Areas of Improvement - A Quick Recap

Development Discussion
4

Some updated for 17.10 so far:

#1 - Agreed, should be all sorted in 17.10 by beta 1.

#2 - So recent changes in upstream MATE (1.19) will help pave the way for this.

#3 - Fixed in Ubuntu MATE 17.10 daily. In additional the Compton defaults are now 100% tear free and the most suitable compositor to use for gaming.

#4 - Mostly done in Ubuntu MATE 17.10 daily and the remainder is planned.

#5 - I agree, I’ll if Transifex integration is possible. Failing that we’ll resort to a pull request technique.

#6 - I’ve not experienced that.

#7 - The panel layouts have been significantly reworked in Ubuntu MATE 17.10 daily. The System menu (in Applications Places System) has always had a logout. Cupertino, Pantheon and Mutiny now use Brisk Menu which include a Log Out option. I’ve also review the indicator-session code and intend to add MATE support and add support for it in MATE Tweak.

#8 - Super key activation is fixed for mate-settings-daemon, MATE Menu and Brisk Menu in Ubuntu MATE 17.10 daily. Fixes are in progress for MATE Dock Applet too. Now that decent Super key launching is available Synapse will be dropped from the default install.

#9 - I’ve been refactoring and cleaning up the MATE Tweak code. I hope to get this in for 17.10.

#10 - Easier than it sounds :wink: But I agree.

#11 - Has been added to the revised Redmond layout in Ubuntu MATE 17.10 daily, sadly Disk Mounter is broken.

#12 - Subjective. And the default Ambiant-MATE fits the default desktop theme. I agree about Insert Space and Highlight matching bracket, I’ve just made those the defaults in 17.10. Still need to release a new setting package, but will make Alpha1.

#13 - Agreed and this is the case in Ubuntu MATE 17.10 daily.

#14 - Fixed in Ubuntu MATE 17.10 daily. I’ve also significantly reduced the memory requirements for running Compiz on Ubuntu MATE.

Some other general improvements worth mentioning:

  • MATE Tweak no longer has an “Enable Indicators” feature. Indicators are simply default in the appropriate layouts.
  • MATE Tweak is less crashy and I’m working on a few more fixes.
  • indicator-power is support my MATE Tweak. I’d forgotten I patch indicator-power with MATE support over 2 years ago!
  • MATE Optimus (an nvidia prime utility) now operates as an Indicator when Indicators are available.
  • I’ve been working with an upstream project on a new Global Menu implementation. It is fully compatible. Currently in a PPA but I plan to upload it to the archive soon.
  • I’ve reworked mate-hud and it is now fully compatible with GTK2, GTK3, Qt4, Qt5, Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice and Electron applications. Again, currently in a PPA and will be uploaded soon.
  • Global Menu and HUD are enabled by default when switching to the Mutiny and Cupertino layouts.
  • I’ve worked with upstream Brisk Menu on the 0.4.0 and 0.4.5 release to land features important to Ubuntu MATE. More work planned on that front.
  • MATE Menu has received many fixes and now have more intelligent results when search for applications to launch.
  • Ubuntu MATE Welcome has had lots of new applications added and the current master is also available for Xenial, Yakkety and Zesty via the Welcome PPA.
  • I’ve started creating new slides for Ubiquity to help user discover Ubuntu MATE features such as MATE Tweak and the Software Boutique.
  • All the MATE 1.18 point releases have been tested and uploaded to Artful archive.

All that work has been started/completed since the release of Ubuntu MATE 17.04 just two months ago. This continues the focus we gave on improving the quality of Ubuntu MATE during the 17.04 cycle.

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