Upgrading from Ubuntu 18.04 + MATE 1.20 to reach Ubuntu-MATE 20.04

Support & Help Requests
#1

I am using the following config:
Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS (Bionic Beaver) 64-bit,
Kernel Linux 5.4.0-72-generic x86_64,
MATE 1.20.1 on an intel i5 laptop (DUAL BOOT with WIN10)

Before using MATE, I was using Gnome desktop. Since I liked MATE, I switched to it a few months back. So MATE was a later addition to my laptop, I had never installed Ubuntu MATE as a unified pack. But because I added MATE on top of Ubuntu 18.04 I always had doubts if I am using everything (correctly) from the MATE universe just like a "proper" Ubuntu-MATE installation. But now I would like to do so when I upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04.

What could be the best method for me to be a Ubuntu-MATE 20.04 user ?

Would an upgrade to 20.04 via Software Updater also upgrade the MATE packages on my laptop? Or do I need to remove MATE 1.20 before Ubuntu upgrade and reinstall latest MATE after Ubuntu upgrade?

Is there any other way to reach a "proper" Ubuntu-MATE 20.04 installation, other than removing Ubuntu 18.04 and installing Ubuntu MATE 20.04?

Thanks

1 Like
#2

I think there is a way to do so. Here's how:

Do a normal upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04; don't tweak around with your package choices just yet.

When you have upgraded the system, install the package called ubuntu-mate-desktop:

sudo apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop

Naturally, after the upgrade and installation of extra components you should probably reboot for everything to take effect.

To my knowledge, that's all that is required, basically.

2 Likes
#3

Gordon's advice is absolutely correct.

Upgrading or a fresh install timewise isn't that big of a difference in my opinion though.
You could also check lah7's post here if you have a separate /home partition.
This would give you a fresh Mate 20.04 install with just the Mate packages.

Installing a metapackage (like ubuntu-mate-desktop is) won't remove your old flavor(s) of Ubuntu (and it's package choices/config files as far as I know) but will install all the packages associated with Mate.

So if you're now using Chrome as browser you will get Firefox additionally installed (to set a simple example). Same for Evolution vs Thunderbird etc...
Just type
apt-cache depends ubuntu-mate-desktop
to see what would get installed.

Or just make sure to pay close attention to the output of the command gordon posted before hitting that Y button :slight_smile:

Really depends on what you want to achieve exactly. A totally clean Mate 20.04 install or a complete Mate 20.04 install on top of what you already have running now.

3 Likes
#4

Noted. Thank you @gordon @Geus.

I guess what I am looking for is complete and stable MATE functionality with Ubuntu 20.04 but am curious to know whether that would necessitate a fresh UM install (rather than just installation of MATE over Ubuntu 20.04). It looks from your advice that it is possible to achieve that just by (re)installing MATE after Ubuntu upgrade. Will explore. Thanks again.

#5

Update: I upgraded from 18.04 to 20.04 successfully thru software updater. MATE packages were upgraded from 1.20 to 1.24. Smooth upgrade overall. Thank you for your support.

2 Likes