Open your web browser and go to the Ubuntu MATE for Raspberry Pi website. Click the button marked ‘Download Ubuntu MATE’. A new page will load asking you to choose your architecture. Click the fourth option, which says ‘Raspberry Pi’.
Ubuntu MATE is a lightweight Linux distribution that features the MATE desktop environment. Ubuntu MATE can be installed on Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3. It is a great alternative to the Raspbian operating system that is widely used on Raspberry Pi devices.In this article, I will show you how to install Ubuntu MATE on Raspberry Pi. I am using Raspberry Pi 3 Model B for the demonstration. But the procedures are the same for any model of Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 single board computers. So, let’s get started.
To follow this article, you need,
- A Raspberry Pi 2 or Raspberry Pi 3 single board computer.
- A microSD card (16GB or more).
- Internet connectivity.
- A computer for downloading and flashing Ubuntu MATE on the microSD card.
- A HDMI cable and a monitor.
- A good quality Android phone charger for powering up Raspberry Pi.
- A USB keyboard and a USB mouse.
Downloading Ubuntu MATE for Raspberry Pi:
At the time of this writing, Ubuntu MATE has support for Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3.
To download the Ubuntu MATE image for Raspberry Pi 2 or Raspberry Pi 3, go to the official website of Ubuntu MATE at https://ubuntu-mate.org/download/
When the page loads, click on Raspberry Pi architecture as marked in the screenshot below.
At the time of this writing, you can only install Ubuntu MATE 16.04 (Xenial Xerus) on Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3. Click on the Ubuntu MATE 16.04.2 (Xenial) icon as marked in the screenshot below.
Now, click on the download link as marked in the screenshot below.
As you can see, the download has started. It should take a while to finish.
Flashing Ubuntu MATE to microSD Card:
You can flash Ubuntu MATE image to the microSD card very easily using Etcher. Etcher is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It is free to download and use. You can download Etcher from the official website of Etcher at https://www.balena.io/etcher/
Once you download and install Etcher, you’re good to go.
First, insert the microSD card on your computer and open Etcher. Now, click on Select image.
A file picker should be opened. Now, select the Ubuntu MATE image that you just downloaded and click on Open.
Now, click on Select drive.
Now, select the microSD card from the list and click on Continue.
Now, click on Flash!.
Etcher should start copying all the necessary data on your microSD card. It may take a while to complete.
![Material Material](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126359763/676915189.jpg)
Once your microSD card is flashed, you will see the following window. Just close it and eject the microSD card from your computer.
Setting Up the Raspberry Pi and Booting into Ubuntu MATE:
Now you have to connect all the necessary components to your Raspberry Pi before you turn it on.
- First, insert the microSD card on your Raspberry Pi.
- Now, connect the HDMI cable to your Raspberry Pi.
- Then, connect the USB keyboard and mouse to your Raspberry Pi.
Finally, connect the micro USB cable of your Android phone charger to you Raspberry Pi and power it on.
Fig: My Raspberry Pi 3 Model B after connecting all the components.
Your Raspberry Pi should boot as you can see in the screenshot below.
You should also see the Ubuntu MATE logo as follows.
The first time you boot into Ubuntu MATE, you should be presented with the System Configuration window as you can see in the screenshot below.
First, select your language and click on Continue as marked in the screenshot below.
Now, you can connect to your Wireless network (Wi-Fi) from here. If you don’t want to connect to your Wi-Fi network now, select I don’t want to connect to a wi-fi network right now and click on Continue.
Now, select your location and click on Continue.
Now, select your keyboard layout and click on Continue.
Now, type in your personal information and click on Continue.
As you can see, Ubuntu MATE is being configured…
The changes are being saved…
Once the configuration is saved, your Raspberry Pi should reboot. After a while, a login window should show up as you can see in the screenshot below.
Just type in the credentials and click on Log In.
Once you’re logged in, you should see the Ubuntu MATE welcome screen.
As you can see, I am running MATE desktop environment version 1.16.1.
The output of the lsb_release command:
As you can see, Ubuntu MATE on my Raspberry Pi 3 Model B is using only 261.9MB of RAM.
My Thoughts on Ubuntu MATE on Raspberry Pi:
If you want to install Ubuntu on your Raspberry Pi devices, you can go with Ubuntu Core, which is Ubuntu made specially for IoT projects. But the problem is, on Ubuntu Core, you can only install SNAP packages. There are not too many SNAP packages available. For example, if you want to set up a basic graphical desktop environment, then you can’t do it on Ubuntu Core.
