Long-time linux user here (started with Hardy Heron) and I just need to complain that Ubuntu-Mate just never got my attention before. I knew it existed, but I only ever caught wind of it as "stubborn vets like it", "old school", "good for potatoes."
Jesus, what an undersell! This is, by far, the most polished Ubuntu based desktop I've ever booted into. And more significantly, this is the most well-designed Mate implementation I've ever seen. Bravo!
I'm actually rather convinced that this may be the best new user distro I've seen after Mint Cinnamon... Mint's Mate is nowhere near this good. And Mate Tweak is such a time-saver.
I know Mate doesn't really tend to turn heads since people focus on noting that it's a fork of GNOME 2, but man... you guys are doin' the lord's work over here.
Been using Ubuntu since 2007 but after the EOL of Lucid 10.04 I never could get used to the Unity desktop and was constantly switching between Windows and Ubuntu and then I discovered UbuntuMate 16.04 and have been using it full time since then.
Honestly, that's why I was so shocked by this distro. I don't think there's a single (sensible) distro on Distrowatch I haven't tried. Spent years with Ubuntu and Debian, some time with Fedora and its spins and Solus. With Solus my mission to discover a coherent, light-weight, stable system began thanks to my pleasant experience with the Budgie desktop. Despite its shortcomings, it made me realize that my computers could be much zippier without resorting to Window Managers. (Not that I hate them, I spent a good while with DWM)
Prior to discovering Ubuntu-MATE, I had tried Fedora MATE-Compiz, Debian's MATE metapackage, Arch + MATE, Mint MATE... and I was pretty much getting ready to give up on the MATE desktop. Finally, despite the Ubuntu trash talk I decided my journey wouldn't be complete until I tried the Ubuntu flavor.
So I was blown away after all that disappointment that such lovely and finely crafted MATE desktop really existed and it was in plain sight all this time.
Edit: And I should add that I was doubly surprised to see such a pleasant community too.
I started on Zorin and the original Solus both using a modified gnome2 desktop after having played with PC Linux with gnome 2 on a CD. Then on Debian Mate and Point Linux (now defunct). That is when I moved on to Ubuntu Mate, but also tried Mint Mate, Parrot Mate, Pearl Mate, Sparky Mate and Spiral Mate. As you can see I am sold on the Mate Desktop. Debian Mate was okay but as relative newbie the forum was awful. I loved Point Mate and would have never left but the developer shut it down due to lack of time. That is when I move on to Ubuntu Mate which I love. I also gave Mint Mate a serious try for about 9 months but stayed in the Ubuntu Mate forum. I also tried Pearl and Spiral which were still to developmental. I also like to keep a second laptop with another OS so had Parrot, but as a rolling OS it kept breaking what were to me essential things though I loved the security and anonymity aspect of it. So then I tried Sparky Mate also a rolling release and really liked it, plus it is the only rolling release I have used that hasn't broken itself in about three years of using it.
Sparky is another OS with the Mate Desktop you might want to play with if you have an extra computer laying around and want to try a rolling release. It has a great tool for making a persistent USB with Sparky on it you can take along in your pocket.
The forum isn't much though, few users, even fewer posts and almost no answers.
I agree with you Ubuntu Mate is the best of all the OS's with Mate I have tried and I will only use the Mate Desktop. The forum is the best I have ever participated in also.
Part 1 I moved off the Amiga in 2001. In 2008 I found Ubuntu. Those were wasted years in retrospect where my love of computing died and then revived again.
Part 2 was when I couldn't feasibly carry on using 10.04 LTS any more, beyond its support period. Does anyone remember gnome-fallback and gnome-flashback? I was happiest on crunchbang but that went also. I tried almost everything, Unity, Gnome3, Cinnamon, KDE (should have persisted with this one I think), debian.
I was an early adopter of UbuntuMATE and have been here since.
Dang, good on ya for making it all the way to 2001 on your Amiga. I really do miss those days (though I satisfy some of my itch by playing with Haiku and Serenity OS). I, too, was crushed when we lost #!, that was an era I truly enjoyed.
To be honest, I managed to get fairly comfortable with KDE and GNOME with enough tweaking... but they never had the same pep and clean design of the GNOME2 environment and (I know this is cliche at this point but) KDE was just too inconsistent and buggy for me, even though I did like it overall. And I managed to learn and be productive with the vanilla GNOME 3 workflow... but I was never satisfied with the trends towards limited functionality, wasted space, and anti-diversity design philosophies.
Ha ha, we have a lot in common! You've reminded me that I need to re-look at Haiku, I did install it on baremetal once upon a time. My Thinkpad X60 would be a good match for it. I love switching it off, feels so naughty! (assuming there still isn't any shutdown...).
Yes, I can't remember what put me off KDE - it felt so fussy, lots of little buttons and menus. But I don't remember any technical issues. If MATE disappeared today, I know it is KDE I would go to, especially as they have got Wayland totally sorted. Gnome was beautiful and clear, almost exactly the opposite of KDE. I loved the look of it. But the functionality, for me, just wasn't there. I remember one time I was working on a big project, with loads of PDF and text files open on many desktops. I realised after a while I simply couldn't find the document I had open. The 2D file picker means they move about - the simple lower panel is 1D and I realised that meant I could find things easier. Also, a shrunken preview of some black text on a white background is unhelpful when working with documents! There were other issues - I liked the 'places' menu, but in the early days, any add-ons were broken usually by the next week, and I eventually gave up. MATE, is funnily enough somewhat a cross between the two - a functional desktop paradigm, but also with a lot of polish.
