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Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS and Linux Mint 21.3 “Virginia” MATE Edition have a lot of things in common. They are both based upon Ubuntu, both use the MATE 1.26 desktop, and are both current releases that you can install today. Given how similar these two Linux distributions, let’s look at what differentiates them. The MATE desktop is basically a continuation of the most popular Linux desktop ever, GNOME 2, which was active from 2002-2011. With its simple, three-menu system, GNOME 2 had captured about half the Linux desktop market and was the flagship desktop on Arch, Debian, Fedora, Slackware, and Ubuntu, until it was replaced by the wildly unpopular GNOME 3 in April 2011. That move energized Linux developers to create alternatives including Ubuntu’s Unity, Linux Mint’s Cinnamon, and from Argentina, a straight-ahead fork of GNOME 2, named MATE (pronounced “ma-tay”) after the local caffeinated drink. Today, MATE still provides an easy-to-use Linux experience, without the flash and bling of some distributions, but with a smaller memory footprint, better speed, and something hard to find: plain simplicity. MATE is available on many distributions, including Ubuntu and Linux Mint. We’ll start with a short look at each one’s current release.
Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS et Linux Mint 21.3 « Virginia » MATE Edition ont beaucoup de choses en commun. Les deux sont basées sur Ubuntu, les deux utilisent le bureau MATE 1.26 et les deux sont des versions actuelles que vous pouvez installer aujourd'hui. Étant donnée leurs nombreuses similarités, regardons ce qui les différencie.
Le bureau MATE est essentiellement une continuation du bureau Linux le plus populaire de toujours, GNOME 2, qui était actif de 2002 à 2011. Avec son système simple à trois menus, GNOME 2 avait pris environ la moitié du marché de bureaux Linux et était le bureau fleuron sur Arch, Debian, Fedora, Slackware et Ubuntu, jusqu'à ce son remplacement par Gnome 3, qui était follement impopulaire, en avril 2011. Cela a motivé les développeurs de Linux de créer des alternatives, dont unity d'Ubuntu, Cinnamon de Linux Mint et, venant d'Argentia, une branche franche de GNOME 2, appelée MATE (pononcé « ma-tay“») d'après la boisson caféinée locale.
Aujourd'hui, MATE fournit encore une expérience conviviale de Linux, sans le bling-bling de certaines distributioons, mais avec une plus petite empreinte de mémoire, une meilleure vitesse et quelque chose qui est difficile à trouver : la simplicité tout simple. MATE est disponible sur de nombreuses distributions, y compris Ubuntu et Linux Mint. Nous allons commencer par un regard bref à la version actuelle de chacune.
Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS This Ubuntu official flavor came out on 25 April, 2024 and is the 21st release, having been around since 2014. It became an official Ubuntu flavor in 2015 with the release of 15.04. As a long term support (LTS) release, Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS is supported for three years, until April 2027. The improvements incorporated in this version are minimal over the last release, 23.10. It uses MATE Desktop 1.26.2, and has the new Flutter-based installer that is also used in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. It adds GNOME Firmware and the Ubuntu App Center package management system, which replaces Software Boutique. Also removed is Ubuntu MATE Welcome.
Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS
Cette saveur officielle d'Ubuntu est sortie le 25 avril 2024 ; il sagit de la 21ième publication puisqu'elle existe depuis 2014. Elle est devenue une saveur officielle d'Ubuntu en 2015 avec la publication de la 15.04.
En tant que version à support à long terme (LTS), Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS est prise en charge pendant trois ans, jusqu'en avril 2027.
Les amélioration incorporées dans cette version sont minimales par rapport à la publication précédente, la 23.10. Elle utilise le MATE Desktop 1.26.2 et contient le nouvel installeur basé sur Flutter qui est utilisé dans Ubuntu 24.04 LTS aussi. Elle ajoute GNOME Firmware et le système de gestion de paquets Ubuntu AppCenter, qui remplace la Software Boutique. Également enlevé est l'Ubuntu Mate Welcome.
