Why do you like the classical MATE style?

Hey guys!

I'm more Mutiny (mostly), Redmond or Pantheon style guy, but i wonder, about the folks who like the classical MATE style (i like too!), what you like the most on the classical 2 panel style? Not only about productivity but also when it comes about aesthetics?

I like how it values the desktop, and how it works well with certains wallpapers. Also like how it make cool to deal with various windows. What i don't like on it is that i feel like it uses too much space without need or a larger benefit from it. Also i feel like it can sometimes make you operate things from too many points.

About the fact that i enjoy most Mutiny: i found the way that this style make everything works objectively through the top left corner very good.

Ty for the attention!

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I don't necessarily like the classic MATE (or Gnome 2) familiar style (since the first thing I do is change it to Pantheon and move the dock to the left!)

I use Ubuntu-MATE because of Martin Wimpress... when he launched a 15.10(?) update on Linux Unplugged, I was just thinking that was cool - and I tried it - and just haven't found a compelling reason to leave...

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I'm a Redmond guy. Why? Because I use to be a Windows 2000 guy a very long time ago and I've been a Network/System Admin for over 3 decades. Mate is a plain and simple desktop that looks very much like a Windows 2000 desktop setup.

Having a different desktop GUI just reminds me of my Desktop Skinning days on Windows. Once I got that out of my system, I would always go back to the tried and true desktop. Even when I switched to Linux on the desktop in 2006, I went through a eye-candy phase with Compiz. But... I always switched back to a normal Window-esk desktop. Why? Because I've got work to complete.

Basically... I'm an old fart who appreciates the one thing Microsoft got right.... The Desktop. They took a long time to develop it. And if you have not noticed.... Most Linux Desktops emulate some or all of the Windows Desktop design. Everyday people (@ home and work) just like the Start Menu interface.

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I liked the iconic "Applications, Places, System" since I started using Ubuntu 11.04, which was GNOME 2 before Unity became the default. It was a very nice first impression. :slight_smile: Different, clean, conveniently organised. I quickly discovered new productivity from virtual workspaces and customisable panels.

:point_up: At the top, I could drag some of my common programs next to the Main Menu, like I pinned apps to the Windows taskbar. :point_down: At the bottom, I've always preferred seeing labels of running programs then just an icon.

I did use Unity for a few years, the HUD was useful, and liked the type searching. Ubuntu MATE was no hesitation when it become an official flavour. Today I use KDE, but it's still laid out like MATE, and I'm back to type searching for apps.

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The classic menu has always been the most efficient for me. I like the panel on the bottom, I like the advanced menu, I add the terminal, file browser and text editor to the panel next to the start menu, and have the date, sound, WIFI, Bluetooth and change desktops on the opposite end. I put the wallpaper I prefer, and the icons of programs I use most on the desktop. This gives me three quick options to get my programs with only one or two clicks. I use only two desktops, but it is very easy to go back and forth from them and keeps them from being crowded. I don't want my menu bar on the side, I don't want to have to drill down to get to my desktop icons and I hate Docks as they take up to much desktop area. Mate is simpler to configure than XFCE, and has better easier to install panel applets than Cinnamon. That is why I like Mate.

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I prefer the classic top panel. I like it because it is rock solid, unlike some other options (looking at you, Brisk Menu). Everything is clear and readily viewable (aging eyes). First thing I do with an Ubuntu MATE install is set it to classic. It's what I like about MATE.

I don't usually use the bottom panel - I use the Plank dock instead. I use a desktop with a proper 4:3 display, not a wonky laptop 16:9 letterbox aspect ratio (designed for watching movies), so I don't put any panel/dock on the left.

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hi,
Martin just fixed Brisk Menu.
It's now rock solid !

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Simple. I keyboard navigate the desktop and try to rarely, if ever, grab the mouse. This style is dwindling but only the classic remains close to this ideal.

Plus, I grew up on Gnome 2 in the 2007-2010 time frame. Lucid Lynx 10.04 was the last LTS of Gnome 2. When Martin (@Wimpy) specifically said he was emulating 10.04 I was instantly committed. :slight_smile:

What is seen as "classic" is pretty much the default Ubuntu 10.04 desktop.

