic etc. SNAP is ready to use but I found flatpaks worked better.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-05-25
Votes: 0
|
A good distribution, but I believe that should be better.
|
Version: 21.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-04-28
Votes: 7
|
I've been using 21.04 for a week now, it's good enough for daily use.
Performance is impressive, while RAM usage isn't the lowest i've ever seen, it runs just as good as XFCE distros if not better.
The new Yaru MATE theme (and the font) looks pleasing, not crazy but it is still a nice refresh.
There are some good ideas here that i wished were implemented in vanilla Ubuntu:
- An actual Control Center where you have access to all basic configurations you need. I believe that's from Gnome 2 but i still find it way better than the settings menu in Gnome 3 (and 40 now). Not a unique feature of Ubuntu MATE (e.g. Yast in OpenSUSE) but it is very useful.
- The Software Boutique, a nice starter for new and old users who want to find popular packages quickly. The app itself look nice and runs better than Gnome Software, but it's very limited in the selection to be used as the only package manager and it's also buggy. I hope they'll expand it in the future, turning into something like MX Package Installer or integrate it with Synaptic.
The only negative for now is that it is buggier than i thought: window decorations not behaving correctly when tiling or resizing, few issues with selected apps, an error message keeps showing at every fresh boot, it complains about the ayatana printer indicator (despite my printer is working and i flagged the "do not view this anymore").
To be fair the release has just come out and it's not a LTS version, but maybe because Ubuntu in general is among the most used Linux distros, or the fact that this is a 6 months release and not weekly, i was expecting a little bit more polish.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-04-27
Votes: 4
|
A distro that I wanted to try out for sometime. Finally installed it alongside Fedora Xfce. I'm quite impressed with it's overall performance. The appearance can be easily changed and there are many different ways to customize the desktop. Great selection of default software. The software boutique feature seems very modern and reliable. Resource usage, according to my experience with Fedora Xfce, is slightly higher on Ubuntu MATE. This is not an issue at all unless you are using significantly older hardware.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-04-27
Votes: 1
|
Ubuntu MATE is a very solid desktop-oriented distro. The team behind it combined Ubuntu with the classic MATE desktop and built an OS that can be used by beginners and experts alike. Everything works OOTB and I have no complaints.
|
Version: 21.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-04-25
Votes: 3
|
21.04 is working great ! from installation to daily use, I haven't faced any problem so far. Overall a great distro. I rarely give any distro 10/10
|
Version: 21.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-04-25
Votes: 3
|
Outstanding! Excellent MATE -- best I've used yet. Give it a spin :)
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-04-21
Votes: 4
|
Daily driver on Thinkpad T420 for several years now... Great looks, usability, ease of installation -> solid.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-04-03
Votes: 8
|
I have a Gateway LT-3114u netbook sized laptop, with an AMD64 processor. I had lots of trouble with the graphical interface in other distros, but this Ubuntu MATE just works, and I am very grateful. I have also grown fond of the clean desktop. As long as the MATE flavor of Ubuntu remains available, I will be a happy camper, complete with a wonderful netbook sized (8.5 X 11 X 1) machine that just works.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 2
Date: 2021-03-01
Votes: 0
|
Terrible! When Ethernet doesn't work out of the box you might as well just get an Android device. I don't know what it is about Ubuntu derivatives for Raspberry Pi but they all require WiFi connection -- you can just forget about connecting with your faster and more secure wired Gigabit Ethernet port. (Even hard setting IP address, gateway, etc. doesn't work unless you first open yourself up with WiFi.)
It also seems that since 32-bit is being phased out with just about every other mainstream distro, it's not a real good idea to begin using Ubuntu MATE 32-bit irregardless of whatever hardware you have. You're pretty much SOL with very few choices where 32-bit is concerned. So if you have a Raspberry Pi 3 or older where 32-bit might work better you're pretty much stuck with Raspberry Pi's own Raspbian OS -- NOT Ubuntu MATE!
And since MATE 64-bit is also slowly loosing support, this entire distro is really just dying off no matter which way you look at it. So do yourself a favor now and DON'T get attached to it. Might be easier to install Ubuntu and then add the MATE stuff afterwards -- no need to rely on this distro channel or it's repositories which might not be there in a few years -- or days!
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-02-21
Votes: 8
|
Using it for 3 years now. Very good no crashes, never! Choice:Traditional Themes with scrollbar steppers.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-02-20
Votes: 5
|
The last 6 years on my laptop of 2006: everything works fine. I tried many other distro, but I finally came back "home". Light and beautiful, and mostly reliable.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-02-16
Votes: 0
|
solid ubuntu base with mate DE. some glitches, but nothing serious. all working as expected.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-02-05
Votes: 6
|
I put this on my wife's laptop that is an HP since last year, and it has been working for almost a whole year straight with no issues and having to get on her laptop and fix anything, whereas I was constantly having to fix stuff on her laptop when it had Win10 before I put Ubuntu Mate on it. She had never used Linux before and could barely use Win10, but she has been able to do everything in her day-to-day routine without calling me over to her laptop to fix anything. Ubuntu Mate seems to be a solid choice for beginners and is stable for daily use.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-02-02
Votes: 6
|
If you haven't used Gnome 2 you may feel this distro old-fashioned and confusing, but truly it's not.
This is a flavour of Ubuntu with Mate, so it has the benefits of Ubuntu (which are huge) and the love of Mate desktop (the continuation of Gnome 2).
The reason why I love Mate desktop is that it keeps you focused in your work, thus, there isn't any kind of distraction that will make you waste your time.
