Mint MATE 18.1 Serena 64bit

So I loaded it up and took a test drive. Really nice work I thought, runs fast and smooth.

And of course it needs the personal touch. So thats where I started and did find it lacked a decent theme collection.

Going to play with it some more...later

2 Likes

Every now and again, I pull down a copy of the latest Mint Mate, just to see what the main opposition is doing. However, after an initially good impression, I am alway left slightly or, occasionally, slightly more than slightly disappointed.

It’s often just daft little things like, as you say, limited theming. One way or another, though, I always end up logging back into UM with a sense of shame like a husband who has had a one night stand. He knows it’s not a patch on what he has got back home and that it’s never as good in the implementation as it was in the anticipation. But he just can’t help himself.

3 Likes

Ok an easy fix. I installed the “mate-themes” package and now running GreenLaguna.

I guess there is a reason for not including this or other themes as default.

Yep, if I am messing around with Mint Mate, I usually get hold of the Ubuntu Mate themes and apply the Ambient Mate Theme. I have yet to find any thing that beats Ambiant Mate with Dark Faenza Icons and Compton running in the background with menu, panel and window decoration transparencies.

One other thing that always niggles me about Mint is that it does not include the Indicator applets as standard. After some significant messing about, it is possible to get them running on Standard Mint Mate (in particular, indicator-sound, but I also use quite a few other less well known ones). But is impossible on LMDE2 Mate. But, that is probably a Debian issue.

The thing is, though - by the time I have finished tweaking Mint Mate to how I like it, I have more or less re-created Ubuntu Mate. Which kind of defeats the point!

Funny, thats exactly what I would do.

My current ubuntu mate install looks like my old ubuntu 10.04 which looks like my older 8.04 install :grin:

1 Like

You and me both v3xx!

Except, in my case, it was 10.04 when I jumped on board the Linux Train. Early 2007.

1 Like

Hi @anon42388993,

does that package still have TraditionalOK Test (the orange one) included with it?. :smiley:

Hi wolfman, here's what I got.

1 Like

Thanks @anon42388993,

I see my favourite (TraditionalOK Test) is there but I don’t like the way Mint controls all the updates and won’t let the user run them via Synaptic which kind of defeats the object of installing it!. :smiley:

Ubuntu Mate update manager can be disabled or removed and thats what I have done since I use only synaptic. I haven’t looked at mint, but this should also be doable :slight_smile:

You have to “downgrade” Synaptic in MInt because they use their own version!.

1 Like

I’m also guilty of giving LM Mate the occasional go and while it is very nice I just find it lacking a bit compared to UM. It just doesn’t seem to have the same level of granularity,flexibility, and user control that we get here on our home distro. Definitely not bad by any means but I’m always happy that UM exists and every once and a while I just need a reminder of that.

3 Likes

I have bookmarked that link, thanks wolfman. Could be things have change, I have to wait for some updates to try synaptic.

1 Like

Yes I’m gulity of distro hopping behind UMs back. I nearly ended up going with Manjaro Deepin as my daily driver.
I always have a UM install I can go too, its rock solid. I hope to see one day Deepin desktop environment on top of UM.
wink wink nudge nudge… :joy:

A neat way to stop distro-hopping is to use a Raspberry Pi. In my opinion Ubuntu MATE is the only usable distribution for it!

(The “default” Raspbian had an awful DE which has been improved a bit through Pixel, but it is still at root an old version of lxde).

I now see what you mean @wolfman. Package management is set up all different. I’m seeing some things I like and things I don’t like so I will use it as is for the moment. After all, this is a test drive :grin:

1 Like

Hi @anon42388993,

apart from the way they have the software management set-up, it is a good OS for beginners!. :smiley:

1 Like

I should note, I think I remember hearing Martin and also the lead guy in Solus say that they think the Mint team’s coding is atrocious in general and, in particular, as it relates to security. I can’t really give my own opinion on that because I am not a coder. But, I thought I might throw it in there.

HI @stevecook172001,

I thought they used Ubuntu as a base so shouldn’t that take care of the security issues?. :smiley:

That’s what I thought. But, I am just repeating what I heard Martin and the Guy from Solus say in an interview. I guess it’s not inconceivable that anything that Mint produces that, one way or another, communicates with the outside world can represent a security risk. But, I am just guessing here because I am not a coder. Also, I don’t wish to put words in peoples mouths over and above what I have already said. But, I know what I heard.

I also know what I have read elsewhere:

1 Like