ubuntu-rolling
Philosophical background
These procedures have specifically been created using a starting point of Linux Mint Serena 18.1 MATE (a Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial-based distribution) as it has a GTK2 based desktop. Please take note of the quote in the center of the screenshot further below (within the MATE 1.16.2 “About” box):
GNOME 2 was the most popular Linux desktop but it’s no longer available…
MATE is here to provide that same desktop to you!
Question: if GNOME 2 was the most popular Linux desktop, why is it no longer available?
Based on all testing of GNOME 3 it is overly complex for many of us, as well as the fact that many standard software features from GNOME 2 (that many of us still want!) even including toolbars, menubars and so on have been removed. It is unfortunate that for some years now there has been a trend not just with proprietary software but also in the free software world for at least some developers to consistently ignore user feedback, strip features from newer releases, change paradigms about how core parts of the system (such as the desktop environment) have worked for years, all because “I’m the developer and say it’s better!”
This “dumbing down” in the name of “progress” as well as rapidly released new versions all about “new features” (rather than less glamorous though much-needed bug-fixing) is actually destroying the reliability of computer software on the whole. Personally, the long overdue switch from Windows to a Linux distribution as the day-to-day OS (prompted by the user-hostile, spyware ridden, forced updates garbage known as “Windows 10”) happened at exactly the point when Mint 18.1 Serena had just been released. And it had a fast, usable GTK2 based desktop that was easy to configure and just works.
This was serendipitous timing. After Mint 18.2 MATE was released and having done some testing of that version (with the “new, improved” GTK3 based desktop stripped of so many standard features that have existed for many years), it was clear that Mint 18.1 was going to be the way forward for a long time. Thus, a procedure had to be created to allow upgrading core “modules” or sub-systems of the OS, without touching the simple, fast, usable GTK2 based desktop. Hence, the Ubuntu (Xenial-based) “Rolling Release” system, specifically crafted on a Mint 18.1 Serena MATE installation.