If you haven't tried Gnome 2, this is your opportunity to feel a solid OS which will keep you focused in your business.
|
Version: 20.10
Rating: 3
Date: 2021-01-31
Votes: 0
|
For Raspberry Pi there are very few desktop choices. I tried Ubuntu Mate and was sadly disappointed. Right off the bat you will be forced to use only one repository -- ONE! -- which doesn't even work for all of the default installed packages. I tried to set it to the "United States" repository but it kept resetting itself to the standard Ubuntu repository -- which are the only options. Come on guys! Ubuntu has mirrors everywhere and with the Raspberry Pi Ubuntu Mate version there are only 2 repositories WORLD WIDE?! My advice, keep looking if you're on a Raspberry Pi 4 like me. You might also note that my RazPi4 has 8G of memory and this distro is still a bit sluggish even running on a top of the line micro SD card that RazPi's own supported OS tested as being "very good." (And I gotta say, RaspiOS does seem to work better than Ubuntu Mate does.)
Bottom line: Ubuntu MATE may have been a good distro at one time but with so many glaring oversights like extremely limited and buggy repositories combined with pathetic hardware support for dedicated ARM platforms like Raspberry Pi, this distro either needs some overhaul or it needs to die which it probably will do now that Ubuntu mainstream has changed desktop directions again.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-01-28
Votes: 4
|
I have been using this version on both my laptops since May 2020. Not only does everything work, to my surprise , the battery life on both increased 20 minutes. The usb reading and writing is actually no problem. if the usb has a permission problem, I just run merely one simple command in a terminal (sudo chmod) to change permission. This distro is a solid 10. Not one single crash. Toshiba and Samsung are my laptops.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-01-27
Votes: 0
|
I have tried Ubuntu MATE again. It still has an error like Ver. 18.04 with reading from a flash drive by stating I don't have permission to read the contents of the drive. Wimpy, why hasn't this problem been fixed? Year after year the same problems remain unfixed. With an error like this it is worthless to me. I will not waste my time with this distro again!
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-01-25
Votes: 3
|
A really nice distribution with the user friendly MATE desktop.
The availability also for Raspberry Pi is a great bonus.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-01-22
Votes: 3
|
This for me is my everyday distro, for years ive been distro jumping but finally i found the distro that covers all my needs, a balance between good looks and good performance, easy for beginers, intuitive, availability for raspberry pi (best OS by far), easy to use, robust, everything works. Thanks Ubuntu Mate team for delivering a great distro! 10/10
|
Version: 20.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-01-17
Votes: 6
|
Very reliable distribution that works great with an All-In-One HP WiFi printer/scanner and a 15-year old HP 2600n printer on a network. I cannot get any other distribution to work and all Ubuntu distributions find the printers without a hitch. Mate makes it easy to switch desktop environments while remaining relatively lean and fast. Works great on a 13-year old laptop. KDE has been lean on RAM but CPU usage is still high while Ubuntu Mate strikes a good balance. I am using the Pantheon desktop environment making it look somewhat like Elementary but with more flexibility. Added bonus I can get an Ubuntu Mate as an LTS or a newer version every 6-months. The Software Boutique is brilliant - if new to Linux - it makes getting your needed apps quickly. If you are an experienced Linux user, the Software Boutique makes it fast to get up and running. Everything works, looks good, and the OS is very quick. You can be up and running in less than 20 minutes. I don't have to spend hours tinkering. Regular Ubuntu Gnome is considered Ubuntu's flagship but Mate is remarkably better in my opinion. Very pleased.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2021-01-12
Votes: 0
|
Installation and Updates OK
Changed to Redmond Desktop Layout for single Panel at bottom of screen.
I got repeated System Warnings - -- "Sorry blah blah blah" but no crashes.
It appears there are still many bugs in this distro
Panel would not show any open applications, and minimizing an app always closed it instead.
The main menu did not give an option for apps to "add to panel" but only to desktop.
They could be added to panel via the panel edit mode, but this is a long winded way of doing things.
This was my first experience of the Mate Desktop, so I do not know if this is typical behaviour.
Too frustrating to continue with this distro.
|
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-01-01
Votes: 3
|
Rock solid, elegant and stable. Mate desktop is the best in my opinion and experience since 2014.
|
|
Latest Reviews
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-05-23
Votes: 13
|
Ubuntu MATE is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu that uses the MATE desktop environment. It is a lightweight and user-friendly distribution that is a good choice for older computers and users who prefer a traditional desktop experience.
Pros:
Lightweight and fast
User-friendly and easy to use
Traditional desktop experience
Large software repository
Active community
Long-term support
Cons:
Not as many customization options as some other distributions
Some software may not be as well-supported as on other distributions
Overall, Ubuntu MATE is a great choice for users who are looking for a lightweight, user-friendly, and stable Linux distribution. It is a good option for older computers and users who prefer a traditional desktop experience.
Here are some of the things that make Ubuntu MATE a great choice:
It is based on Ubuntu, which is one of the most popular and well-supported Linux distributions.
It uses the MATE desktop environment, which is a lightweight and user-friendly desktop environment that is based on GNOME 2.
It has a large software repository, so you can easily find the software you need.
It has an active community, so you can get help if you need it.
It has long-term support, which means that it will receive security updates for five years.
If you are looking for a new Linux distribution, I recommend giving Ubuntu MATE a try. It is a great choice for users of all levels of experience.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 24.04
Rating: 3
Date: 2024-05-04
Votes: 2
|
Installed the latest UM24.04 LTS in Virtual box with some difficulties. I noticed that everything that I use has been removed. Mate Desktop no longer works, Software Boutique removed and replaced with Gnome Applications, Solitaire and Mahjongg removed, Vivaldi was taken out before and I had to install it manually.
I can use a browser and Gimp on any other system. The reason why I stayed with Ubuntu Mate for many years were the features mentioned above that are now gone.
