Installing MATE on Raspbian/Debian 8.0 (jessie)

I don’t actively dislike the GNOME 3 look and feel, but I don’t really like it either and much prefer the MATE Desktop environment. Previously I installed MATE from the backports repository and used it with Debian wheezy for a while, but now that Debian 8.0 (jessie) has been released I decided it was time to upgrade.

Although upgrading Debian is usually a painless process since the changes to this version are significant I decided that I was going to rebuild my workstation rather than upgrade – this should ensure that there isn’t any ‘fluff’ left over from the previous installation. As usual I tried to install the minimum number of packages needed for a working desktop environment and my first impressions of this release are it has put on a bit of weight since version 1.6.

If you are using a Raspberry Pi then you could begin by following the instructions to install a minimal Raspbian system.

I have not got to grips with all the changes yet but I already think that the upgrade was worth the effort, switching to systemd has certainly made the system a lot quicker to boot and the MATE desktop seems to work well with none of the little niggles I have noticed previously.

And of course it still has that familiar GNOME2 look and feel.

Mate Desktop

Although not exactly a lightweight desktop it does work surprisingly well on the new Raspberry Pi2 and even when running IceWeasel (Firefox) the system isn’t too heavily loaded.

Raspberry-Pi2-MATE-Desktop

Before we can install anything we need to be running as root and it is a good idea to make sure that the list of known packages is up to date, as this ensures we don’t get any errors if we try to install an old version of a package that has been updated recently.

$ su
Password:

OR

$ sudo -i
Password:

# apt-get update
Get:1 http://security.debian.org jessie/updates InRelease [63.1 kB]
  :
  :
  :
Fetched 284 kB in 1s (150 kB/s)                        
Reading package lists... Done

Installing X Windows

Since MATE depends on X Windows you will need to install the minimal packages required to provide an X server first. I’ve saved some disk space by not installing the recommended packages using ‘–no-install-recommends’ but since this excludes both ‘xfonts-100dpi’ and ‘xfonts-75dpi’ you might want to include them if you know you need them – if you don’t know it is probably safe to leave them out. We do not need to install the X window manager as we will be installing the MATE window manager in the next step.

# apt-get install xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core xfonts-base xinit \
> --no-install-recommends
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libdrm-intel1 libdrm-nouveau2 libdrm-radeon1 libdrm2 libegl1-mesa libelf1
  libepoxy0 libevdev2 libfontenc1 libgbm1 libgl1-mesa-glx libglapi-mesa
  libice6 libllvm3.5 libmtdev1 libpciaccess0 libpixman-1-0 libsm6
  libwayland-client0 libwayland-server0 libx11-xcb1 libxatracker2 libxaw7
  libxcb-dri2-0 libxcb-dri3-0 libxcb-glx0 libxcb-present0 libxcb-render0
  libxcb-shape0 libxcb-sync1 libxcb-util0 libxcb-xfixes0 libxdamage1
  libxfixes3 libxfont1 libxi6 libxkbfile1 libxmu6 libxpm4 libxshmfence1
  libxt6 libxtst6 libxv1 libxvmc1 libxxf86vm1 x11-common x11-xkb-utils
  xfonts-encodings xfonts-utils xserver-common xserver-xorg-input-all
  xserver-xorg-input-evdev xserver-xorg-input-mouse
  xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse
  xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
  xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xserver-xorg-video-intel
  xserver-xorg-video-mach64 xserver-xorg-video-mga
  xserver-xorg-video-modesetting xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
  xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
  xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
  xserver-xorg-video-savage xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
  xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
  xserver-xorg-video-trident xserver-xorg-video-vesa
  xserver-xorg-video-vmware
Suggested packages:
  xfs xserver xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi xfonts-scalable
  gpointing-device-settings touchfreeze firmware-linux
Recommended packages:
  libegl1-mesa-drivers libgl1-mesa-dri xterm x-session-manager
  x-window-manager x-terminal-emulator xserver-xorg-input-wacom
  xserver-xorg-video-qxl
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libdrm-intel1 libdrm-nouveau2 libdrm-radeon1 libdrm2 libegl1-mesa libelf1
  libepoxy0 libevdev2 libfontenc1 libgbm1 libgl1-mesa-glx libglapi-mesa
  libice6 libllvm3.5 libmtdev1 libpciaccess0 libpixman-1-0 libsm6
  libwayland-client0 libwayland-server0 libx11-xcb1 libxatracker2 libxaw7
  libxcb-dri2-0 libxcb-dri3-0 libxcb-glx0 libxcb-present0 libxcb-render0
  libxcb-shape0 libxcb-sync1 libxcb-util0 libxcb-xfixes0 libxdamage1
  libxfixes3 libxfont1 libxi6 libxkbfile1 libxmu6 libxpm4 libxshmfence1
  libxt6 libxtst6 libxv1 libxvmc1 libxxf86vm1 x11-common x11-xkb-utils
  xfonts-base xfonts-encodings xfonts-utils xinit xserver-common
  xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all
  xserver-xorg-input-evdev xserver-xorg-input-mouse
  xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse
  xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
  xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xserver-xorg-video-intel
  xserver-xorg-video-mach64 xserver-xorg-video-mga
  xserver-xorg-video-modesetting xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
  xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
  xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
  xserver-xorg-video-savage xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
  xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
  xserver-xorg-video-trident xserver-xorg-video-vesa
  xserver-xorg-video-vmware
0 upgraded, 79 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 29.1 MB of archives.
After this operation, 73.2 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] 
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Get:2 ... jessie/main libpciaccess0 amd64 0.13.2-3+b1 [47.6 kB]
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Get:78 ... jessie/main xserver-xorg-input-all amd64 1:7.7+7 [36.6 kB]
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Processing triggers for systemd (215-17) ...

