Ubuntu 18.04 MATE

[MidnightCowboy]

In common with the main Gnome release, Ubuntu MATE also comes with a pan full of bugs but as indicated below, they are likely to be ironed out over time. It is after all an LTS release and a massive shift from the last so perfection will not come automatically as standard (yet)

https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/...aver-mate.html
http://www.ocsmag.com/2018/05/14/12-...n-ubuntu-mate/

If you like bells and whistles this is a great distro to experiment with.

Compiz is already there so installing CCSM and Emerald will give a limitless supply of window themes and dreamy effects.

Conky Manager will fail to install with a 'realpath' error but you can fix this by installing the package from here first.

https://packages.ubuntu.com/artful/realpath

I also like the dock option inclusion although Plank isn't exactly Cairo when it comes to customizations. That said you can install Alacarte to change your app and system icons before adding their launchers to the dock which at least gives more options for changing the 'look'.

Screenshots:
https://www.techsupportalert.com/fre...tml#post123516
https://www.techsupportalert.com/fre...tml#post123632

[MidnightCowboy]

As a footnote, on my i5 desktop system at least, Ubuntu MATE is totally stable using Compiz/Emerald & Cairo whereas Mint MATE is not. Also, Ubuntu uses less resources, is faster and I don't have to contend with Mint's money grabbing custom search engine.

Ubuntu MATE is what Ubuntu used to be before the Unity and Gnome3 downward spiral. Despite the bugs in 18.04, most home desktop users are never going to be inconvenienced and I would certainly recommend this as a daily system.

[danielson]

MC, i wanted to give Mate a try by installing it to a usb connected SSD (hence avoidin' dual boot) but i'm still getting the same screen as if system was dual booting.

Everything is on root on separate SSD so i don't know why i'm getting that dual boot screen or how to avoid it and go straight to MATE. The only way i can get to it is by pressing F9 at start.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by danielson

MC, i wanted to give Mate a try by installing it to a usb connected SSD (hence avoidin' dual boot) but i'm still getting the same screen as if system was dual booting.

Everything is on root on separate SSD so i don't know why i'm getting that dual boot screen or how to avoid it and go straight to MATE. The only way i can get to it is by pressing F9 at start.

Guess this is something to do with how you have your boot priorities setup but as I've never used an external drive for this purpose I can't be any more help.

Multiboots often generate some issues. Currently I have Zorin 12 Lite, MX-16 (KDE added version) and Ubuntu 18.04 MATE. No matter what I do, nothing boots with whatever I replace unless the bootloader is owned by Zorin. I don't understand why but the fix is to restore Grub to the Zorin partition using Rescatux and then run "sudo update-grub" from within Zorin after it boots, thereafter selecting the other systems from the Zorin boot menu.

I actually cloned this whole drive yesterday using Clonezilla and was totally surprised when it restored perfectly to another PC and all three systems were bootable with no errors. Can't imagine this would have happened if the boot issue included a Windows install.

[danielson]

Interesting!
The world of computers is fascinating, always full of mysteries...

Had Solus Budgie on that SSD just before without that issue (but did have other usb related not experienced with MATE).

Win some, loose some!

[Jojo Yee]

Grub Customizer is a useful tool I often use to change the grub boot menu and it works with MBR and GPT disks.

Grub Customizer runs on Linux. You can use it to scan Windows boot manager and other Linux boot loaders, change the order of bootloaders or boot managers you like, save it, then select "Install to MBR" (which is to run grub-install).

On your next boot, it goes to the grub boot menu that you've edited with Grub Customizer. That's it.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by Jojo Yee

Grub Customizer is a useful tool I often use to change the grub boot menu and it works with MBR and GPT disks.
it.

I've had very mixed results with Grub Customizer and would suggest if you already have a boot issue, using it is likely to make it worse or even fatal. There are some knowledgeable folk who advise against using it altogether.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=261910
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/gc

[danielson]

Although Grub Customizer has generally been good to me, i agree with MC that it can create more problems for some distros.

Btw, have recently tinkered with MXLinux on that usb connected SSD and it performs better than Ubuntu MATE (on which i could no longer access panel items).

Long story short... when installing MX, i was given option to install Grub on MBR or Root.
Unsure about that next step, i installed it to MBR and it gives the same options Ubuntu MATE did at boot.

This is my 3rd attempt at running a Linux distro from SSD via usb and i can't say they run as smoothly (MX has issue with external monitor) as in dual boot setup with Windows.

[Jojo Yee]

Originally Posted by MidnightCowboy

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=261910
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/gc

I did go through those articles before my earlier post, and as the articles say, as long as it works as expected, all is fine.

I've been using Grub Customizer for years and it does work for me.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by Jojo Yee

I did go through those articles before my earlier post, and as the articles say, as long as it works as expected, all is fine.

I've been using Grub Customizer for years and it does work for me.

Existing issues apart, file system type, how multiboots might be partitioned, where Grub was originally installed, all of these things can have an effect on how Grub Customizer reacts on an individual system.

In reality I view this as akin to registry editors for Windows, i.e. don't use it unless you know what you are doing and expressly need the functions it provides, and are able to extracate yourself from the potential issues it can cause.