MATE - ArchWiki

# MATE

Related articles

- GNOME
- Cinnamon
- Desktop environment
- Display manager
- Uniform Look for Qt and GTK Applications

From MATE homepage:

  The MATE Desktop Environment is the continuation of GNOME 2. It provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. MATE is under active development to add support for new technologies while preserving a traditional desktop experience.

## MATE applications

MATE is largely composed of GNOME 2 applications and utilities, forked and renamed to avoid conflicting with their GNOME 3 counterparts. Below is a list of common GNOME applications which have been renamed in MATE.

Application | GNOME 2 | MATE
--- | --- | ---
menu editor | Alacarte | Mozo
file manager | Nautilus | Caja
window manager | Metacity | Marco
text editor | Gedit | Pluma
image viewer | Eye of GNOME | Eye of MATE
document viewer | Evince | Atril
archive manager | File Roller | Engrampa

Other applications and core components prefixed with GNOME (such as GNOME Terminal, GNOME Panel, GNOME Menus, etc.) have had the prefix changed to MATE so they become MATE Panel, MATE Menus etc.

## Installation

MATE is available in the official repositories and can be installed with one of the following:

- The mate-panel package provides a minimal desktop shell.
- The mate group contains the core desktop environment required for the standard MATE experience.
- The mate-extra group contains additional utilities and applications that integrate well with the MATE desktop. Installing just the mate-extra group will not pull in the whole mate group via dependencies. If you want to install all MATE packages then you will need to explicitly install both groups.

### Additional MATE packages

This article or section needs language, wiki syntax or style improvements.

Reason: -> Template:App (Discuss)

There are additional official packages not included in the mate or mate-extra because it is not necessarily useful to everyone.

- gnome-main-menu - A MATE panel applet similar to the traditional main-menu, but with a few additions.
- mate-netbook - A MATE panel applet that might be useful to owners of small screen devices, such as a Netbook. The applet will automatically maximize all windows and provides an application switcher applet.

There are also a number of other unofficial MATE applications that are contributed and maintained by the MATE community and therefore not included in the mate or mate-extra groups.

- mate-accountsdialog - An application to view and modify user accounts information for MATE.
- mate-applet-lockkeys - A MATE panel applet that shows which of the CapsLock, NumLock and ScrollLock keys are on and which are off.
- mate-applet-streamer - A MATE panel applet to let you play your favourite online radio station with a single click.
- mate-color-manager - Color management application for MATE.
- mate-disk-utility - Disk management application for MATE.
- mate-screensaver-hacks - Enable screensavers from xscreensaver for MATE.
- mate-themes-extras - Collection of GTK2/3 desktop themes for MATE.
- variety - Variety changes the wallpaper on a regular interval using user-specified or automatically downloaded images.

The following is also available via the AUR and integrates with MATE but the package is not maintained by the MATE team.

- mintmenu - Linux Mint Menu for MATE.

## Starting MATE

MATE can be started via a display manager or manually.

### Graphical log-in

Choose MATE from the menu in a display manager of choice. The MATE team recommends LightDM as the display manager with the GTK+ (2) greeter, which can be installed with the lightdm-gtk2-greeter package.

### Manually

If you prefer to start MATE manually from the console, add the following line to your `~/.xinitrc` file:

    ~/.xinitrc

    exec mate-session

Then MATE can be launched by typing `startx`.

See xinitrc for details, such as preserving the logind session.

## Accessibility

MATE is well suited for use by individuals with sight or mobility impairment. Install orca, espeak (Screen reader for individuals who are blind or visually impaired) and onboard (On-screen keyboard useful for mobility impaired users)

Before starting MATE for the first time, enter the following command as the user who needs accessibility features:

    gsettings set org.mate.interface accessibility true

Once you start MATE, you can configure the accessibility applications via `System -> Preferences -> Assistive Technologies`, although if you need Orca, you will need to run it from the `Alt-F2` run window in order to start getting speech.

## Bluetooth

Since version 1.8, Bluetooth support in MATE is provided by Blueman.