What a shame that a once fantastic distribution can't longer continue due to Gnome incompatibilities.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 23.10
Rating: 1
Date: 2024-04-15
Votes: 0
|
Ubuntu Mate 24.04 Beta
Just tried the new release of Ubuntu Mate, 24.04 Beta. Was unable to install. After answering 2 or 3 questions during the installation, the installer shut down. It never made it to actually installing the software. I read several comments on-line that many who tried to install it in a virtual machine had the same problem. I was trying to install it to hard metal. Gave up after rebooting and trying 3 or 4 times with the same result. This is the first time I've tried a Linux distro, even a Beta, that was completely unusable. Usually had fairly good luck with Ubuntu and community editions through the years. Not sure what happened to this one. Been reading quite a few comments on Distrowatch how the quality of Ubuntu distro's have been declining over the last 2 or 3 years. May try it again after it leaves the Beta stage.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-03-18
Votes: 11
|
After various trials running MINT Xfce, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu on a low-power laptop (4GB / Celeron N4020), I loaded up MATE and have been pleasantly surprised. I didn't expect a lot but I'm happy with it for this application. It runs reasonably fast on this machine, is stable and easy to configure, and I really like being able to switch between various desktop environments. It does what I need with no fuss and looks good.
One negative that I've found is that there's no tool to change the login background. It's a convoluted process, but it's not really difficult.
I use both SNAPs and Flatpaks, and have no issues with either.
I recommend Ubuntu MATE, and look forward to the next LTS version.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 23.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2024-03-03
Votes: 0
|
Burnt to usb stick; tried live, seems like a nice desktop, and I like the Yaru black or dark theme, although you have to specifically choose that theme as it comes in with a white theme.
Once I got the font and colour adjusted to my liking went to install, it went through the whole process apart from actually installing, as it crashed at this point producing a "sorry" nessage, not only that but I tried twice withthe same ending.
I thought one or two dialogues on the installation setup took a long time to get past, one being the update while installing, and this is even if you deselect updating while installing.
Oh well....
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 23.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-02-21
Votes: 7
|
Works pretty well on this old Inspirion (DELL) Laptop. Its good speed for everything and not to hard to find some settings (Thanks Control Center!)
Can't really point out any issues so far, as Ubuntu Mate has easily been serving my needs with Customization and other parts of my requests.
Have flipped around a little bit with how my desktop looks because of this customization, starting off with Redmond (A windows like look) before switching to a more MacOS-ish look then settling on Mutiny, which essentially is what regular Ubuntu Looks like, note that the welcome application just lets you do this in one click, although one of the settings apps will essentially allow you to do the same.
Theres a good selection of wall papers on their Discourse (Their Forums Basically) and mate-look (Which is wallpapers and special icons and stuff, really useful if you like that "Sweet Style" with the neon apps)
Also allows you to install flatpak in the welcome (Albeit its a TAD hidden in the software boutique)
Its light weight, it looks good, its customization and functioning are there, I haven't had any issues with it,
10/10
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-02-14
Votes: 6
|
Have been using Ubuntu Mate since it was a thing (14.04) after getting a cheap MS-DOS laptop (netbook?) for schoolwork. That ran great on the Celeron N2840 and 2gb of ram after a few tweaks. 10 inch screen and 500gb hdd was more than enough for everything. (Managed to get it to run COD 2!!)
Now on 22.04 on a more modern netbook (11.6" screen, Pentium n5030, 512gb ssd), and 22.04 runs pretty good out of the box; little need for additional tweaks. 8 GB of ram is plenty. No more COD 2 tho; these tiny laptops don't come with fans anymore :(
Highly Recommend this distro! It grows well with you.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.10
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-01-15
Votes: 9
|
Experience has been excellent so far. My 2008 Macbook with Intel Core 2 Duo has a Broadcom Wireless that most distros can't seem to load drivers for, even other Ubuntu ones. The Nvidia card drivers seem to be impossible to install but the Nouvelle driver with Mate does an admirable job, especially giving me some fan cooling. Mate runs well on the 8gigs of ram and 250 gig SSD. On this machine Ubuntu Mate is the only distro I will run. On several laptops I have tried over 20 different Linux distros over the last 5 years. Ubuntu Mate is a keeper.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 23.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-08-23
Votes: 13
|
I think Ubuntu mate is perfect for users looking for a light weight linux experience that doesn't feel too compromised, which can happen quite often with lightweight desktop environments like LXQT. Ubuntu Mate isn't going to win any awards in terms of innovation but it's certainly leagues ahead in terms of appearance and usability compared with LXQT distros while at the same time managing to remain in the lightweight side of the spectrum; I'm currently running ubuntu mate in a very low end machine (dual core celereon cpu, 4gb of ram) and I already feel a noticeable performance improvement compared with Kubuntu and linux mint, the 2 distros I used before this one.
In conclusion, if you're looking for a lightweight linux distro you really can't go wrong with ubuntu mate, it's easily one of the best options out there.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 23.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-05-28
Votes: 20
|
I am a low-tech user who has used Ubuntu-Mate for several years. Being low-tech limits my Linux options. I selected the Mate version over Ubuntu because Ubuntu-Mate makes it easy for me to save icons on the desktop. I keep things like the updater there so I can do computer housekeeping with fewer keystrokes before I go online and open files. Just open the dropdown menu, find the software, right click and save to desktop. Ubuntu offers the Mate desktop, but I decided to run Mate through Ubuntu-Mate, thinking the Ubuntu-Mate staff may solve some bugs not addressed by Ubuntu if I just selected the Mate desktop. I know the Cinnamon desktop offers the same feature for Ubuntu now. Oh, since the download file was smaller on Ubuntu-Mate, I was thinking Ubuntu-Mate would run a little faster on my old computer than running Ubuntu with the Mate desktop. Remember, low-tech user here. That was my assumption, not a statement of fact.
I have Mate loaded on two HP's that are about 7 and 9 years old. I use the 7 year old one to do things like banking and taxes where I want my information to be secure. I have updated from prior versions for a couple of years on that one. I play with 9 year old computer when I have time. I have a fresh install of 23.04 on that one.