Installing the MATE Desktop

Then we can install the core desktop applications, including the window manager, file manager, and text editor. This is where the increase in the number of package dependencies since the earlier versions starts become obvious.

# apt-get install x11-xserver-utils mate-core mozo pluma \
> --no-install-recommends
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  adwaita-icon-theme aspell aspell-en caja caja-common cpp cpp-4.9 dbus
  dbus-x11 dconf-gsettings-backend dconf-service desktop-file-utils
  dictionaries-common emacsen-common fontconfig fontconfig-config
  fonts-dejavu-core gir1.2-glib-2.0 glib-networking glib-networking-common
  glib-networking-services gsettings-desktop-schemas gvfs gvfs-backends
  gvfs-bin gvfs-common gvfs-daemons gvfs-libs hicolor-icon-theme iso-codes
  libarchive13 libasn1-8-heimdal libasound2 libasound2-data
  libasound2-plugins libaspell15 libasyncns0 libatasmart4
  libatk-bridge2.0-0 libatk1.0-0 libatk1.0-data libatspi2.0-0
  libavahi-client3 libavahi-common-data libavahi-common3 libavahi-glib1
  libavcodec56 libavresample2 libavutil54 libblas-common libblas3
  libbluetooth3 libbluray1 libcairo-gobject2 libcairo2 libcaja-extension1
  libcanberra-gtk0 libcanberra0 libcap-ng0 libcdio-cdda1 libcdio-paranoia1
  libcdio13 libcloog-isl4 libcolord2 libcroco3 libcups2 libdatrie1
  libdbus-1-3 libdbus-glib-1-2 libdconf1 libelfg0 libenchant1c2a libexempi3
  libexif12 libfftw3-single3 libflac8 libfontconfig1 libgail18 libgd3
  libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-common libgfortran3
  libgirepository-1.0-1 libglib2.0-0 libglib2.0-bin libglib2.0-data
  libgoa-1.0-0b libgoa-1.0-common libgomp1 libgphoto2-6 libgphoto2-port10
  libgraphite2-3 libgsm1 libgssapi3-heimdal libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0
  libgstreamer1.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libgtk-3-bin libgtk-3-common libgtk2.0-0
  libgtk2.0-bin libgtk2.0-common libgtksourceview2.0-0
  libgtksourceview2.0-common libgtop2-7 libgtop2-common libgudev-1.0-0
  libharfbuzz-icu0 libharfbuzz0b libhcrypto4-heimdal libheimbase1-heimdal
  libheimntlm0-heimdal libhunspell-1.3-0 libhx509-5-heimdal
  libimobiledevice4 libisl10 libjack-jackd2-0 libjasper1
  libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0-0 libjbig0 libjpeg62-turbo libjson-glib-1.0-0
  libjson-glib-1.0-common libkrb5-26-heimdal liblapack3 liblcms2-2
  libldap-2.4-2 libldb1 libltdl7 liblzo2-2 libmarco-private0
  libmate-desktop-2-17 libmate-menu2 libmate-panel-applet-4-1 libmate-slab0
  libmate-window-settings1 libmatekbd-common libmatekbd4
  libmateweather-common libmateweather1 libmp3lame0 libmpc3 libmpfr4
  libmtp-common libmtp9 libnotify4 libntdb1 libogg0 libopenjpeg5 libopus0
  liborc-0.4-0 libpam-systemd libpango-1.0-0 libpango1.0-0
  libpangocairo-1.0-0 libpangoft2-1.0-0 libpangox-1.0-0 libpangoxft-1.0-0
  libparted2 libplist2 libpolkit-agent-1-0 libpolkit-backend-1-0
  libpolkit-gobject-1-0 libqroxy1 libpulse-mainloop-glib0 libpulse0
  libpulsedsp libpython-stdlib libpython2.7 libpython2.7-minimal
  libpython2.7-stdlib libquadmath0 librest-0.7-0 libroken18-heimdal
  librsvg2-2 librsvg2-common libsamplerate0 libsasl2-2 libsasl2-modules-db
  libschroedinger-1.0-0 libsecret-1-0 libsecret-common libsmbclient
  libsndfile1 libsoup-gnome2.4-1 libsoup2.4-1 libspeex1 libspeexdsp1
  libsqlite3-0 libstartup-notification0 libtalloc2 libtdb1 libtevent0
  libthai-data libthai0 libtheora0 libtiff5 libudisks2-0 libunique-1.0-0
  libupower-glib3 libusbmuxd2 libva1 libvorbis0a libvorbisenc2
