Users upgrading to Ubuntu MATE 24.10 will immediately notice a leaner installation and the return of a highly requested login manager. The latest release prioritizes system stability over bleeding-edge features, opting to refine the existing desktop experience while significantly shrinking the installation footprint. By addressing critical boot issues and streamlining the live environment, the development team has delivered a highly polished update for daily use.
The most notable structural change is the removal of Arctica Greeter in favor of returning to Slick Greeter. This reversal was necessary to fix a race-condition during the boot process that frequently caused the display manager to fail upon initialization. Returning to Slick Greeter also restores the ability for users to easily configure their login screen via a graphical application, a feature that the community had heavily requested.
My sincere thanks to everyone who has played an active role in improving Ubuntu MATE for this release. I’d like to acknowledge the close collaboration with the Ubuntu Foundations team and the Ubuntu flavour teams, in particular Erich Eickmeyer who pushed critical fixes while I was travelling.
- Martin Wimpress, Ubuntu MATE
Additionally, the official Ubuntu MATE 24.10 ISO has been reduced to 3.3GB, down from the 4.1GB size of the previous 24.04 LTS release. This reduction was achieved through installer optimizations that no longer require as many packages in the live-seed environment. Despite the leaner size, the operating system still packs a full suite of updated software.
Core Upgrades and How to Update
While some users anticipated the new MATE Desktop 1.28, the development team encountered several regressions during packaging and opted to stick with the tried-and-true MATE Desktop 1.26.2 to guarantee stability. The system is powered by the Linux 6.11 kernel and includes several major application updates.
- Web and Media: Ships with Firefox 131 and Celluloid 0.27 for media playback.
- Productivity: Includes Evolution 3.54 for email management and LibreOffice 24.8.2 for document editing.
- Upgrade Path: The upgrade process mirrors standard Ubuntu releases, but requires an active network connection to official or local mirrors, as offline upgrades are not supported.
The Value of Skipping a Buggy Release
The decision to hold back MATE Desktop 1.28 is a testament to the maturity of the Ubuntu MATE project. In the Linux distribution ecosystem, there is often immense pressure to ship the absolute latest desktop environments, sometimes at the expense of user experience. By recognizing that the newer version did not meet quality standards, the developers protected their user base from workflow-breaking bugs.
Furthermore, the willingness to abandon Arctica Greeter and revert to Slick Greeter demonstrates a pragmatic approach to development. Instead of forcing a broken component to work, the team listened to community feedback and restored a functional, customizable login manager. This focus on reliability ensures that Ubuntu MATE remains a dependable choice for users who need a stable operating system rather than a testing ground for experimental software.