The 9 year old computer with the fresh install runs almost as fast as the 7 year old computer. The 9 year old HP used to be much slower, so Mate must be running faster now. Being a low tech user, I have no idea what has carried over from prior Mate versions that slows the 7 year old HP down. The main difference that I see is old theme that I think was called blue-submarine is not available in 23.04. The color/theme options are very limited with 23.04, but that may be a tradeoff for speed. I know more themes are available by download, but I am a low tech user who usually fails when I try to use the terminal. That will be something to play with on the older computer when I have time. I want to vote for a little more "visual variation", but with my Linux computers being 7 and 9 years old, the footprint and function may become more important to me soon.
I used to play with other Linux versions in VirtualBox, but something happened a few years ago where I lost the ability to make it full screen. I know that is an issue with Ubuntu, but I used to find a way around it by clicking full screen as soon as I started the virtual system. I finally found some time with 23.04 to work through some other issues to get VirualBox working at about half screen. Now I can play with VirtualBox again if I can find some time.
I don't use a printer at home or do online gaming or Bluetooth anything, so I can't give any advice on those issues. But if you want to resurrect an old computer that Windows refuses to run on or just want to get away from Windows, I highly recommend Ubuntu-Mate for the low-tech user.
If you find a Linux home like I have and can afford it, try to make periodic financial contributions to keep them available: Ubuntu-Mate, Ubuntu, Libre Office, etc. I need to check when the last time was that I contributed.
Thanks Ubuntu-Mate team.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 23.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-04-25
Votes: 8
|
Ubuntu MATE 23.04.
It is very stable, given considering it is not an LTS release.
Ubuntu MATE provides additional software and configuration applets which makes user experience better, like Mate Tweak
The coolest thing in Ubuntu MATE is its `Welcome` app, which is very good and simple cause it has illustrations & screenshots. It is very easy peasy to change your desktop to look like Mac, Windows, Ubuntu or a bunch of other looks with a click of a button (cause you have screenshots of what it will look like)
Also `Welcome` app makes changing/downloading Themes easy.
And finding additional walpapers.
And installing Chrome, Vivaldi or another 8 desired browsers.
It gives you directions & link to Ubuntu MATE discord server.
IMHO it is the coolest `Welcome` app I saw.
Besides that Ubuntu MATE gives you `software boutique`, which is very cool easy to use AppStore which is very fast and stable
(yes I am looking to you Gnome Software & KDE Discover you both are slow and unstable).
More importantly `software boutique` search is faaast. (which is not the case with KDE Discover & Gnome Software)
And the `software boutique` has hand picked list of the best apps with SCREENSHOTS and good description, so if you are new to linux, you can easily install the best tool without googling.
Compared to other distros which package MATE, `ubuntu MATE` polished the deskop very good, it has nice light/dark themes and all the widgets are configured nicely, so the distro is same level as (Linux Mint MATE), but has the advantage of having newer software than (Linux Mint MATE).
Other distros package MATE little bit worser, so you are looking at probably the best (IMHO) or 2nd best (Linux Mint MATE) MATE experience.
Pros:
- fast distro
- lightweight distro
- easy to use
- beginner friendly
- nice themes
- software released once in 6 month BUT STILL VERY STABLE
- ubuntu based
cons:
- Everything related to keyboard layouts is horrible.
If you install more than one layout, Ubuntu mate will not have a keyboard combo to switch layouts by default.
(GNOME for example sets + explicitly for you.
Also you cannot add more than 4 layouts (GNOME for example can add unlimited number for you).
And if you have 3 or 4 layouts it is horrible to manage them, cause usually you work only with 2 layouts at a time, and rarely switch to 3rd or 4th.
So it would be nice layout switcher to work as + so that you switch to previously used layout if you press + once, and to switch to next layout if you press + 2nd, 3rd time and so on.
It is how GNOME works now (which is cool, and which is why it is manageable to have a lot of layouts in GNOME)
So until this is fixed MATE it is not the best tool for translators and polyglots and people who live in countries with 3 or more languages in use.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 20.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-03-12
Votes: 9
|
I don't like distro hopping, but still get curious about what's out there. Mostly I just need to get to work and my primary apps are Libre Office (which I have used for years, love it) and Firefox, and Brave. Mate stays out of the way and the Ubuntu backing keeps it stable. I know there are great distros for power users, but if you just need to settle in and work and don't require anything fancy, Mate gets you there. It's interface is easy and file system works well. You also have access to numerous software that's super easy to install.
I've had my wife using it for years, she doesn't know the difference between Windows Mac or linux; she has gotten used to flying arougn and creating her own unique way of doing things on Mate.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.10
Rating: 3
Date: 2022-11-28
Votes: 0
|
First of all, Ubuntu Mate messes up your boot sequence when you install it. It would not let me re-access my dual ports, so I could not return after trying mate. I end up deleting my partitions accidently trying to rid myself of this awful os. The ui is outdated and very limited. The docking system was limited and I could not figure out how to just have a bottom dock without all the extra crap on it. Mate feels like windows with all the forced apps. The Software Boutique was trash and didn't offer much in apps. The funny part is that they actually ask for donations for something as awful as this. The experience with this os makes me not want to try another Linux flavor. Ill just stay with the trusted ubuntu regular.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-11-05
Votes: 15
|
Ubuntu Mate feels like very dated desktop in terms of apparence, not going to lie about that, however aside from that dated look that can easily be fixed with themes (GTK2/GTK3) I must say the biggest advantage overall is how effective and eficient is, everything is quick, responsive and intuitive, I started using Linux recently with Gnome 40 and Cinnamon and it was really easy to adapt
I love the Mate layout switcher, I tried Cupertino (because of the global menu) and Unity and so far everything has been great, I recommend Ubuntu Mate to anyone and not solely the old school Gnome 2 fans from back in the day, it is a productive DE and Ubuntu flavour, also it has flatpak by default so it is a plus if you don't like snaps
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.10
Rating: 8
Date: 2022-10-30
Votes: 1
|
Please substitute the Software Boutique, its just horrible, offering almost nothing to install. Neither Snap nor Flatpack. Everything else greatly appreciated like Muon, Discover or even Synaptic beats this out of box-experience with the Software Boutique!