  libvorbisfile3 libvpx1 libvte-common libvte9 libwayland-cursor0
  libwbclient0 libwebkitgtk-3.0-0 libwebkitgtk-3.0-common libwebp5
  libwebrtc-audio-processing-0 libwind0-heimdal libwnck-common libwnck22
  libx264-142 libxcb-shm0 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxft2 libxinerama1
  libxkbcommon0 libxklavier16 libxml2 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxres1
  libxslt1.1 libxss1 libxvidcore4 libxxf86dga1 marco marco-common
  mate-backgrounds mate-control-center mate-control-center-common
  mate-desktop mate-desktop-common mate-desktop-environment-core
  mate-icon-theme mate-menus mate-notification-daemon mate-panel
  mate-panel-common mate-polkit mate-polkit-common mate-session-manager
  mate-settings-daemon mate-settings-daemon-common
  mate-settings-daemon-pulse mate-terminal mate-terminal-common
  menu-xdg mime-support parted pluma-common policykit-1 psmisc pulseaudio
  pulseaudio-utils python python-cairo python-gi python-gobject
  python-gobject-2 python-gtk2 python-mate-menu python-minimal python-numpy
  python-support python-talloc python2.7 python2.7-minimal samba-libs
  shared-mime-info udisks2 upower x11-utils zenity zenity-common
Suggested packages:
  aspell-doc spellutils gstreamer0.10-tools meld engrampa cpp-doc
  gcc-4.9-locales wordlist obex-data-server samba-common isoquery lrzip
  alsa-utils libbluray-bdj libcanberra-pulse cups-common libenchant-voikko
  libfftw3-bin libfftw3-dev libgd-tools gphoto2 gtkam libvisual-0.4-plugins
  gstreamer-codec-install gnome-codec-install gstreamer1.0-tools
  libusbmuxd-tools jackd2 libjasper-runtime liblcms2-utils opus-tools
  libparted-dev libparted-i18n librsvg2-bin speex gconf2 parted-doc
  pavumeter pavucontrol paman paprefs avahi-daemon python-doc python-tk
  python-gi-cairo python-gobject-2-dbg python-gtk2-doc gcc gfortran
  python-dev python-nose python-numpy-dbg python-numpy-doc python2.7-doc
  binutils binfmt-support xfsprogs reiserfsprogs exfat-utils btrfs-tools
  mdadm cryptsetup-bin mesa-utils nickle cairo-5c xorg-docs-core
Recommended packages:
  gnome-keyring policykit-1-gnome at-spi2-core libaacs0
  libcanberra-gtk-module colord enchant xdg-user-dirs libgphoto2-l10n
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-base hunspell-en-us hunspell-dictionary
  myspell-dictionary usbmuxd libmtp-runtime notification-daemon
  libsasl2-modules va-driver-all va-driver gstreamer1.0-plugins-good
  geoclue-2.0 xml-core menu file pulseaudio-module-x11 rtkit dosfstools
  ntfs-3g gdisk
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  adwaita-icon-theme aspell aspell-en caja caja-common cpp cpp-4.9 dbus
  dbus-x11 dconf-gsettings-backend dconf-service desktop-file-utils
  dictionaries-common emacsen-common fontconfig fontconfig-config
  fonts-dejavu-core gir1.2-glib-2.0 glib-networking glib-networking-common
  glib-networking-services gsettings-desktop-schemas gvfs gvfs-backends
  gvfs-bin gvfs-common gvfs-daemons gvfs-libs hicolor-icon-theme iso-codes
  libarchive13 libasn1-8-heimdal libasound2 libasound2-data
  libasound2-plugins libaspell15 libasyncns0 libatasmart4
  libatk-bridge2.0-0 libatk1.0-0 libatk1.0-data libatspi2.0-0
  libavahi-client3 libavahi-common-data libavahi-common3 libavahi-glib1
  libavcodec56 libavresample2 libavutil54 libblas-common libblas3
  libbluetooth3 libbluray1 libcairo-gobject2 libcairo2 libcaja-extension1
  libcanberra-gtk0 libcanberra0 libcap-ng0 libcdio-cdda1 libcdio-paranoia1
  libcdio13 libcloog-isl4 libcolord2 libcroco3 libcups2 libdatrie1
