In this article, we walk you through how to Install MATE Desktop Environment on Rocky Linux 9|AlmaLinux 9. Mate offers a user interface that is more simplistic than the GNOME Desktop environment, making it more suitable for low-end PCs. The theme and icon set for MATE are extremely cool. Python, C++, and C are used to create MATE Desktop.

MATE was first made available in 2011 and uses an operating system similar to Unix. All the standard software programs, including an image viewer and a text editor, are available on the MATE desktop. Caja file manager is available in MATE for managing files. MATE is the quickest and lightest desktop environment.

Install the MATE Desktop Environment on Rocky Linux 9|AlmaLinux 9

To install the MATE desktop environment on Rocky Linux 9|AlmaLinux 9, follow the on-screen instructions below.

Update the System

To ensure that all installed packages are the most recent versions, update your Rocky|AlmaLinux 9 operating system:

sudo dnf update

Enabling Repositories

You’ll need the CRB and EPEL repositories. Go ahead and enable them right now, using the below command:

sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb
sudo dnf install epel-release

Sample output:

Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 9 - x86_64                                                      26 kB/s |  57 kB     00:02    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 9 - x86_64                                                     152 kB/s |  12 MB     01:24    
Rocky Linux 9 - BaseOS                                                                             2.2 kB/s | 3.6 kB     00:01    
Rocky Linux 9 - AppStream                                                                          2.4 kB/s | 4.1 kB     00:01    
Rocky Linux 9 - AppStream                                                                          145 kB/s | 6.4 MB     00:44    
Rocky Linux 9 - CRB                                                                                882  B/s | 3.6 kB     00:04    
Rocky Linux 9 - CRB                                                                                113 kB/s | 2.0 MB     00:18    
Rocky Linux 9 - Extras                                                                             784  B/s | 2.9 kB     00:03    
Package epel-release-9-4.el9.noarch is already installed.
Dependencies resolved.
Nothing to do.
Complete!

Ensure that all enabled repositories are read into the system.

sudo dnf update

Installing necessary Packages

Next, we require numerous packages. Simply copy and paste the following into your computer’s command line to install these:

sudo dnf install NetworkManager-adsl NetworkManager-bluetooth NetworkManager-libreswan-gnome NetworkManager-openvpn-gnome NetworkManager-ovs NetworkManager-ppp NetworkManager-team NetworkManager-wifi NetworkManager-wwan adwaita-gtk2-theme alsa-plugins-pulseaudio atril atril-caja atril-thumbnailer caja caja-actions caja-image-converter caja-open-terminal caja-sendto caja-wallpaper caja-xattr-tags dconf-editor engrampa eom firewall-config gnome-disk-utility gnome-epub-thumbnailer gstreamer1-plugins-ugly-free gtk2-engines gucharmap gvfs-fuse gvfs-gphoto2 gvfs-mtp gvfs-smb initial-setup-gui libmatekbd libmatemixer libmateweather libsecret lm_sensors marco mate-applets mate-backgrounds mate-calc mate-control-center mate-desktop mate-dictionary mate-disk-usage-analyzer mate-icon-theme mate-media mate-menus mate-menus-preferences-category-menu mate-notification-daemon mate-panel mate-polkit mate-power-manager mate-screensaver mate-screenshot mate-search-tool mate-session-manager mate-settings-daemon mate-system-log mate-system-monitor mate-terminal mate-themes mate-user-admin mate-user-guide mozo network-manager-applet nm-connection-editor p7zip p7zip-plugins pluma seahorse seahorse-caja xdg-user-dirs-gtk

This will set up all the dependencies as well as the required packages.

Let’s install both lightdm and lightdm-settings now:

sudo dnf install lightdm-settings lightdm

Sample output;

Last metadata expiration check: 0:20:50 ago on Sat 14 Jan 2023 03:19:42 PM EAT.
Dependencies resolved.
===================================================================================================================================
 Package                                    Architecture           Version                         Repository                 Size
===================================================================================================================================
Installing:
 lightdm                                    x86_64                 1.30.0-18.el9                   epel                      219 k
 lightdm-settings                           noarch                 1.5.10-2.el9                    epel                      136 k
Installing dependencies:
 desktop-backgrounds-compat                 noarch                 35.0.0-1.el9                    epel                      8.9 k
 f35-backgrounds-base                       noarch                 35.0.1-4.el9                    epel                       20 M
 google-noto-sans-fonts                     noarch                 20201206-4.el9                  appstream                 7.6 M
 lightdm-gobject                            x86_64                 1.30.0-18.el9                   epel                       63 k
 python3-setproctitle                       x86_64                 1.2.3-1.el9                     epel                       22 k
 python3-xapp                               noarch                 2.2.2-2.el9                     epel                       43 k
 slick-greeter                              x86_64                 1.5.6-2.el9                     epel                      358 k

Transaction Summary
===================================================================================================================================
Install  9 Packages

Total download size: 28 M
Installed size: 47 M

You should be prepared to reboot at this point if your system previously had Gnome or another desktop installed.
The following command must be used to set the graphical target if no desktop was installed:

sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target

Reboot the system

sudo reboot

MATE desktop has been launched on the system.

To choose the desktop environment, click the button next to the username:

Select “MATE,” then enter the password to sign in:

Ready to go!

Finale

Installing MATE on Rocky Linux 9 and AlmaLinux 9 will offer those users a lovely, reliable substitute.

Read more about MATE Desktop Environment.

Other guides include:

Install KDE Desktop Environment on Ubuntu 22.04|20.04

How To Install TeamViewer on Ubuntu 22.04|20.04

How To Install Google Chrome on Ubuntu 22.04|20.04

Install LAMP Stack on Ubuntu 22.04|20.04

Install MariaDB Database on Rocky Linux 9|AlmaLinux 9

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