Is there a Ubuntu Mate for Raspberry Pi 4?

Support & Help Requests Raspberry Pi
1

Hello Guys,
I just got my new Raspberry Pi 4 (4Gb RAM) in the mail today.
Is there a Ubuntu Mate for Raspberry Pi 4?
Or is there only a Mate version for Raspberry Pi 3+ available?
Best regards
Fredrik

2

There is currently not an ETA for the Pi 4 version.

This link has some of the reasons why.

3

Thanks alot!
Best regards
Fredrik

4

I just completed porting a Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 from a Pi-3B+ to a Pi 4 (originally Pi 2 w/16.04 upgraded to Pi 3 with 18.04 then Pi 3B+). Here are the steps I used (condensed):

  1. If you have an old 18.04 installation on a Pi3 (or 3B+), save it and prepare a new micro-SD card with the latest Raspbian Buster install.
  2. Using some local storage (flash drive, external HD, or another computer's drive by reading the SD card) copy the following from the Buster install to the storage:
    1)The entire Raspian /boot partition (I 'tar'ed it to local storage), 2) the contents of /rootfs/lib/modules (to get the kernel modules for the kernel version in the /boot partition)
5

Wow!

Okay let see if I follow assuming I am doing this from scratch

  1. Create one SD card with Raspbian Buster
    1a) Copy the entire Raspian Buster /boot partition to some backup area
    1b) Copy the Raspian Buster /rootfs/lib/modules to some backup area

  2. Create one SD card for PI 3B+ with Ubuntu MATE 18.04.2 (Bionic)
    2a) Replace the Mate /boot partition with the /boot from the backup area
    2b) Replace the Mate /rootfs/lib/modules partition with the /rootfs/lib/modules from the backup area

  3. Try it out in a PI 4

Is this correct?
Best regards

6

Hello,
I tried it out but the PI did not start up.
Do you see any mistakes with my steps?
Best regards

7

After you prepare the Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 SD card and copy; the saved /boot and /rootfs/lib/modules data, you need to edit two files. The first is /boot/cmdline.txt. Since the PARTUUID value for this is for the Buster image, you will need to change this to the PARTUUID of the Ubuntu-MATE image, and likewise, the values in the MATE /etc/fstab will also have values for Buster. The easiest way to do this is to work on another computer (where you presumably did the saving of the buster data). Do a 'ls -lF /dev/disk/by-partuuid' and write down the values for mmcblk0p1 and mmcblk0p2 (if you used a microSD to SD adapter) or /dev/sdx1 and /dev/sdx2 (if you used a microSD card to USB adapter). Now edit the 'partuuid' values into the files. You also need to edit /boot/config.txt file to get the graphical desktop to work. Comment out the line near the end by adding a '#' in front of 'dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d'. Now you should be able to try it in the Pi4 and get some results. Good luck and keep us informed.

1 Like
8

Welcome, and nice work @Hal58!

Comment out the line near the end by adding a '#' in front of 'dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d'.

Well that kind of hamstrings the whole system leaving it without GL or GLES, although expected to be necessary for Ubuntu 18.04 which uses an older version of Mesa. It's described in that thread on the Pi forums.

If they're right and it's only Mesa that needs to be updated, would be great for someone to try out a Mesa 19.1 build on Ubuntu 18.04 + Pi4 to fix the fkms overlay. See this Mesa cross-compiling guide by Eric Anholt. Running that procedure on an Ubuntu 18.04 x86_64 system should be enough to make a whole set of libraries that's libc-compatible with Ubuntu 18.04 armhf.

9

Thanks Hal58, I assume this is only 32bit

10

Yes it is, but it is a first step in getting a Pi 4 up with its vastly increased power. I find little difference now with a Pi 4 and SSD (in USB3 enclosure) and my Ryzen laptop for normal tasks.

11

When Ubuntu mate will be released for Raspberry Pi 4?

12

Still the same as before - "when it's ready" with no fixed ETA:

See this earlier post if you'd like to run the existing 18.04 release with the help of a Pi 3:

13

There is a 64 bit Ubuntu server available from https://jamesachambers.com/raspberry-pi-ubuntu-server-18-04-2-installation-guide/ Extract the image, install ubuntu-make-desktop, and you're in business. The only downside is that the system won't boot on a 3B or 3B+, but there isn't much benefit from running a 64 OS on a 1GB machine.

14

if you want a stable and easy solution simply install mate in raspbian:

  1. apt-get update
  2. Install mate
    sudo apt-get install mate-core mate-desktop-environment
  3. Add mate as default environment for your user by adding this line
    sudo update-alternatives --config x-session-manager
    In the wizard, type the number corresponding to mate
  4. Reboot
    sudo reboot
    :grin:
    Cheers Uwe