Applications Some of the applications included with Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS are: Atril 1.26.2 PDF viewer Caja 1.26.3 file manager Celluloid 0.26 video player CUPS 2.4.7 printing system Document Scanner (Simple Scan) 46.0 optical scanner Engrampa 1.26.2 file archiver Evolution 3.52.0 email client Eye of MATE 1.26.1 image viewer Firefox 125.0.2 web browser GDebi 0.9.5.7 package installer* GNOME Disks 46.0 disk manager GNOME Maps 46.0 mapping GNOME Weather 46.0 weather display Gparted 1.5.0 partition editor* GUFW 24.04.0 firewall controller MATE Calculator 1.26.0 calculator* MATE Control Center 1.26.1 settings manager* MATE Disk Usage Analyzer 1.26.1 (baobab) disk display* MATE System Monitor 1.26.3 system resource monitor MATE Terminal 1.26.1 terminal emulator* LibreOffice 24.2.2 office suite Pipewire 1.0.5 audio controller Plank 0.11.89 desktop dock* Pluma 1.26.1 text editor Redshift 1.12 screen color temperature adjuster* Rhythmbox 3.4.7 music player* Shotwell 0.32.6 photo manager Transmission 4.0.5 bittorrent client Ubuntu App Center 1.0.0 package management system Webcamoid 9.1.1 webcam* * indicates same application version as used in Ubuntu MATE 23.10 supplied as a snap, so version depends on the upstream package manager Applications Voici quelques-unes des applications livrée avec Ubuntu Mate 24.4 : Atril 1.26.2 visionneur de PDF Caja 1.26.3 gesionnaire de fichiers Celluloid 0.26 lecteur de vidéos CUPS 2.4.7 système d'impression Document Scanner (Simple Scan) 46.0 scanner numérique Engrampa 1.26.2 archiveur de fichiers Evolution 3.52.0 client mail Eye of MATE 1.26.1 visionneur d'images Firefox 125.0.2 navigateur Web** GDebi 0.9.5.7 installeur de paquets* GNOME Disks 46.0 gestionnaire de disques GNOME Maps 46.0 cartographie GNOME Weather 46.0 affichage de la météo Gparted 1.5.0 éditeur des partitions* GUFW 24.04.0 contrôleur de pare-feu MATE Calculator 1.26.0 calculatrice* MATE Control Center 1.26.1 gestionnaire de paramètres* MATE Disk Usage Analyzer 1.26.1 (baobab) affichage des disques* MATE System Monitor 1.26.3 moniteur des ressources système MATE Terminal 1.26.1 émulateur de terminal* LibreOffice 24.2.2 suite bureautique Pipewire 1.0.5 contrôleur audio Plank 0.11.89 dock de bureau* Pluma 1.26.1 éditeur de texte Redshift 1.12 ajusteur de la température de la couleur de l'écran* Rhythmbox 3.4.7 lecteur de musique* Shotwell 0.32.6 gestionnaire de photos Transmission 4.0.5 client bittorrent Ubuntu App Center 1.0.0 système de gestion de paquets** Webcamoid 9.1.1 webcam*
* indique la même version de l'application que celle utilisée dans Ubuntu MATE 23.10 ** fournie en tant que snap ; ainsi la version dépend du gestionnaire de paquets en amont
Ubuntu MATE’s list of default applications has just about everything a desktop user needs to get started, without too much bloat and no duplication. The file browser is the MATE desktop's own Caja file manager. Caja is an earlier fork of Nautilus with some of Nautilus' deleted features reinstated like the “up one level” button. It also includes some useful capabilities like bulk file renaming. Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS has the LibreOffice 24.2.2 office suite complete except for LibreOffice Base, the database program.
La liste des applications par défaut d'Ubuntu MATE contient à peu près tout ce dont un utilisateur d'ordinateur a besoin pour commencer, sans trop de ballonnement et aucune duplication.
Le navigateur de fichiers est le gestionnaire de fichiers Caja, qui fait partie du bureau MATE. Caja est une branche antérieure de Nautilus dans laquelle certaines des fonctionnalités supprimées de Nautilus sont remises, comme le bouton « remonter un niveau ». Il contient également quelques capacités utiles comme le renommage de fichiers par lot.
Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS contient la suite bureautique LibreOffice 24.2.2 complète, sauf LibreOffice Base, le programme de base de données.
Linux Mint 21.3 “Virginia” MATE Edition This is my second look at Linux Mint 21.3 “Virginia” since my recent comparison of the Cinnamon Edition with Ubuntu Cinnamon 24.04 LTS. This version of Mint has the same back-end based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS but with the MATE desktop instead of Cinnamon. Linux Mint 21.3 came out on 12 January, 2024, and is the third point release to Mint 21.0 “Vanessa” from 31 July, 2022. Linux Mint itself has been around since 2006 and originally featured the GNOME 2 desktop, so a MATE Edition is a natural continuation. It is also available in editions with the Cinnamon and Xfce desktops as well. Because it is a point release, Mint 21.3 has only a few updates. These include full support for SecureBoot and wider compatibility with more BIOS and EFI setups, with Grub used in EFI mode and Isolinux/syslinux used in BIOS mode. Furthermore, the Mint tools and the framework employed to produce ISO images have both been updated.
Applications
Some of the applications included with Linux Mint 21.3 MATE Edition are: Blueman 2.3.5 Bluetooth manager Bulky 3.2 file renamer Celluloid 0.21 video player Caja 1.26.0 file manager Drawing 1.0.2 image editor Engrampa 1.26.0 file archiver Firefox 121.0 web browser GNOME Calculator 41.1 calculator GNOME Disks 42.0 disk manager GNOME Document Scanner (Simple Scan) 42.0 optical scanner Gparted 1.3.1 partition manager GUFW 24.04.0 firewall Hexchat 2.16.0 IRC client Hypnotix 4.3 television streaming application LibreOffice 7.3.7.2 office suite MATE Control Center MATE Disc System Monitor 1.26.0 MATE Disk Usage Analyzer 1.26.0 disk usage display MATE Terminal 1.26.0 MintInstall 8.2.9 software manager MintUpdate 6.0.7 update manager Pix 3.2.2 image organizer Redshift 1.12 desktop day/night adjuster Rhythmbox 3.4.4 music player Synaptic 0.90.2 package manager Thunderbird 115.6.0 email client Timeshift 24.01.1 system restore utility Transmission 3.00 BitTorrent client Warpinator 1.8.3 file transfer client xed 3.4.5 text editor xreader 4.0.2 document viewer xviewer 3.4.4 image viewer
Linux Mint 21.3 MATE Edition has a good mix of default applications, many of which are the same as those included in the Cinnamon Edition. The only differences are the use of some MATE desktop-specific applications like the Caja file manager. As with Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition, the MATE Edition comes with most of what a desktop user needs, without any duplication except in package management. Mint has both the MintInstall software store and the more technical Synaptic APT package manager. As is the case in Mint’s Cinnamon Edition, some of the included applications are “genericized” versions of GNOME applications, with some “debranded” and others forks. One example is the xed text editor, which is a fork of MATE's Pluma which is, in turn, a fork of GNOME's gedit text editor.
All the default applications provided are .deb files, including a customized version of the Firefox web browser, although Flatpak is enabled as well.
Linux Mint 21.3 comes with the complete LibreOffice 7.3.7.2 office suite, including LibreOffice Base, the database application.
Comparison
These two Linux distributions are much alike in look and use, so let’s see the areas where they differ.
Releases & support periods
There are some differences in this area. Linux Mint comes out every two years as an LTS version, with point releases in between, which are basically there to help new users with their installation, reducing the number of updates. Support for each major Mint version is for five years.
Ubuntu MATE conforms to Ubuntu's release schedule and so there are new versions out every six months, in April and October. Like Mint, Ubuntu MATE is available as an LTS release every two years, but it also has three “interim” releases in between. The LTS versions are supported for three years while the interim versions have nine months of support.
This does mean that, if you want the MATE desktop and have new hardware that the most recent version of Linux Mint MATE does not yet support, then the newest interim release of Ubuntu MATE may have you covered, due to its newer Linux kernel version. Mint does have an “Edge” version with a newer kernel but with the Cinnamon desktop, not MATE.
