In a previous article I talked about replacing Unity with MATE on Ubuntu 12.04. It is working out very well for me but I still feel like there is more that can be done. Too many resources are being spent for things that got left over from Unity and it is bugging me.

Minimal Ubuntu Install

First things first, we need to do a minimal install of Ubuntu. You have two options here:

• You can use the netboot disc. When prompted later in the installation do not install any of the pre-configured setups as we will install the packages we need later.
• You can use the alternative disc. When the disc first boots just press F4 Mode and select “Install a command-line system“.

I like the netboot option best because it downloads all the latest packages during install so there is less mess. I have also had random problems with it not being able to find some packages since Ubutnu 12.04 was released. If that happens the alternative disc works just as well and will be faster since it has all its packages on the disc. It really does not matter which you choose for our purposes.

Both support encryption and both support RAID so feel free to use those if you like. I will not be covering them or the rest of the installation in this article.

Install MATE

Since everything here requires root just do an sudo -i first. Remember to log out of root (Ctrl-D) before starting MATE. Would be a good idea to do an apt-get update && apt-get upgrade before, too.

First we need to add the MATE repositories. Using nano add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/ubuntu precise main
deb-src http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/ubuntu precise main

Next we need to install the packages (you can answer the hddtemp question however you like when it comes up):

apt-get update
apt-get install -y --force-yes mate-archive-keyring mate-desktop-environment xinit
apt-get update
reboot

Now all you need to do is login, type startx, and you are done! … sort of… if you are happy with the way things are you may now go away.

Results

You now have an fast and low-resource traditional desktop at your finger tips with the stability of Linux and all the packages Ubuntu has to offer. I am so proud of you.

On my dinky little Atom-based netbook, with MATE running, this setup eats virtually 0% CPU and ~150MB of memory. Disk usage sits at ~1.7GB which is a little higher than I would like but storage is cheap so I am not too worried about it (probably all the xinit dependencies). Boot time is in the mid-single digits and that is on a 5,400 RPM disk. I imagine a decent USB stick will be very similar but I have yet to test that.

I am very happy with all this. Of course you, dear reader, are not so you will continue reading… blood from a stone, Internet Person…

MATE Extras

As of right now your menus are looking pretty bare and your audio might not work. By virtue of what I set out to accomplish there is very little installed. Here are some packages that may prove very helpful:

apt-get install zram-config preload synaptic gparted brasero mate-media-pulse mate-settings-daemon-pulse mate-bluetooth bluez-cups cups cups-pdf system-config-printer-gnome mate-conf-editor wine libreoffice libreoffice-pdfimport firefox pidgin thunderbird xul-ext-lightning vlc gimp gimp-data-extras jockey-gtk usb-creator-gtk network-manager-gnome

I am sure you will want to install a hell of a lot more but I will leave that up to you. You may want to install less, in which case do an aptitude show [package] to see what a package does before installing.

For some reason there is no supplied way to do “nothing” when the laptop lid is closed. If you want this functionality back start up mateconf-editor, set /apps/mate-power-manager/buttons/lid_ac and /apps/mate-power-manager/buttons/lid_battery to nothing.

Auto Boot into MATE

Maybe you want to automatically boot into MATE. Maybe you are just that lazy. Maybe a white-on-black terminal killed your father and now, as a result, you are too afraid to face one… fear not, citizen! We did not install a display manager since MATE does not currently come with one but we can easily fix all that with a single command:

apt-get install slim

slim is very light weight which is why I chose it. The trade off is it does not support much besides logging you in. After installed just open /etc/slim.conf and set default_user to your username and auto_login to yes (make sure you uncomment both, of course). The MATE Wiki also recommends that you stick exec ck-launch-session mate-session in .xinitrc but everything works fine without it for me so experiment with it.

If you really, really do not want to install a display manager (like me) you could just stick startx at the bottom of .bash_profile (if it does not exist create it). This file sits in your home directory and is executed every time you log in.

Known Issues/Notes

There are a few things that are not show-stoppers for me but I want to spend some time fixing later.

• Want to get Compiz and all those snazzy effects working. I have been experimenting with varying success. Have not gotten it to work just right yet.
• I miss my Open With Archive Mounter from nautilus. Just either need to figure out the right package or Caja configuration (not sure which yet).
• VLC does not inhibit screen blanking when running in full screen. This is really, really annoying to me as I use my netbook for entertainment while on long trips.
• For some odd reason nm-applet (part of network-manager-gnome) will not start up until you comment out all references to your primary network adapter in /etc/network/interfaces and reboot. I only noticed it after I tried to connect to my wireless network so if you only have a wired connection you may not care about this.
• Putting startx in .bash_profile may cause an issue if you log in from anywhere other than the terminal. For example, an SSH connection. Also if you need a terminal after breaking X, MATE, or something this might make it harder to fix. I am sure there is a better place to put startx but I have to look up where. For now it is probably better to just go with the display manager method above if you do not want to be bothered.

I am sure I will come across some things as I play with this some more. When I do I will update this article. Please feel free to leave any comments with any issues you find and we will see what we can do about them.

