There is no CentOS support forum for MATE, hence the reason for asking here. The latest version of MATE available in a repository for CentOS 7 is 1.16.2.
I know I can save applications when shutting down the desktop and they are restored upon startup. However, I am also looking to save the state of filebrowser and terminal windows which are always restored despite being minimized when shutting down. Further I would like all apps, terminal sessions etc. on the bottom bar be restored in exactly the same order.
Is this possible? Is there perhaps an extension that would do this for me?
Since session management is handled by the MATE desktop environment, I'd suggest creating an issue on the mate-session-manager repository kindly requesting improvements to remember minimized states:
Apparently, there is a GNOME Shell extension out there, which won't work here. I had a quick look around the web, but I couldn't find a general "session saving" program that works agnostic to any desktop environment.
Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately 1.16.2 is the most current version of MATE for CentOS 7 and is in the EPEL repository. I have raised the issue with session manager in the github repository as you suggested.
I would like to compile the latest version of MATE under 1.16.2, not only to be current but also because I also have a HiDPI Dell laptop that runs CentOS 7 and MATE 1.16.2 does not handle the HiDPI environment very well.
Where do I find instructions to compile MATE suitable for a novice?
I haven't attempted to compile MATE yet - the Wine project is the biggest thing I've compiled. As a rough indicator - you'll need to acquire the source code for each MATE component from:
Unfortunately, the MATE Wiki has been down for some time, but I found this (the original, early version of the project?) with some hints of dependencies and order to build:
Take some of this with a pinch of salt as definitely looks like the early days of MATE.
You'll need to acquire development files via the CentOS' repositories, as well as build tools (e.g. gcc and make) There might be a metapackage to install all the necessary tools - Ubuntu has a package called build-essential . You'll need to find the CentOS equivalent from the Ubuntu/Fedora packages list.
Each project may describe how to build in the README, but usually it's just:
./configure
make -j4 # Change '4' to the number of CPU cores to build faster
sudo make install # Likely installs to /usr/local
If ./configure fails, then it would state what's wrong. Note that MATE did go GTK3 only after 1.18.
But, you could run into trouble as CentOS ( 1.16.2) might be like Ubuntu MATE 16.04 in that it's still primarily a release based on GTK2. This could mean other applications (and development files) in the CentOS repository are old.
If all does succeed, and you have GTK2 applications that won't scale well at a HiDPI resolution - there may be workarounds:
Before installing any of the compiled files, I'd highly recommend backing up the entire system!
Hopefully that should be the basics to get started. Ask here if you need assistance (it's probably worth creating a new topic). Good luck!
Hey there! Just stumbled upon this thread, and I feel your pain. CentOS 7 is already End of Life (EOL) since last year. CentOS End of Life Extended Lifecycle Support (ELES) is here to save the day! I suggest you check it out, as it could provide the support you need for your MATE-related concerns.
Regarding your inquiry, have you tried looking into the MATE Tweak tool? It might have the settings you're looking for. As for the file browser and terminal windows, you might want to check out the "Remember" and "Auto-save session" options in the MATE Terminal.
I also suggest taking caution when compiling MATE, as it could potentially mess up your existing setup.
16.04 ( 
Take some of this with a pinch of salt as definitely looks like the early days of MATE.