Ubuntu and other distros metapackage? Which is best?

Support & Help Requests
1

Hi fellow users,

I would like to try distros once upon a time, but keep Ubuntu Mate as primary used.
Now I have standard Ubuntu. Should I install .iso Ubuntu mate freshly or is it the same thing if I install the mate-desktop-environment?

2

Hi,

I would recommend doing a fresh install of Ubuntu Mate because if you install other desktop environments along side each other you will end up with a mess of packages. e.g two text editors gedit and plumer etc.

3

Good day,

Like CyberMaxPower stated, I’d recommend installing a fresh copy of Ubuntu MATE (UM) than installing Ubuntu then dling the MATE DE.

For starters, its just less clutter, and I believe there are some features that are found in UM that isn’t really present in a MATE DE install on Ubuntu Standard. (Don’t quote me on this, I have not yet tried installing MATE DE on Ubuntu).

EDIT: It’s just also much easier to customize a UM Install over Ubuntu then MATE DE install.

4

With extra things it has to be set up what appears where and what does what action. My goal is to have Mate for serious stuff and standard Ubuntu or maybe KDE Plasma for fun. I like trying things out. My root directory is 140Gb so I guess a lot of stuff can be taken there hopefully.

What bothers me is what an .iso install gives to Mate because if it does something other than the metapackage then I will install the .iso Mate.

5

You might consider:

  1. using vbox for your play ground - experiment all you like and your goto Linux install doesn’t get touched
  2. dedicate a second partition for your playground and use grub to choose which OS to boot
2 Likes
6

I consider Vbox too tiring for my machine its a budget laptop a Lenovo Ideapad 110
Sadly last time I had to reinstall the system. I tried to install it but set bootloader to something else not hdd, Since then I’m afraid of installing new systems. But now I set the /boot folder to a separate patition I hope that helps finding a safe way to experiment with other distros.

I guess I would have been setting boootloader to hdd and then the two OS appeared together.