How to Install MATE Desktop 1.18 in Ubuntu 16.04

MATE desktop 1.18

MATE Desktop, the classic Gnome 2 continuation, has reached the 1.18 release after 6 months of development. The entire MATE Desktop suite of applications and components is now GTK3+ only!

MATE 1.18 release highlights:

  • GTK3 >=3.14, all GTK2+ code has been dropped
  • Completed the migration to GtkApplication from libunique
  • Added libinput support for mouse and touchpad.
  • Much improved accessibility support (particularly for visually impaired users).
  • Improvements to MATE Panel, Caja file manager, and Engrampa archive manager
  • Lock screen will load the users selected background
  • Notifications now implement action icons support
  • The plugin systems, and all C and Python plugins, in Eye of MATE and Pluma have been ported to libpeas.
  • A number of memory leaks have been plugged.
  • MATE Calculator is back and has been ported to GTK3+
  • And much more! See the release note.

How to Install MATE 1.18 in Ubuntu 16.04:

MATE 1.18 will be included in Ubuntu MATE 17.04. MATE developers has no plans to backport this release. However, there’s an unofficial PPA contains MATE 1.18 for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

NOTE: As an unofficial PPA repository, the packages are not well tested. There may be bugs and stability issues. Use it at your own risk!

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add the PPA repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/mate-1.18

Type in your password (no visual feedback) and hit Enter.

mate-118-ppa

2. For Ubuntu MATE 16.04 or other MATE desktop users, upgrade your system via command:

sudo apt update

sudo apt full-upgrade

Or you can run following commands to install MATE desktop for the first time:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install --install-suggests mate-desktop

Uninstall:

To restore MATE Desktop to the stock version in Ubuntu 16.04 repository, purge the PPA via command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:jonathonf/mate-1.18

About ml

ml is a part time stay-at-home dad who've been using Ubuntu Desktop for a few years. He writes in the free time and wishes to share some useful tips with Ubuntu beginners and lovers.

2 comments

  1. Thank so much

  2. how to remove completly mate desktop 1.18 ?