  libdbus-1-3 libdbus-glib-1-2 libdconf1 libelfg0 libenchant1c2a libexempi3
  libexif12 libfftw3-single3 libflac8 libfontconfig1 libgail18 libgd3
  libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-common libgfortran3
  libgirepository-1.0-1 libglib2.0-0 libglib2.0-bin libglib2.0-data
  libgoa-1.0-0b libgoa-1.0-common libgomp1 libgphoto2-6 libgphoto2-port10
  libgraphite2-3 libgsm1 libgssapi3-heimdal libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0
  libgstreamer1.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libgtk-3-bin libgtk-3-common libgtk2.0-0
  libgtk2.0-bin libgtk2.0-common libgtksourceview2.0-0
  libgtksourceview2.0-common libgtop2-7 libgtop2-common libgudev-1.0-0
  libharfbuzz-icu0 libharfbuzz0b libhcrypto4-heimdal libheimbase1-heimdal
  libheimntlm0-heimdal libhunspell-1.3-0 libhx509-5-heimdal
  libimobiledevice4 libisl10 libjack-jackd2-0 libjasper1
  libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0-0 libjbig0 libjpeg62-turbo libjson-glib-1.0-0
  libjson-glib-1.0-common libkrb5-26-heimdal liblapack3 liblcms2-2
  libldap-2.4-2 libldb1 libltdl7 liblzo2-2 libmarco-private0
  libmate-desktop-2-17 libmate-menu2 libmate-panel-applet-4-1 libmate-slab0
  libmate-window-settings1 libmatekbd-common libmatekbd4
  libmateweather-common libmateweather1 libmp3lame0 libmpc3 libmpfr4
  libmtp-common libmtp9 libnotify4 libntdb1 libogg0 libopenjpeg5 libopus0
  liborc-0.4-0 libpam-systemd libpango-1.0-0 libpango1.0-0
  libpangocairo-1.0-0 libpangoft2-1.0-0 libpangox-1.0-0 libpangoxft-1.0-0
  libparted2 libplist2 libpolkit-agent-1-0 libpolkit-backend-1-0
  libpolkit-gobject-1-0 libproxy1 libpulse-mainloop-glib0 libpulse0
  libpulsedsp libpython-stdlib libpython2.7 libpython2.7-minimal
  libpython2.7-stdlib libquadmath0 librest-0.7-0 libroken18-heimdal
  librsvg2-2 librsvg2-common libsamplerate0 libsasl2-2 libsasl2-modules-db
  libschroedinger-1.0-0 libsecret-1-0 libsecret-common libsmbclient
  libsndfile1 libsoup-gnome2.4-1 libsoup2.4-1 libspeex1 libspeexdsp1
  libsqlite3-0 libstartup-notification0 libtalloc2 libtdb1 libtevent0
  libthai-data libthai0 libtheora0 libtiff5 libudisks2-0 libunique-1.0-0
  libupower-glib3 libusbmuxd2 libva1 libvorbis0a libvorbisenc2
  libvorbisfile3 libvpx1 libvte-common libvte9 libwayland-cursor0
  libwbclient0 libwebkitgtk-3.0-0 libwebkitgtk-3.0-common libwebp5
  libwebrtc-audio-processing-0 libwind0-heimdal libwnck-common libwnck22
  libx264-142 libxcb-shm0 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxft2 libxinerama1
  libxkbcommon0 libxklavier16 libxml2 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxres1
  libxslt1.1 libxss1 libxvidcore4 libxxf86dga1 marco marco-common
  mate-backgrounds mate-control-center mate-control-center-common mate-core
  mate-desktop mate-desktop-common mate-desktop-environment-core
  mate-icon-theme mate-menus mate-notification-daemon mate-panel
  mate-panel-common mate-polkit mate-polkit-common mate-session-manager
  mate-settings-daemon mate-settings-daemon-common
  mate-settings-daemon-pulse mate-terminal mate-terminal-common menu-xdg
  mime-support mozo parted pluma pluma-common policykit-1 psmisc pulseaudio
  pulseaudio-utils python python-cairo python-gi python-gobject
  python-gobject-2 python-gtk2 python-mate-menu python-minimal python-numpy
  python-support python-talloc python2.7 python2.7-minimal samba-libs
  shared-mime-info udisks2 upower x11-utils x11-xserver-utils zenity
  zenity-common
0 upgraded, 286 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 154 MB of archives.
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#

