Will I be able to get an interface that is like Gnome Classic in Ubuntu 14.04?

MATE is a lightweight desktop environment that uses the traditional panel desktop layout used in pre-Unity Ubuntu. The MATE desktop environment can be configured to have either one or two panels. Starting with mate-desktop-environment 1.20 MATE desktop environment has true high DPI support. High DPI will be supported by default in Ubuntu MATE 18.04 and later.

For more information about the MATE desktop environment visit the official MATE website MATE 1.8 Screenshot Tour or the Ubuntu MATE screenshot tour.

From the official MATE wiki.

How to install MATE in Ubuntu 14.04

Open the terminal, and complete the following steps to enable the appropriate PPAs and install MATE 1.8.1 on Ubuntu 14.04.

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-mate-dev/ppa
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-mate-dev/trusty-mate
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ubuntu-mate-core ubuntu-mate-desktop

Instead of lightdm use lightdm-gtk-greeter for the login display manager as recommended by the MATE team:

sudo apt-get install lightdm-gtk-greeter  
sudo reboot

How to install MATE in Ubuntu 14.10 and later

sudo apt-get update

To install MATE choose 1 of the 3 apt-get lines below.

  1. This will install the base packages required for a minimal MATE desktop.

    sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment-core

  2. This will install the complete MATE desktop.

    sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment

  3. This will install the complete MATE desktop including a few extras.

    sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment-extras

Ubuntu MATE

Alternatively you may choose to install the official Ubuntu MATE release in 15.04 and later.

Ubuntu MATE is a more comprehensive option that offers a slightly tweaked layout, configuration, and themes to integrate into Ubuntu in a more seamless fashion. This will install the complete MATE desktop environment as well as LightDM and numerous other applications to provide a full and well rounded desktop.


Well, in these cases I always recommend Xfce. Many users don't realize that Xfce is flexible enough to allow them to easily emulate the "Gnome Classic" look&feel of the desktop interface (unlike LXDE, for example), by setting up the panels as in the old days. And they can also run all individual Gnome programs (like Nautilus, Evince, etc.) within Xfce.

See also:

  • Is there anything better than gnome-session-fallback aka Classic Gnome?

Tags:

Gui

Gnome Classic

Mate

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