## PulseAudio and GStreamer

MATE supports two audio backends, PulseAudio and GStreamer. To switch from the default PulseAudio backend, install mate-settings-daemon-gstreamer and mate-media-gstreamer.

## Tips and tricks

### Enabling compositing

Compositing is not be enabled by default. To enable it navigate to run `System -> Preferences -> Windows` and click the tick box alongside Enable software compositing window manager in the `General` tab. Alternatively, you can run the following from the terminal:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/marco/general/compositing-manager true

### Enabling new window centering

By default, new windows are placed in the top-left corner. To center new windows on creation navigate to run `System -> Preferences -> Windows` and click the tick box alongside Center new windows in the `Placement` tab. Alternatively, you can run the following from the terminal:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/marco/general/center-new-windows true

### Enabling window snapping

Window snapping is not be enabled by default, to enable it navigate to run `System -> Preferences -> Windows` and click the tick box alongside Enable side by side tiling in the `Placement` tab. Alternatively, you can run the following from the terminal:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/marco/general/side-by-side-tiling true

### Show or hide desktop icons

By default, MATE shows multiple icons on the desktop: The content of your desktop directory, computer, home and network directories, the trash and mounted drives. You can show or hide them individually or all at once using `dconf`.

#### Hide all desktop icons

    $ dconf write /org/mate/desktop/background/show-desktop-icons false

#### Hide individual icons

Hide computer icon:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/caja/desktop/computer-icon-visible false

Hide user directory icon:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/caja/desktop/home-icon-visible false

Hide network icon:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/caja/desktop/network-icon-visible false

Hide trash icon:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/caja/desktop/trash-icon-visible false

Hide mounted volumes:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/caja/desktop/volumes-visible false

Replace `false` with `true` for the icons to reappear.

### Use a different window manager with MATE

The default window manager in MATE is called marco, a fork of the GNOME 2 window manager metacity. You can replace marco with another window manager via a number of different methods:

- You can autostart a window manager of your choice using `mate-session-properties`. This means that the autostarted window manager will replace the default window manager at login. Open the System menu, navigate to the Preferences menu and click on Startup Applications. In the dialog click Add. Enter a name and comment in the name and comment sections and in the command section add a command of the following syntax: "name of window manager" "--replace"

For example: for openbox you would use the command `openbox --replace`.

Log out and log in again and marco should be replaced by the window manager of your choice. To revert to marco simply delete the entry you created in Startup Applications.

- Alternatively you can specify the desired window manager in dconf:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/desktop/session/required-components/windowmanager mywindowmanager

replace "mywindowmanager" with the name of the window manager of your choice e.g. openbox or metacity.

More steps may be required after replacing marco, such as disabling the PC speaker.

This article or section needs expansion.

Reason: Caja launched from elsewhere still adds that aggrevating desktop window, and you can't disable it globally like in Nautilus/Nemo (Discuss)

To prevent Caja from managing the desktop [1], create a script in your `$PATH`:

    /usr/local/bin/caja-run

    #!/bin/bash
    unset DESKTOP_AUTOSTART_ID && exec caja --no-desktop "$@"

This script must not be called caja. Mark it executable with `chmod +x`, and replace the default file manager command:

    $ gsettings set org.mate.session.required-components filemanager "caja-run"

### Change window decoration button order

You can change the button using dconf. The key is in org.mate.marco.general.button-layout. Use the graphical dconf-editor or the dconf command line tool to change it:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/marco/general/button-layout "'close,maximize,minimize:'"

and put menu, close, minimize and maximize in your desired order, separated by commas. The colon is the window title (it is necessary for the changes to apply).

### Auto open file manager after drive mount

By default, MATE automatically opens a new file manager window when a drive is mounted. To disable this, change the following key in dconf:

    $ dconf write /org/mate/desktop/media-handling/automount-open false

### Screensaver

MATE uses mate-screensaver to lock your session. By default there are a limited number of lock-screens available. To make more lock-screens available, install the mate-screensaver-hacks package. This will allow you to use XScreenSaver lock-screens with mate-screensaver.