Please swap Software Center to something reliable! That`s why the distro is underestimated in comparison to Linux Mint with Mate! Here some users would immediatelly be addicted to!
The Look & Feel is great, but there are little bugs with Plank, Brisk and Nemo.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.10
Rating: 3
Date: 2022-10-22
Votes: 8
|
Installed Ubuntu Mate 22.10 on a spare laptop today and after 2 hours, reloaded Debian. The brisk menu would remove itself from the panel after every reboot. This happened 4 times so it wasn't just a fluke even though everything else seemed to work fine. Version 22.04 seemed to work ok so I'm not sure about this bug. To bad cause I was really looking forward to this new version and what it could offer with updates. Ubuntu Mate has always been a solid performer until now so maybe I'll try it again after they fix the bugs . . .
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2022-09-02
Votes: 4
|
Just a couple of points regarding 22.04:
1. Removal of grub-customizer from 22.04 is a death note for 22.04 for ZFS root users. Sometimes upgrading the kernel, the zfs-dkms doesn't automatically build or upgrade, requiring a maual upgrade of zfs-dkms. In 20.04, I would use grub-customizer to then put the zfs root entries on top for booting directly into the new kernel. I know 22.04 now has grub-customizer as a third party repo pkg now, still a hassle because you need to add-apt-repostitory
2. Snap is a disaster. Snapped up programs are slow, it is good for embedded ARM kiosks, oh well
3. Only nvidia cuda 11.7 and above support 22.04, that means for some tensorflow and pytorch versions requiring older cuda versions, you need to do the thing in docker instead of native. Kepler K80 support is also dropped in 11.7.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-08-31
Votes: 7
|
While I didn't use Ubuntu back in the GNOME 2 days, I do remember wanting to use it on my PC, and when I did switch to Linux I was surprised how different the vanilla Ubuntu was compared to what I remembered from the 2000s
Later I discovered Ubuntu Mate and a huge amount of memories came through my mind, I always have thought that Kubuntu and Ubuntu Mate are probably the best flavours of Ubuntu however for different reasons, despite how different Ubuntu Mate is compared to regular Ubuntu I would argue that the user experience is way more user friendly (and hardware friendly too) for a first time Linux user and still provides a good experience for advanced users
Ubuntu Mate biggest strength is that is the only Ubuntu flavour with flatpak support out of the box, and that Mate as a whole is a very stable DE, while subjective I would argue this is a trade off from the "eye candy" some people like (including myself) due Mate outdated 2000s look, luckily it is very customizable and if you don't like the default look you can easily install themes (something that regular Ubuntu Gnome has been criticized in the past) and make it look more modern and more "yours" in a way
Overall I do recommend Ubuntu Mate, outdated look aside it is still one of the most efficient and customizable DE out there while still being a user friendly and hardware friendly distro.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2022-08-26
Votes: 21
|
Upgrading to 22.04lts from 20.04lts was disappointing.
I have used Ubuntu mate for years with satisfaction. I have, or should I say, I had appreciated this distro.
Several days ago just after the official announcement of upgrading, I tried it for my PCs.
For just one PC this upgrading was successful, while for the others (3 PCs) it was very disappointing.
On a PC (desktop type) I found some troubles such as * Welcome & Software boutique never appear etc.
On other PCs (portable ones of the same type) Virtual Box don't work as it did without problems.
So I downgraded these portable PCs to 20.04lts. I will continue to stay with 20.04lts for these machines for some time (I don't know how long it will be.)
I wish that the announcement of upgrading this time would have been done when the new version proved to work without so many bugs.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 3
Date: 2022-08-25
Votes: 1
|
Installed 22.04 in Virtualbox to have a look what has changed. I'm still using happily UM 20.04.
I noticed they have given up the Mate menu, which is a no-go for me. The Brisk menu is not only ugly but also unusable, and one wonders why they removed the menu that comes with Mate from the package. Installing Mate menu manually is too uncertain for me looking forward.
Vivaldi is also no longer added to the Software Boutique and was replaced by Edge, but who wants to use a Microsoft browser?
Offering Snap software is really annoying as each of the packages takes an incredible amount of space.
UM 20.04 will be my last version, which is a shame. It used to be one of the best 3 years ago. I will use LM Mate instead, which does the job. Yes, Scite as Snap will not be used but directly installed. I had never thought that it is possible to turn a simple editor like Scite into a 3GB program.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-08-20
Votes: 1
|
i upgraded from 20.04 to 20.10 to 21.04 to 21.10 and recently to 22.04. Everything works. Firefox works, caja works, I can do everything. The snap is not causing any problems for me. Maybe upgrading all along the way, is the difference. No data lost or corrupted. No hiccups streaming. Only one internal error notification during the first week. Since then, running smooth.
The only negative difference, is the virtual machine running in qemu. It boots up slower. I assume it could be qemu needing to integrate better with the newer version of ubuntu Mate.
The chromium browser is also in snap. No problem there either.
My wife likes using my computer better than her Windows 11 computer. She loves all the custom scripts I wrote in Python. Ubutnu Mate fits Python like a glove.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-08-20
Votes: 3
|
Until finding Ubuntu MATE, I was a distro hopper for a long time (with it being noted that the amount of distros I've tried across many desktop environments being exceptionally big)
I started using Ubuntu MATE after switching from numerous Xfce-Based distros which for some reason were much slower than MATE (either that or their next release wasn't as good as the predecessor). Also what seemed to be contrary to my own belief (I may be wrong), is that Ubuntu MATE performed faster than most Xfce Distros I have used. My belief is that MATE more resource hungry than Xfce, but just barely more demanding.
I was blown away in comparison to what I had used before. It's very stable and elegant while retaining the resemblance to Windows OS so you don't need to sacrifice your current familiarity with the desktop layout; its very beginner friendly. Its Software Boutique is a nice collection of software for everyone and it includes essential downloadable software and additional software for anyone (although for more software flexibility I would download GNOME Software or Appgrid, etc...)
