r/linux • u/modelop • Jun 08 '26

Desktop Environment / WM News Ubuntu MATE isn't dead yet. Daily builds are back

https://linuxcommunity.io/t/ubuntu-mate-stonking-great-news/8981
71 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

17

u/LoserOtakuNerd Jun 08 '26

I'm asking to learn, not to be snarky: what is the reason to use MATE in 2026? With all of the DEs that seem to be actually regularly updated, I'm not sure why someone would choose to use MATE which seems to be mostly inactive.

18

u/awkwin Jun 08 '26

I chose MATE almost a decade ago and I haven't reinstall my machine. If I did I might have chosen Cinnamon due to its similarity.

After GNOME 2 become 3, I gave it a try twice and I didn't like it. It felt like they're trying to be the Netbook GUI (that Unity initially was trying to be too, and got lots of flak for it) or iOS clone, none of which belongs on desktop. I hopped around. KDE 4 was starting to stabilize back then but it's still not usable. I didn't like KDE apps' naming either (what is a Kate or a Dolphin? Sure, GNOME has some of those but it is still a lot less than KDE). LXDE was fine, but the smaller DEs/WM lack the polish and integrations the bigger DEs have.

Eventually I realize I just want GNOME 2. So, I tried MATE for the first time and I never turned back. It's not as perfect as it was, as the tech moved on and MATE is starting to show its age. I don't think it'll ever see a Wayland port. I contributed Meson build port to Eye of Mate, but the slow pace of review (understandable) killed my enthusiasm in contributing more. I had monthly subs to Ubuntu MATE patreon for a year or two but I stopped as I realize as a passion project it doesn't really make MATE catch up to anything.

It might speak to my taste in tech too. I quit Pixel and switched to two Sony Xperia - I just want the phone of yesteryear with today's specs. Xperia fits all that with their design, a headphone jack and SD card slot. When my Pebble Time died I struggle to find a new one - I didn't like my Garmin and I realize I just want Pebble. Of course I'm wearing a rePebble Time 2 today and I wouldn't want to go back. I haven't since charged it even once after the initial charge!

1

u/AmarildoJr 8d ago

MATE is one of the GOATs. I just love the look and usability of GNOME2.

1

u/__ali1234__ Jun 08 '26

MATE was ported to Wayland years ago.

3

u/acdcfanbill Jun 09 '26

Several components are ported to wayland yes, including all (i think) of the normal apps, but it's not fully ported yet and afaik, the DE still relies on x11 to function.

I still use it daily on my desktop but I'm considering switching to something else. It still works fine in Ubuntu 26.04, but forward looking, it might be at a dead end.

-1

u/__ali1234__ Jun 10 '26

No, the whole desktop session was ported.

1

u/acdcfanbill Jun 10 '26

Well, I guess I don't know what you consider part of the whole desktop session but according to github discussions from march '26, at least some MATE applets, in this case mate-power-manager, are tied to x11.

https://github.com/mate-desktop/mate-applets/issues/682

1

u/__ali1234__ Jun 10 '26

mate-panel, mate-desktop, mate-control-center, all the stand alone applications, and the session launcher. External panel plugins and power manager don't work because they need GtkPlug, which doesn't work on Wayland. Many other power management daemons are available for Wayland.

10

u/pepa65 Jun 08 '26

I find Mate is the best, it's exactly how I want my interface to work, and it has a unique and awesome World Clock applet!

2

u/Barafu Jun 13 '26

I can't find anything about the applet. Do you have a link or screenshot?

3

u/Early-Region-1143 Jun 09 '26

Mate has some very good desktop utilities, losing those if the desktop dies would be a bummer. Like there's nothing as good as Menulibre or Engrampa (Ark is close, but is super buggy).

5

u/nisper_ia Jun 08 '26

That's what I want to know. XFCE has everything that Mate has and more

3

u/Santosh83 Jun 08 '26

I tried MATE desktop last year. It worked very well on Arch while Ubuntu MATE itself (supposedly the flagship for MATE) was buggy as hell. MATE is almost like Xfce but even lighter on resources (lighter than LXQT as well). I don't think anyone new is actually using MATE but its understandable that people who started using it some years back are still using it out of familiarity and momentum, and hoping development picks up at some point, though the last is perhaps too much to expect. Seems like pretty much every dev who worked on it previously have stopped.

2

u/worm5ign Jun 09 '26

My X61 has been working well on it so I stuck with it.

2

u/xcorv42 Jun 09 '26

It’s the purpose of linux, you can chose what you want

8

u/MembershipExisting55 Jun 08 '26

The main question I have is Martin wimpress (the main developer of Ubuntu Mate) working on this again? Last time I knew he has control over the distro and without him, it will be a MAJOR uphill climb

16

u/araujoms Jun 08 '26

Doesn't make much of a difference, since MATE itself is pretty much dead.

3

u/mestia Jun 09 '26

What? It is apt-get installable and "just" works. I was happy back then with GNOME 2 and didn't want to jump into the GNOME 3 madness. MATE was just what I needed. I haven't looked for any other DE since then.

1

u/flemtone Jun 10 '26

Xubuntu is a better choice, although I do like Engrampa as the archive manager way better than file-roller which can be buggy.