Mate Linux Desktop : When the Past Meets the Future!

Mate is a new (it's a bit old by now) desktop environment for Linux like Gnome, KDE, XFCE, Unity or LXDE. It looks and works almost the same as Gnome version 2.x because it was created to continue the Gnome 2 legacy. After the arrival of Gnome version 3, its traditional design and functionality was largely modified (some people like to say "enhanced" instead). However, it fell to the same treatment as Unity desktop -- thrown straight out of the window in rage and frustration!! :D

While that being an exaggeration (if you haven't already guessed) it is still true that the over-bloated design and resource demands of Gnome 3 did frustrate many people with older hardware. It is funny that even with newer graphical acceleration this resource-monster will lag your screen animations, etc., now and again. While not as buggy and crashing as Unity, Gnome 3 still does not fit into the heads of many.

Thus was born Mate! (wow! what an intro! :D)

Mate was created by the "loyalists" of Gnome 2 desktop. The goal was a simple, less resource consuming, useful, fast and no-bullsh!t desktop environment for today's GNU/Linux. It should be compatible with newer Gnome 3 applications while yet fully run old Gnome applications. And it should also look like old Gnome so much so that you may not even guess that you are not using Gnome 2.x! ;)

Mate too has the same panels with lots of useful extensions and widgets. It has in fact improved over some legacy desktop problems. Mate is available for all Linux distros AFAIK but if you are using Ubuntu then you may install Mate by using the following steps:

To install Mate desktop in Ubuntu/Linux Mint open Terminal (Press Ctrl+Alt+T) and add relevant repository to Terminal then scroll down for install commands:

Ubuntu 13.04 Raringsudo add-apt-repository "deb http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/ubuntu raring main"

Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal/Linux Mint 14sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/ubuntu quantal main"

Ubuntu 12.04 Precise/Linux Mint 13sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/ubuntu precise main"

Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric/Linux Mint 12sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/ubuntu oneiric main"

After adding repository, Use following commands to install Mate Desktop:sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mate-archive-keyring
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mate-core mate-desktop-environment

And now for a Short Review:

Good Qualities
» Very very fast!
» Brings back old memories
» Runs superfast on old hardware
» With new themes can be customized with cool looks
» Get your system tray back!
» Top and Bottom panel pair

Bad Qualities
» Several well-known bugs like default applications changing related, theme coloring problem, application crash (very rare) and yet to patch several compatibilities with new and old Gnome versions
» Not visually as "cool" as some other modern desktop environments

The Tech Veda recommends Mate Desktop to all its readers who are Linux users :)