I've got Ubuntu MATE running on a small form factor PC with 8GB RAM, 500GB SATA SSD, and Intel J4125 @ 2-2.7GHZ, no fuss.
It's got everything a Linux distribution needs: stability, elegance, support (quite a bit!), and fast performance. The future of this Linux distro seems bright to me!
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 5
Date: 2022-08-20
Votes: 5
|
I tried upgrading from 20.04 and found that among other things, the new Ubuntu MATE 22.04 tries to force you to use the snap version of Firefox, which doesn't integrate properly with the file manager Caja. For my use case this is simply unacceptable and I had to find a work around on line. (purging the snap and connecting directly to the Mozilla ppa)
I've been a very happy MATE user for years. The 20.04 version was truly excellent, but this latest upgrade has no benefit and a bunch of new annoying bugs.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-06-22
Votes: 22
|
Like the commenter below I've tried dozens of distros but this is the one I've kept.
Ubuntu gets a lot of hate but for us non-tech people it's the easiest to install, run, update, find software for, you name it.
Ubuntu MATE has a few other handy tools as well - you can change the desktop look with a click, the updater tool is great (even between LTS versions) the software boutique is also easy install of various things, and there's also Synaptic there for other stuff.
To me, it just works. I also have no problem with Snaps - apart from Firefox I have another one on this laptop and they run fine and update in the background to save me worrying about that. I love that I can have a stable system in the background but also the latest software for other things I choose to install (and I find that Snaps run much better for me than Flatpaks or AppImages).
I don't care about loading times because once they're up they're up, and if I close and re-open it's instant - anyway the Firefox snap loaded quicker than Brave installed from its repository, so make of that what you will.
I get that geeks won't like any of the above (hey I don't even care about systemd or non-systemd, makes no difference to me), but I'm just a normal user who wants and needs something that works and doesn't give me a headache - I'm not interested in tinkering and if something goes wrong I can find a solution pretty quickly thanks to Ubuntu's popularity.
For that, Ubuntu MATE is perfect. Thanks Martin, and all the others who make it that way.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-06-05
Votes: 1
|
I was a Lubuntu user until they dropped LXDE. To me, that was it. I had to find another linux distro.
After trying hundreds of distros I decided to try all the distros that had MATE as option.
After trying them all I decided to install Ubuntu Mate.
The Arch alternatives were annoying, full of things to customize and etc...
At the end I was left with two options. Linux Mint Mate and Ubuntu Mate.
The Mint option was heavier so I decided to go for Ubuntu Mate. Everything worked out of the box and thats what I wanted. Having the things perfect and ready. The repos are nice, I have synaptic .
The only thing I miss is .....Guayadeque Music Player . I dont understand why I dont find it in the repos or in the software app or at synaptic. Its a bit annoying and frustrating. That is why I give Ubuntu Mate a 9 out of 10.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-06-04
Votes: 3
|
l tend to distro hop regularly, always trying the latest versions or downloading new distros out of curiosity to try, but my fall back distro for every day has been Ubuntu Mate ever since Vivid. A couple of things have always been consistent with it, firstly it would crash when l first attempted to use Tweak, and secondly it had Etcher in the Software Boutique which never downloaded, at least for me. l see that Etcher is still in Boutique, but at least it has a warning now that it is unsupported, to be fair the stock usb formatting and iso writing is perfectly acceptable unless you require persistence, which l don't normally.
The install went as normal, no issues, and surprise, Mate Tweak worked without crashing, set up my usual Pantheon desktop, l think l read somewhere that the team were aware of an issue and this version should fix it so kudos to them. l was interested to see that Firefox is now installed as a snap package, for some reason it took appreciably longer to load, but it did have a nice feature of putting Facebook in a container for privacy.
The one niggle for me in this version is something l have never come across before in any version of any distro l have tried, if l have two fingers on the touch pad of my laptop and have the cursor on the right side of a loaded page for scrolling up and down, the screen flashes erratically on and off until l move the cursor away from the edge, nothing in the touchpad and mouse settings helped so l used synaptic package manager to load a couple of alternative desktops to see if it was a bug with Mate or maybe an underlying conflict but had the same result, so l think l will do a fresh download and clean install., think l might give Elementary 7 a spin when it drops as well.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-05-13
Votes: 5
|
The raspberry pi version is awesome. I'm using it to build a nextcloud server and it works perfectly. The GUI is well designed and the system is lightweight. It provides a lot of tools out of the box and the settings is way easier to change than on the official raspian os.
Although it was meant to be a Nextcloud server, I usually attach a monitor to the Pi and I can use it as a desktop.
I would recommend ubuntu mate to anyone, who would like to test or start a new project on the raspberry pi. Especially if you have the pi 4
I hope we can get the 22.04 soon.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-04-24
Votes: 4
|
Just installed, I come from 9 years of Fedora with Openbox and I'm surprised that in 10 minutes I installed the distro against at least 1 hour of Fedora. Beautiful, fast and for now stable, I had only one problem in the customizations sw (Software Boutique) with the installation of Tor browser that once installed does not seem to work,
but I think to solve it in the next days. Once copied the data also the customizations are fast for the clear organization of the menus. It's the first time I use Mate but I didn't think it was so responsive coming from Openbox and since I wanted to limit the manual customizations on the menus etc. I decided to switch to a distro on which I don't have to intervene at system level. The alternative for me was to switch to XFCE but I don't particularly like its look and feel so here I am in Mate and Ubuntu.
Also Caja File Manager I found very interesting, I did not know it usually using Thunar or lately PCManFM.
Overall it seems to me a distro very accurate in the details and this is an indication of a support group of great quality which is important to have fewer problems as possible :-)
Great distro!
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04-beta
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-04-21
Votes: 6
|
The best alternative to the traditional Ubuntu Gnome is the Official Canonical Ubuntu Mate flavor. It is light, stable and robust. I have version 20.04 LTS on 3 computers alongside Windows.