These support periods do sound different but, in practice, they probably don't make much difference to most users. Users generally seem to stick to the LTS versions unless they need newer hardware support. With five years of support versus three, it seems to give an edge to Linux Mint, but most users tend to upgrade to the latest LTS and, with one button upgrades available, it is easy to do. While these release schedules and their support periods differ, in practice they are probably equal, as anyone using either distribution can run the current LTS version.
Snaps vs Flatpak
Ubuntu MATE inherits Ubuntu's use of Snap packages and even comes with a couple of them installed: Firefox and the Ubuntu App Center. Mint does not use Snaps, but does have Flatpak enabled, although no Flatpak applications are installed.
While Snap and Flatpak are both competing Linux application packaging formats, these days they are fairly comparable in terms of ease-of-use and the range of applications available. Flatpak can also be installed on Ubuntu MATE and Snaps on Linux Mint.
Customization
Both Linux Mint and Ubuntu MATE have a large number of customization choices, but Mint has more. Mint offers 101 wallpapers, which may be a Linux record, versus Ubuntu MATE with 28 wallpapers. Mint has 65 included icon and window themes to Ubuntu MATE’s 23.
A large number of wallpapers is not necessarily a big deal, though, as wallpapers are easy to find on the internet. Both Ubuntu MATE and Mint also have additional themes that can be installed from the MATE Look website, so, if your favorite theme is missing from the default setup, it can probably be quickly found.
Panels
The default panel arrangement for Linux Mint MATE is a single panel at the bottom of the screen, which optimizes screen space and gives it a more modern look.
By default, Ubuntu MATE comes with two panels just like GNOME 2 did, one each at the screen’s top and bottom, but it is not difficult to use the settings to add the needed utilities to the bottom panel and then just delete the top one.
Menus
The default Ubuntu MATE menu is the Brisk menu which is compact, includes search, and works fine, but it is easy to add one (or more) of the several provided alternative menus to the panels, including the original three-menu GNOME 2 menu (applications, places & system).
Mint comes with the mintMenu which, while different from Brisk, works similarly. In a nostalgic nod to the old triple-menu GNOME 2 system, it retains in-menu categories for applications, places & system. Alternative menus can also be installed on the panel.
Dock
On Ubuntu MATE, if you want a desktop dock, then Plank is already installed, ready to be turned on. Just open the Plank preferences and it appears. Plank is easy to turn off, too. Just right-click “quit” on it and it is gone. As docks go, it is fairly unobtrusive, as it is small and hides when a window touches it.
There is no launcher or dock provided in Mint’s MATE Edition, such as Plank, although it can always be added.
Download Size
Linux Mint 21.3 has a download size of 3.1 GB, while Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS is 4.2 GB. That seems like a bit of a size disparity but you have to consider that Linux Mint 21.3 is based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, not 24.04 LTS, and the Ubuntu base has grown in the two years between those releases. I suspect that Linux Mint 22, which will be based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, will be bigger, so this too is probably not a real advantage for either distribution. As long as you have a reasonable internet connection speed and the disk space, the download size is probably pretty much immaterial anyway.
Screen zoom, scaling or large text
Both Ubuntu MATE and Mint MATE use the same MATE desktop. One current limitation is that it does not include a “large text” feature, desktop zoom ,or scaling control, which can be a problem if you have a laptop with a small, but high-resolution screen. MATE does however have the ability to adjust system fonts at Control Center - Appearance - Fonts and it solves the problem reasonably well in my testing. Some applications, like Firefox and LibreOffice Writer, may need additional text size boosts within the application.
Which to Choose?
Having tried both of these out, I can honestly say that they are so similar that there is not much to choose between them. Mint comes set up with one panel and has more wallpaper and theme choices but, with a little bit of configuring, Ubuntu MATE can be just as good. Both have very clean and simple MATE desktops without a lot of fancy effects, so take your pick!
External links:
Ubuntu MATE: https://ubuntu-mate.org/
Linux Mint: https://www.linuxmint.com/
MATE Look: https://www.mate-look.org/browse/