Would it be possible to have an alternate branch of Ubuntu MATE with only the core MATE packages, a minimal iso? I appreciate the work that goes into selecting packages and developing new things for Ubuntu MATE. That said, I’m used to installing just the applications I need. Running the newest version of the MATE desktop is important to me. I’m using 16.04 now which has v1.16 of MATE. I personally use LTS versions of Ubuntu, maybe it would be easier just to make minimal isos for LTS releases, that is, if this were pursued.
There’s a well-kept secret in all Ubuntu releases known as “netboot”. This tiny ISO installs over the net so often needs a hardwired network connection but when you’re done, all the packages are right up to date.
The mini.iso file for 16.04 64 bit can be found here.
Here’s a look at the selections for 16.04 LTS.
The MATE minimal install is the package ubuntu-mate-core.
The MATE desktop install adds ubuntu-mate-desktop.
I use synaptic to check dependencies of these to see what they have.
This install method is very popular in Debian, where this idea comes from I assume. Does it fit your idea?
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That sounds like a reasonable solution. Thanks for your help!
mini.iso with ubuntu-mate-core works great! Then add https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mate-dev/+archive/ubuntu/xenial-mate for the latest 16.04 MATE version