### Lock screen and default background image

The full list of configuration options can be found in `/usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/org.mate.background.gschema.xml`, they are overridden by creating the file `/usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/mate-background.gschema.override`.

Note: The values on the right must be enclosed in single quotes ('') otherwise an error will occur during re-compile.

Example #1: Change the background image of the lock screen:

    /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/mate-background.gschema.override

    [org.mate.background]
    picture-filename='/path/to/the/background.jpg'

Example #2: Change the lock screen to use a gradient:

    /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/mate-background.gschema.override

    [org.mate.background]
    color-shading-type='vertical-gradient'
    picture-options='scaled'
    picture-filename=''
    primary-color='#152233'
    secondary-color='#000000'

Re-compile the schemas:

    # glib-compile-schemas /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/

Finally, restart your X session for the change to effect.

### Customize lockscreen background

The factual accuracy of this article or section is disputed.

Reason: moved to `/usr/local` to prevent overwrite on upgrades, but is untested (Discuss)

MATE loads the picture under /usr/share/backgrounds/mate/desktop/Stripes.png as the background for the lockscreen. This is a somewhat hacky solution, but replace the picture with the one of your likings. Copy your picture:

    # cp /usr/local/share/wallpaper/wallpaper.png /usr/share/backgrounds/mate/desktop/Stripes.png

## Troubleshooting

### Toggling compositing

Some software may have issues rendering graphics when working on an environment using the nvidia proprietary drivers and a compositing window manager.

To easily toggle the compositing feature, save the following script somewhere within the Home directory, e.g. `~/.scripts/compositing.sh`:

    #!/bin/bash
    if $(dconf read /org/mate/marco/general/compositing-manager) == "true"
    then
      dconf write /org/mate/marco/general/compositing-manager false
    else
      dconf write /org/mate/marco/general/compositing-manager true
    fi

and then create a custom keyboard shortcut that executes the file, e.g. `Ctrl+Alt+C`, to `sh ~/.scripts/compositing.sh`.

### Vertical sync for compositing

marco does not support vertical synchronization via OpenGL, which may cause video tearing with enabled compositing. [2] Consider a different composite manager with OpenGL support such as compton-git.

### Consistent cursor theme

See Cursor themes#Desktop environments.

### Use of gradient backgrounds with LightDM

If you wish to use the default MATE (1.8) Stripes background as the LightDM background as well so as to make for seamless transition from LightDM to MATE, you will find that it is runtime-constructed from a grayscale PNG upon which MATE layers a vertical blue-to-green gradient, something which LightDM does not currently support. If insistent, you can work around this by temporarily setting `/org/mate/desktop/background/show-desktop-icons` to `false`, either through the `dconf Editor` tool available from the `System Tools` menu or by running

    dconf write /org/mate/desktop/background/show-desktop-icons false

from the Alt-F2 `Run Application` dialog, then running `killall mate-panel` from said dialog and hitting `Print Screen` before the panel reappears. You are then presented with a `Save As` dialog for exactly that fully rendered, screen-sized PNG that you need for LightDM. Run

    dconf reset /org/mate/desktop/background/show-desktop-icons

to have your desktop icons reappear.

### Enabling panel shadow

Due to a race condition, the panel shadow does not appear after logging in to the MATE desktop, even with compositing enabled. [3]

Copy `/usr/share/applications/marco.desktop` and add a delay:

    ~/.local/share/applications/marco.desktop

    X-MATE-Autostart-Phase=Applications
    X-MATE-Autostart-Delay=2
    X-MATE-Provides=windowmanager
    X-MATE-Autostart-Notify=true

Note: Delays are only allowed in the applications phase, hence `X-MATE-Autostart-Phase` must be set to `Applications`.

If this has no effect, increase the delay duration.

## See also

- MATE homepage
- MATE wiki for Arch Linux
- MATE desktop screenshots
- The MATE Desktop Environment - Arch Linux forum discussion about MATE

Category:

- Desktop environments