Ubuntu MATE is a stable, easy-to-use operating system with a configurable desktop environment. It is ideal for those who want the most out of their computers and prefer a traditional desktop metaphor. With modest hardware requirements, it is suitable for modern desktops and laptops, micro computers (such as the Raspberry Pi 2) and older hardware alike.

Objectives

Ubuntu MATE has a number of guiding objectives and goals:

  • Accessible to all, regardless of language and physical ability.
  • Increase both Ubuntu and MATE Desktop user adoption.
  • Ubuntu alternative for computers that aren't powerful enough to run a composited desktop.
  • First choice Ubuntu platform for remote workstation solutions such as LTSP and X2Go.
  • Recreate the halcyon days of Ubuntu for users who prefer a traditional desktop metaphor.
  • Use themes and artwork similar to Ubuntu so that Ubuntu MATE is immediately familiar.
  • When possible contribute to Debian so both the Debian and Ubuntu communities benefit.
  • Software selection will favour functionality and stability over lightness and whimsy.

What is Ubuntu MATE?

If you are new to Ubuntu MATE, or only casually acquainted with Linux based distributions, it can be difficult to understand how a Linux operating system compares with other computer systems that you may already be familiar with. Hopefully this page with help demystify Ubuntu MATE for new-comers.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is one of, if not the, largest deployed Linux based desktop operating systems in the world. Linux is at the heart of Ubuntu and makes it possible to create secure, powerful and versatile operating systems, such as Ubuntu and Android. Android is now in the hands of billions of people around the world and it's also powered by Linux.

Ubuntu is available in a number of different flavours, each coming with its own desktop environment. Ubuntu MATE takes the Ubuntu base operating system and adds the MATE Desktop.

MATE Desktop

Wikipedia says that a Desktop Environment is:

an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system, which share a common graphical user interface (GUI). Desktop GUIs help the user to easily access and edit files.

MATE Desktop

The MATE Desktop is one such implementation of a desktop environment and includes a file manager which can connect you to your local and networked files, a text editor, calculator, archive manager, image viewer, document viewer, system monitor and terminal. All of which are highly customisable and managed via a control centre.

MATE Desktop provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors, which means if you've ever used Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac OS, it will feel very familiar.

The MATE Desktop has a rich history and is the continuation of the GNOME2 desktop, which was the default desktop environment on many Linux and Unix operating systems for over a decade. This means that MATE Desktop is tried, tested and very reliable.

Open Source

Open Source Initiative

What Linux, Ubuntu and MATE Desktop all have in common is they are Open Source. Open source software is software that can be freely used, changed, and shared (in modified or unmodified form) by anyone.

In a nutshell Ubuntu MATE is free, in the truest sense of the word.