To provide a more complete user experience we also need a display manager and a couple of the additional desktop themes. If you don’t mind logging in from the console and starting X windows from the command line you don’t need to install a display manager and you can leave out ‘gnome-icon-theme’ if you want.

# apt-get install mate-themes gnome-icon-theme lightdm \
> --no-install-recommends
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-murrine gtk2-engines-pixbuf
  liblightdm-gobject-1-0 lightdm-gtk-greeter
Suggested packages:
  accountsservice
Recommended packages:
  murrine-themes desktop-base gnome-themes-standard
  gnome-icon-theme-symbolic dmz-cursor-theme
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gnome-icon-theme gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-murrine gtk2-engines-pixbuf
  liblightdm-gobject-1-0 lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter mate-themes
0 upgraded, 8 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 15.9 MB of archives.
After this operation, 32.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] 
Get:1 ... jessie/main gtk2-engines-murrine amd64 0.98.1.1-5 [106 kB]
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Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package gtk2-engines-murrine:amd64.
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Setting up lightdm (1.10.3-3) ...
Adding group `lightdm' (GID 113) ...
Done.
Adding system user `lightdm' (UID 107) ...
Adding new user `lightdm' (UID 107) with group `lightdm' ...
Creating home directory `/var/lib/lightdm' ...
usermod: no changes
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Setting up mate-themes (1.9.2-1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.19-18) ...
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Processing triggers for systemd (215-17) ...
#

Configuring the Login Screen

By default the display manager will use the GTK greeter – if you want to change the background colour to match the one you want to use on your desktop you need to edit the configuration file and change it so that it uses a plain background (specified just as a hex number)or one of the desktop wallpapers.

# nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf

[greeter]
#background=/usr/share/images/desktop-base/login-background.svg
background=#5891BC # or #335592 
#show-language-selector=false
theme-name=Adwaita


OR – If you want to set the desktop wallpaper on the login screen.

[greeter]
#background=/usr/share/images/desktop-base/login-background.svg
background=/usr/share/backgrounds/mate/nature/Dune.jpg
#show-language-selector=false
theme-name=TraditionalOk
icon-theme-name=Adwaita
indicators=~power

Note – When specifying the path to a background image make sure there are no trailing spaces.

Next steps

That is really all there is to it, once you know what packages you need you can let the system do all the hard work. Having installed a minimal system, you may want to add some additional applications, a web browser and e-mail client or audio support.

Login Screen

I’d just like to finish with a big ‘Thank You’ to the developers and the Debian team – well done!


Raspberry Pi is a trademark of the Raspberry Pi Foundation

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2 Responses to Installing MATE on Raspbian/Debian 8.0 (jessie)

  1. Mr.Morlock says:

    Hey thanks for this tutorial :) Do you know how to create an automatic login for raspbian? Could be useful for your pi machine.

    • To create an automatic login open a terminal and enter the following commands one by one:
      sudo mkdir -p /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
      sudo echo “[SeatDefaults]” >> /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-myconfig.conf
      sudo echo “autologin-user=$LOGNAME” >> /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-myconfig.conf

      That’s it. :) Once you restart your Pi you will be logged in automatically.

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