To try, I installed the new version 22.04 LTS Beta on an old PC without Efi, 3.6 ghz processor and 4 G ram. Installation was seamless dualboot with Windows. And on the other PC I upgraded over version 20.04. And everything went well, although the new version still needs some fixes.
I just can't understand why Canonical and Mate are summarizing the colors of the themes, only white and dark mode. This is very bad for eyesight. The colorful themes from version 20.04 look great in the new version.
I recommend everyone to try Ubuntu Mate and they will be amazed.
Thanks to Canonical and the Ubuntu Mate Developer Team for providing us with these great Systems.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-04-13
Votes: 2
|
I am currently running Ubuntu MATE 21.10, on a 2014 Macbook Pro, 16 GB memory, Intel quad-core 8-thread CPU, a 1TB NVME drive (with adapter, since Apple HW uses non-standard SSD interface). MATE is very responsive and there are very few issues. I do have to build the video-camera driver with Apple firmware, and I also build a TpLink wireless USB-3 dongle driver, since the Apple MBP Broadcom wifi is old, slow for X11 over SSH and not well-supported in general. Annoying a bit, and I need to learn how to use DKMS, for auto-builds of these, on Ubuntu kernel updates.
Ubuntu MATE for me, has been very stable, fast and very usable as a "daily driver" Ubuntu for a SW developer, with very acceptable "desktop GUI overhead". I can hardly wait for the next LTS, with a reportedly much improved MATE desktop version.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 22.04-beta
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-04-02
Votes: 9
|
Ubuntu Mate has all the advantages of Ubuntu (stability, repositories, codecs...) but without being so heavy for my old intel Celeron. The interface is modern (unlike Xubuntu or Lubuntu), fast, the panel can be configured to take on different looks. The beta version has some small bugs but I have already installed it as my fixed operating system, I was looking forward to Ubuntu Mate 22.04 coming out. I recommend it for everyone who wants the benefits of Ubuntu but wants something "lighter" for their computer. For me, it's better than Xubuntu and Lubuntu, and works quite well on my 2015 Celeron.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-03-12
Votes: 10
|
I run Ubuntu Mate on a couple different laptops
and I must say I'm really pleased with it.
I'll often use it in a live version as well to test out computers.
Being Ubuntu based means it's solid.
There are some things that aren't to my liking but, there's always
something we don't care for.
Just poke around, make changes, and set it to the way you want it.
You can add or remove things to suit your needs as there are many customization's at your fingertips.
Simply put, Ubuntu Mate is easy to use.
Plus there's lots of friendly help available if and when you need it.
Being low on resource usage allows it to run well on older and lower powered computers too.
Give it a try, you may be pleasantly surprised.
If you don't like it you won't be forced to keep it, just move on to something else.
But you may also find that Ubuntu Mate is your new best distro.
Ubuntu Mate is solid, friendly, easy to use, easy to customize, low on resource usage and Ubuntu has a large and very helpful community.
Thanks to all that make this possible!
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-01-21
Votes: 7
|
Overall, Ubuntu MATE is my favourite linux distro.
PROS:
simple
clean
flexible DE
many apps in repository
regularly updated
good community
CONS:
some errors may occur
repository is, sometimes, unavailable
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 1
Date: 2022-01-16
Votes: 0
|
This is a pretty big disappointment, which doesn’t surprise me with the *ubuntu distros these days. My problems are that mate on here has been sluggish for a while and has some outstanding bugs that are yet to be fixed. With the distros *ubuntu, I mean like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc.- the Ubuntu family desktop alternatives, they do have the Ubuntu parent distro spyware built into it, they are pretty resource intensive and a bit sluggish- basically nothing has really changed here since the Ubuntu family desktop alternatives all adopted the spyware from Amazon into their distros without any care for the users, other Ubuntu derived distros have not adopted Ubuntu’s spyware. Overall, it is a sad state of affairs with the Ubuntu family desktop alternatives, but it’s good there are Ubuntu based distros out there that refuse to keep everything Ubuntu pushes with no reason for the users and which become increasingly more user-unfriendly and resource intensive. It makes no sense.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-01-16
Votes: 6
|
At last, I believe I found the perfect OS for me: it gets the job done for a working machine like me!
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-12-30
Votes: 13
|
Nice to see my beloved GNOME 2! I found this distro complete of everything needed for home use (firefox, thunderbird, qmmp, brasero, gimp, eom, atril, engrampa, pluma, libreoffice, ...) and also development (I am a .NET developer using MS repositories for .NET/ASP.NET stack and VS Code). The ability to choose between different panel layouts is wonderful.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-11-28
Votes: 0
|
Slow, the mate desktop environment here is filled with applications that I won’t need or use, and that slows down getting anything done. Removal of the programs I don’t want seems to work, but when I restart my computer and I’m back at the desktop, none of the changes were saved. I’m not wasting anymore time here. I recommend Linux Mint Mate over this one.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-11-21
Votes: 13
|
Honestly, I was never too interested in the MATE desktop, as I thought it wasn't very well supported nor popular at all. After reading a bit about how the MATE desktop actually beat its competition with regards to power efficiency, I just had to give it a try... and it completely won me over! As of now, I'm convinced that the MATE desktop is the best desktop there is for Linux. It is the only one stable and fast enough to provide a pleasurable experience. And what's more, you don't have to install plugins in order to make it work like you expect a desktop to work! Simply excellent. At this moment, the latest Ubuntu LTS release has also reached a point of maturity, so it's perfectly usable without noticeable problems. I'm really wondering why Ubuntu doesn't have this as their default desktop. But at least Ubuntu MATE is a part of the official family or whatever. I'm just glad I can have a functional system even today, and I don't need to look back to how good things used be ten years ago. Amen.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 5
Date: 2021-11-18
Votes: 0
|
Let me prefix this by saying that I think ubuntu MATE is the most important distro for MATE longevity and development and it looks by far the best out of them and I want to love it.
