I’ve installed ubuntu mate on my desktop and I love the way it looks, i’m running the newest version of ubuntu on my laptop as well but it is not mate. Is there any way to convert to ubuntu mate from normal ubuntu, without it being buggy if you didn’t install it that way to begin with? I’m still new to linux just wondering. Thanks for reading.
It is kind of possible, but not really. Personally I don’t recommend it. 
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I have Ubuntu Mate 1.8 desktop installed on top of Ubuntu Studio 14.04.2 LTS 32 bit (which comes with the Xubuntu desktop). There is quite a bit of tidying up to do following the installation of the UM 1.8 desktop. But it is quite do-able. I guess it comes down to how nerdy you are and how prepared you are to get your hands dirty fiddling around with settings. For me, this is not a problem as I am an inveterate nerd. For saner people, the costs of the requirements to fiddle around outweigh any potential benefits.
So, you just have to decide how a big a nerd you are… 
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It’s not exactly an easy task (nor recommended) to “convert” from one distro to another in a few simple clicks, but you can install a “meta” package that provide you with the same desktop and software found in Ubuntu MATE.
You’ll get the least amount of problems later though if you install Ubuntu MATE from scratch… but if you insist:
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Open the terminal, either via the Ubuntu dash or by pressing CTRL+ALT+T.
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Type the following:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-mate-desktop
This installs the desktop and software as seen in Ubuntu MATE, keeping your existing files, software and Ubuntu’s Unity desktop. It’s not a true conversion, since you’ll still have the Ubuntu splash and login screen for instance. To use this new environment, select the Ubuntu symbol at the login screen and choose “MATE”.
I will say I haven’t tested this package myself, but it works for other flavours like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc.
Best take a backup first before fiddling under the hood. 
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I second previous comments. Possible but not recommended. 
Why don’t you do a fresh install of ubuntu mate? Would be more stable and less work. Just move all your information you want to keep to either an external hard drive or a usb stick.
I was running the standard ubuntu with unity on a desktop. To move over to ubuntu-mate I used the ubuntu backup application to backup my system. I then unplugged the external hard drive the backup was on and installed ubuntu-mate. Following that I plugged in the external drive with the backup, opened the backup application and used the “restore from” option to restore from the backup. I then reinstalled all the software packages I like to have.
I’ve also used this procedure to transfer a copy of my data from an ubuntu desktop to a freshly installed ubuntu-mate laptop (Macbook Pro 6.2). That also worked.
By the way - it does not seem to matter if you install all your favourite software packages first or restore your data from the backup - linux seems to always put the same stuff in the same place.
Wow!
It just doesn’t get any easier, does it?
TIPP: There are other posts in this forum regarding using “sudo apt-get install a list of all my favourite software” which allows you to install all those favourite software packages in one terminal command. I’ve not used it but it sounds good.
Q: Has anyone used AptOnCD?
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