So, if you like the traditional APT package manager and want to use a wide range of software available in the official Ubuntu package repository on your Raspberry Pi, then Ubuntu MATE is a great alternative. On Ubuntu MATE for Raspberry Pi, you get the APT package manager just like you have on your Ubuntu desktop. You don’t have to learn anything new here if you’ve already used Ubuntu before.
On Ubuntu MATE for Raspberry Pi, the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth drivers are pre-installed and works out of the box. Most of the things you need for your Raspberry Pi projects are included on Ubuntu MATE by default.
The MATE desktop environment is very responsive on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, the one I have. I really like it. I tried different operating systems on my Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, and among them I found Ubuntu MATE to be the best.
So, that’s how you install Ubuntu MATE on your Raspberry Pi single board computer. Thanks for reading this article.
Table of contents
- How to install Mate Desktop in Ubuntu Linux
Introduction
Ubuntu Mate is one of the most popular and widely used desktop environment. The latest release of Mate is 1.22. The new version introduces numerous improvements and new features, including new desktop layouts, better support for HiDPI displays, as well as support for indicators by default.
One of the core features is the “Caja file manager” which can encrypt all your valuable and precious data. The other updated features include Mate Tweak, by which you can easily toggle HiDPI mode and Mate Dock Applet, which now features icon scrolling and matching.
Recently, I have updated my Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04. The worst thing which I did not like is the desktop environment. So I have migrated to the Mate desktop which is very stable and reliable from the performance point of view. The best thing is that Mate automatically detects the amount of RAM available to your PC and then it decides how much to allocate to pre-loading and stuff like that.
5 Reasons to install Mate in your Linux environment
- Ubuntu mate is the official application as it maintains GNOME 2 aesthetic, plus Unity felt “heavy” at the time. You can use Ubuntu support channels.
- It is simple with good defaults like Gnome Disks, VLC media player, ExFAT support. It has a great community maintainted by a large number of developers.
- It provides you the freedom to select software that you want (either proprietary or not). It can be customized as per your needs.
- Mate also has the best terminal which you can use to access Shell in the Mate environment. The terminal has supported multiple profiles and tab in a single window (tabs). With it, you can easily run any type of application which is made to run on xetrm, VT102, and VT220 terminals.
- If you like to code or write a lot then you will fall in love with the Pluma text editor. It does not have advanced features but it will surely satisfy you in terms of reliability. I use it a lot to save text files and codes.
How to install Mate Desktop in Ubuntu Linux
A step-by-step guide to install mate in Ubuntu (mate desktop environment). The following tutorial supports Ubuntu 16.04 and also 18.04.
Note: Feel free to comment for any query and suggestions. You can find the comment box at the end of the article.
Before jumping into the step by step guide, first of all run the below command. The below command usually upgrade the packages to the latest version.
Step by step guide
Step #1: Install Mate
Open terminal (CTRL + ALT + T). And then run the below command.
Do not forget to type your sudo password. And then hit enter to go proceeds.
You need to wait until all the packages gets downloaded to your linux system.
Step #2: Select a Default Display Manager
Once all the required pacakges gets downloaded. Your desktop’s terminal will show a configuration menu asking you to choose a default desktop manager (Either gdm3 or lightdm). See the screenshot
I will recommend you select LightDM for best performence. (use arrow key to select an option and then hit enter for execution.)
Now your desktop’s terminal will show you “work in progress”. As like the below screenshot.
You only need to wait until the progress gets completed.
Step #3: Reboot your Linux [Ubuntu]
Once all the required packages downloaded and gets installed on your Linux Ubuntu. You should now reboot your computer. You can run sudo command as stated below
Type your password in order to excute the above command.
That’s it. Once your linux rebooted then lightdm-gtk-greeter will be started. You may now have an option to select the display manager. Then select “Mate”.
You have now successfully installed “MATE desktop environment” in your Ubuntu Linux (16.04 or 18.04 supported version).
You will now have the Mate screen something like below screenshot.
Conclusion
Thanks, I hope the above step-by-step guide has helped you to install Mate desktop environment in your Ubuntu system (whether the version is 16.04 or 18.04). Ubuntu Mate is one of the best alternatives to cinnamon desktop because of its high-performance modules and packages. In your new desktop, you will find your menu at the top left-hand side corner. The menu is just similar to Windows 10 OS which is even tweakable. You can install the Gnome tweak application to tweak the icons and themes.
#mate in ubuntu