Of course, if you are not insane like me, you could have just installed Linux Mint with MATE in the first place.

Update 2012.09.06
I am not playing with this any longer since I got Linux Mint 13 encrypted up and running. It is not likely I will update this article further. The two are not exactly the same but I have little free time so something has to give.

I am a stubborn man. But part of that stubbornness was the result of a personal kind of evolution, not an unwillingness to change.

For example, my desktop. Microsoft, with Windows 95, gave us something great: the desktop we know and love. Trying my best to ignore Metro— for the sake of this post, at least– some of my habits have changed to fit this model but, more importantly, I have figured out how to change it best to fit my needs. There is room for improvement but I can only imagine those improvements adding new functionality, not removing old, show-stopping hurdles.

Ubuntu, in their awesome, massive growth and other-wise fantastic direction from their leadership, have decided to make a major change. They have decided to abandon our old friend for something pretty radical with Unity. Unity is, for the most part in its latest incarnation, a pretty great thing. It leaves some old hardware behind (always takes balls but some times is needed) in order to innovate and move us all forward and I have grown to like it for some tasks. For example, my parents and grandparents have flourished using it. They all love different things about it but it works for them and I am happy to use the right tool for the job.

However, although my family finds it easier with is bigger buttons and everything-merged-into-one-place design, I find it much harder to use for what I do. I would call myself a power user and, as such, I have certain requirements. Instead of going into those requirements here I will quote Linus Torvalds because I feel he summed up the meat of it pretty well:

I used to be upset when gnome developers decided it was “too complicated” for the user to remap some mouse buttons. In gnome3, the developers have apparently decided that it’s “too complicated” to actually do real work on your desktop, and have decided to make it really annoying to do.

Here’s an example of “the crazy”: you want a new terminal window. So you go to “activities” and press the “terminal” thing that you’ve made part of your normal desktop thing (but why can’t I just have it on the desktop, instead of in that insane “activities” mode?). What happens? Nothing. It brings your existing terminal to the forefront.

That’s just crazy crap. Now I need to use Shift-Control-N in an old terminal to bring up a new one. Yeah, that’s a real user experience improvement. Sure.

I’m sure there are other ways, but that’s just an example of the kind of “head up the arse” behavior of gnome3. Seriously. I have been asking other developers about gnome3, they all think it’s crazy.

I’m using Xfce. I think it’s a step down from gnome2, but it’s a huge step up from gnome3. Really.

As such I had, for a while, switched to Linux Mint like so much of my cohort. I still love Mint but there is a smaller community there and less Mint-oriented information around the web. Sure, majority of the stuff I have come across for Ubuntu also works for Mint, but I only left Ubuntu because of Unity. If I can remove that annoyance I have no reason not to move back as there is safety in numbers. After all, is that not the whole idea behind the open-source philosophy?

Let us rip that mother-loving (see, I made a funny) interface out and replace it with what was not broken in the first place, shall we?

Remember to backup anything you touch before doing this because who knows if I am secretly working for Microsoft and spreading false information to make people think Linux sucks? It could happen, people!

Open up a terminal and run these commands as root:

add-apt-repository "deb http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) main"
apt-get update
apt-get install -y --force-yes mate-archive-keyring
apt-get update
apt-get install mate-core
apt-get install mate-desktop-environment

These will install the necessary packages. Note that you must install mate-core and mate-desktop-environment in separates command for– what I assume is– a race-condition situation. If you do not it may work, or it may break your UI. I never really looked into why as the solution is plenty easy to implement and does not harm anything.

Next you have to change a few configuration files so Ubuntu knows where to find some things. Edit /etc/xdg/autostart/gnome-settings-daemon.desktop as root and replace the contents with

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Mate Settings Daemon
Exec=/usr/bin/mate-settings-daemon
OnlyShowIn=MATE;
NoDisplay=true
X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=Initialization
X-GNOME-Autostart-Notify=true
X-GNOME-AutoRestart=true

Next edit /etc/xdg/autostart/mate-settings-daemon.desktop as root and find the line that starts with Exec=. Replace it with

Exec=/usr/bin/mate-settings-daemon --no-daemon &

Next edit /etc/X11/Xsession.d/80overlayscrollbars (you may have to create it) as root and add the line

export LIBOVERLAY_SCROLLBAR=0

If this is a well-traveled installation of Ubuntu you may also want to change the default text editor to pluma (MATE’s version of gedit) and the default file manager to caja (MATE’s version of nautilus). pluma is not such a big deal– I just hate the latest replaces for the find and find and replace functionally in gedit— but caja added some wwwaaayyy-overdo functionality like undo/redo.

I am not sure if Unity will work after this and I never tried despite it only being a few clicks away. Honestly I do not care one tiny bit. I did notice that a significant amount of memory is no longer being used so my netbook is much happier when I am pushing it a little too hard. Once I get Ubuntu running on my Slate 2 I am also betting it will appreciate the spare CPU cycles, as well.

That crack about sabotaging Linux hurt to write. I owe me an apology. :'(