Is it possible to install the Raspberry PI OS' PIXEL desktop environment on MATE? I tried to look up the package in Synaptic. I didn't get any results (If I did, I would have copied the package and installed with the needed dependencies). Where can I find the name of it or the needed packages? I have Raspi OS loaded here (that's where I'm posting from).
PIXEL desktop isn't available in the ubuntu repo's. If you want it the only thing to get it is by running Raspberry Pi OS. They developed it sepcifically for the Pi and Pi OS iirc.
As I understand it, PIXEL is just a forked copy of the LXDE desktop.
LXDE is pretty much dead, because it relies on the depreciated GTK2 toolkit, which is why Lubuntu replaced it with LXQt starting with Lubuntu 18.10.
LXQt itself was the LXDE development team joining with the Razor-Qt team creating the new LXQt project. The LXDE devs have blogged about it, and their initial move to GTK3, and why they then tried Qt5 and decided it was Qt5 where they needed to go.
If you want Pixel on Ubuntu, as Pixel is just a modified LXDE; you can use LXDE, but you'll be replacing the MATE desktop with LXDE (you login to a single desktop).
You'll also be using libraries that upstream treat as EOL (only the parts of GTK2 used by gimp are still supported, until gimp completes its GTK3 port).
FYI: Pixel's themes work in LXDE
Well, I did find a workaround. I discovered you can install the PIXEL desktop environment from the RetroPie Set-Up script, which is how I installed that on RetroPie.
So I had the marvelous idea of using the set-up script on Ubuntu.
If you go to Configuration/Tools > Raspbian related tools> Install PIXEL desktop environment, it works fine on Ubuntu. All dependencies are satisfied.
sudo update-alternatives --config x-session-manager
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