So with that in mind it's sad that there seem to be so many problems with it. Let's go over some of them:
First boot after fresh installation would never reach the login screen, ok why?
Turns out lightdm is somehow messed up. Ok TTY works, let's do initial update & upgrade and afterwards apt remove lightdm followed by autoremove and reinstall it. Well hold up, autoremove also removes nvidia drivers and their dependencies right away. Starting to think wtf, but ok let's boot now despite knowing we'll need to come to TTY again since we probably pulled in some new stuff with the upgrade.
Boot back to TTY and install nvidia drivers. Reboot and everything works as I expected.
Running out of characters but add on to this the fact pulseaudio crashes/has a problem upon most boots and the fact mate-netbook and/or mate-netbook common causes firefox to have double header bar and transparent ghost padding on tiled mode, I sadly cannot recommend this distro atm.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-11-17
Votes: 0
|
Installed Ubuntu Mate on a Desktop Itel 64-bit old PC and a new Raspberry Pi 4 8GB 64-bit ARM mini PC - Ubuntu Mate is the King!
Fast. Very Sable. Tons of software. Light. Easy to use. UI is the best in the Linux world.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-10-25
Votes: 0
|
I decided to try Ubuntu MATE in a VM and I really like the direction of the desktop. I personally use Fedora with GNOME 40 and prefer a more modern GNOME experience (GNOME 3.36+) however I tried Ubuntu MATE 21.10 and was astounded by the default configuration options. For a beginner there are a lot of options and the distro is easy enough to get a hang of. I would recommend this to beginners with the likes of Pop!_OS and Ubuntu.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-10-25
Votes: 3
|
Pros
- still one of the best and easy distributions to setup and use
- new theming is excellent
- light on resources
- good choice of sofetware
- works on most hardware
- tweak it just the way you like
Cons
- there might be one that I am yet to find?
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 6
Date: 2021-10-19
Votes: 1
|
MATE is one of my favorite DE's. In the past, Ubuntu has been one of the best MATE experiences for me. 21.10 seems to a good update except for it's compatability with DEB packages. There are 2 to 3 must-have applications for me that are not available through Ubuntu repositories, but are available as DEB packages. 21.10 MATE encountered errors while trying to install them - even after 3 or 4 tries and reboots. I then installed Sparky Linux (stable), and the DEB packages installed perfectly. Hopefully this will be fixed in future updates of Ubuntu Mate.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.10
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-10-14
Votes: 5
|
Outstanding distribution with a simple to grasp desktop that you can customize. You have several layouts to pick from making the set-up that much easier. From a new Linux user to seasoned power user, this distribution is the best implementation of Mate. The next best best version is the community edition of Manjaro Mate but Ubuntu Mate is superior to it and Linux Mint Mate too. With Ubuntu Mate everything works right, extremely useable, fast, and reliable. Ubuntu Mate should be the flagship of the various Ubuntu flavors. It is uncluttered yet extremely customizable.Kudos to the developers!
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 20.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-10-12
Votes: 3
|
Fast. Polished. Stable. I'm a long term linux user but because of necessity to use windows for trading apps I stayed on win. When win became unusable cause everyday blue screens I formatted all and installed ubuntu mate. I've been able to use my trading apps (tradingview and ctrader werb) using the web versions and using playonlinux I've been able to completely use metatrader 4 without issues. Using steam I've been able to use also my preferred videogames. Thanks to the predefined utilities in ubuntu mate I've been able to install nvidia drivers and vulkan so I'm able also to play flawlessly War Thunder that I's an heavy weight game for video cards ... Now I'm completely independent from windows and happy to not depend on his terrible blue screens ... I'm in general an addict of debian and his derivatives so I like much also sparky linux wich is rock solid and fast and an easier way to use debian. But ubuntu mate is more eyes appealing ... so ... long live to debian and his derivatives.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 20.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-10-07
Votes: 2
|
Assuming you stick to a LTS (Long Term Support), it's unbreakable!
I hate snaps though, sadly Ubuntu is forcing those monsters nowadays
So I don't install anymore an application from the software center
Having said that, MATE desktop gives a lot of options and is extremely efficient!
I strongly recommend this distro, especially for beginners
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.04
Rating: 7
Date: 2021-09-30
Votes: 5
|
Love the desktop, but the stability issues kill the experience of using this distribution. While at first everything works fine, with any amount of tweaking (changing the layout to one of the provided layouts ie 'redmond, cupertino etc') or adding/moving things on the panel, I get major crashes with most elements of the UI. This includes the menu in the panel crashing when trying to edit the layout, indicator elements in the panel crashing unexpectedly (wifi/time/power indicators) which is a big issue for me.
Additionally, some applications including Gdebbi (Debian package installer GUI) crash on startup, with no fixes as of yet.
Unfortunately too buggy to be usable in my case, hoping to see improvements with the next version.
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-09-24
Votes: 5
|
I have been using Ubuntu Mate as my daily driver on multiple older laptops as well as the Raspberry Pi version on my pi's. The distro is fast and lightweight even on older hardware, it is also super stable and I never have crashes. The MATE desktop also looks great and is nicely refined, elegant and super simple to select reconfigured layouts. My favourite layout is the Cupertino layout, similar to MAC OS, this layout works brilliantly, is fast, productive, looks elegant and just stays out your way to get your job done. Great Job Guys!
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 20.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-09-16
Votes: 4
|
This is by far the best distro based on ubuntu. Best DE. Everything Works. You can change between plenty of layouts according to your taste. Must try. Better than Linux MInt Mate
|
Project: Ubuntu MATE
Version: 21.04
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-09-08
Votes: 1
|
Comes packaged with g++ but not the commands java and javac for compiling java fail out-of-box. Other than that I really like seeing MATE's gnome 2 throwback coupled with Ubuntu.
|
|
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx 
lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr 
86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le 