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Hello everyone

This is a little off topic, but, for me a lot of what the Ubuntu-Mate experience is about are (a) Wimpys understanding of what "family members" (non-computer-experts) are prepared to "tolerate" when trying to use a computer to "just get work/other things done, and (b) Caja.
I'll make that second point again - Caja. :grinning:

I have tried a good few other file managers in other distros, however, none of them come close to Caja for me - you can do so much with it.

I am a "traditional" user, but I might just go with "familiar" on 20.04. :thinking:

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I like Redmond. I also sort of do my own thing with it, as I had demonstrated in the past. Having the desktop workspace switcher out of the way on top is great to maximize my desktop real estate while having windows just the way i want them.

I also sort of do my own dock thing, except with application shortcuts because... frankly I don't feel like using Plank. But hey, options!

It possibly is because I was an Amiga lover for 10 years. I went though, having been given free copies (I worked in an IT shop, and they had trashcans full), 95 (nasty), 98 (pretty cool), ME (GAK!) and the likable, but horribly vulnerable XT.

When I was ready to destroy my monitor, I tried Ubuntu 8.04, and fell in love with the 2-panel menus immediately, having been already very familiar to me. It took me all of 10 minutes to configure that desktop just the way I want it.

When some edition of Mint introduced MATE, I jumped for joy. I used a :rage:PPA to install it, and was completely chuffed when Ubuntu MATE became official.

I have left Ubuntu (and mostly Canonical) for Manjaro, which is in line to become the new Ubuntu (seriously; as easy to install, as user-friendly, as welcoming a community as Ubuntu, which is high praise from me), but I love and always will love this community and the distro which made me happiest. The major reason for moving is the availability of apps, which disappeared from the Ubuntu repos, and some PPAs, which are available as packages, and the not all that scary AUR. And, barring disaster, I'll never have to install again.

I have a computer-illiterate friend whose Win10 installation had become horribly infected. I, with his approval, installed Manjaro MATE

I got very weary of compiling packages which I wanted. Arch-based systems download a script from the AUR, download the .tar.gz source code, look at it to determine the dependencies, and automagically compiles the code.

Beats dependency hell (including compiling some dependencies themselves) with Debian systems all hollow.

Now, if I can only figure out how to enable Redmond, Cupertino and the rest.

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Redmond is just the regular MATE panel with a single panel at the bottom. Cupertino I believe uses Plank, but don't take my word for it — xprop anything which isn't appearing like a MATE panel, and view About context menu items for everything else.

Your experience is remarkably similar to mine. There is not much I miss from Windows, but the "Favorite" and "Document" expanding sub-menus from the start menu are two.

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Rock solid. Plain and simple. Easy to edit the applications menu.
But most of all it is familiar. For those who take a while to adapt to a new setting this is a price beyond all others. When Gnome 2 disappeared I simply did not update my system until MATE appeared. Bless all those in its making. Continuity is an enormous significance in production environments. Many do not seem to appreciate this. I added plank which is just great too.
IMO one of the great software opportunities missed was when Ubuntu wasted a great deal of effort producing a more or less direct competitor to gnome 3, which most agree is pretty good of its kind, when if they had simply produced gnome 2a / MATE they would have had a superb stable and much loved desktop to present to all those for whom XP was out of date and were willing to try something similar given it was free and had oodles of support. That was the year of the Linux desktop that could have been. What a massive shoot in the foot in my view.

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Hello everyone after long time! :smiley:
Just find second hand Toshiba laptop and of course - one partition is for the games (Microsoft) and the an another one is Ubuntu MATE for the work/internet/email etc.

Only this configuration of Linux offers very fast work for everything including administration tools

And must say I am running Ubuntu MATE 16.04
Maybe this 64bit Toshiba can run more better system but I am very satisfied with this version

I fell in love with GNOME 2.3 back with Ubuntu 8.04. When the GNOME developers decided to fix what wasn't broken, and the execrable Unity desktop (which no other distro even made available) appeared, I went to XCFE (OK) and LXDE (also just OK).

When some edition of Mint (which I find annoying) introduced MATE, I was overjoyed. I installed MATE using a PPA, and couldn't have been happier when Ubuntu MATE became "official."

On my desktop, I still use Manjaro MATE. I just came back to Ubuntu MATE on my laptop because, even through it took around 15 times as much time to compile Aqualung, my must-have music player as it did from the AUR, but I do have it, and, at least currently, the AUR versions of Aqualung both return a makefile error.

Nice to be back....