Why so many different Linux programs?

[Sierra048]

QP,

Maybe a stupid question but here goes. Is Ubuntu the actual program that you need, and things like Mint and MATE are like add-ons you can use with it? Making it so you can use Mint and MATE on the same computer without problems using the same Ubuntu. Hopefully you understand what I'm asking.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Sierra048
QP,

Maybe a stupid question but here goes. Is Ubuntu the actual program that you need, and things like Mint and MATE are like add-ons you can use with it? Making it so you can use Mint and MATE on the same computer without problems using the same Ubuntu. Hopefully you understand what I'm asking.


Ubuntu is the distribution. It is the cumulation of everything "under the hood" so to speak. The developers/maintainers support the distribution.

There are "forks" of Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse...etc which use that same "under the hood" package system but put a different UI or different "spin" or "flavour" on it. This is where projects like KUBUNTU and the like come from. At the core, they are based on the same system, but they've gone with a different UI. It's a balance of being tied with a stable and well maintained package base whilst providing something a bit different.

Make sense?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Sierra048
QP,

Maybe a stupid question but here goes. Is Ubuntu the actual program that you need, and things like Mint and MATE are like add-ons you can use with it? Making it so you can use Mint and MATE on the same computer without problems using the same Ubuntu. Hopefully you understand what I'm asking.

Ubuntu and Mint are different distributions of Linux OS.
MATE and Cinnamon are different versions of Desktop Environments (DEs).

You don't "need" Ubuntu. It is just what I happen to be using. Ubuntu comes with Unity DE as standard, and I just added MATE and Cinnamon DEs to mine.

In your case, you have Mint with Cinnamon DE already. All you want to do at this point is to add MATE DE by following the instructions I provided:
http://goinglinux.com/articles/Installing MATE alongside Cinnamon_en.htm

Again, based on my limited experience, I have not found a whole lot of difference between Cinnamon and MATE DEs.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Linux = kernel; the core of an OS that talks to software and hardware
OS; or in Linux, a "distribution" or "distro" = some people who have built an OS around that kernel. Distro developers take the freely-available source code for hundreds or thousands of applications, compile that code into executable (read: run-able) applications and glue the whole thing together.
Desktop Environment, or "DE" = the major component that distro developers use when building that OS

A distro usually defaults to one DE and builds their ecosystem around it; but almost all offer the whole shootin' match for installation.
Ubuntu, as of their upcoming 18.04 release, defaults to Gnome 3 (prior to that, since 2011, they used their own fork of Gnome 3 called Unity as the default) but you can install others using the Software Manager and choose which one to use at the login screen. They're all Free Software.

The Linux Mint folks take Ubuntu's compiled software and tweak it a bit and re-brand it. They have forked Gnome 3 and called it "Cinnamon" and they also sport a fork of Gnome 2 called "MATE". You can get different "flavours" of their OS that default to these different DE's or you can get any one of them and install the other DE's as well.

"Forking" is when you take freely-available source code, copy it and begin making changes to it without submitting those changes back to the original project; specifically for the purpose of creating your own project using the original as a base. For reference, consider all of those Firefox knock-offs.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Again, based on my limited experience, I have not found a whole lot of difference between Cinnamon and MATE DEs.


Most major distros put some considerable effort into making them look and feel as close to each other as possible for their distro's usage.
If you have the graphics horsepower to run Cinnamon smoothly then there likely won't be much in the way of performance difference.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Sierra048
QP,

Maybe a stupid question but here goes. Is Ubuntu the actual program that you need, and things like Mint and MATE are like add-ons you can use with it? Making it so you can use Mint and MATE on the same computer without problems using the same Ubuntu. Hopefully you understand what I'm asking.


GMC has a "repository" of plenty of pieces and parts. They cobble those parts together around an engine in one way and for one purpose and call it a "Sierra"; then use that same engine and cobble slightly different parts together around it and call it a "Yukon".

In both cases you're driving a GMC. GMC is the distro. The engine used commonly in some of their different vehicles is the kernel. "Yukon" and "Sierra" are names given to vehicles using different frameworks, which are Desktop Environments.

Now, you and I decide we can improve upon these vehicles. We take the engine - which is available for free - and we cobble the same "Yukon" parts - also available for free - around that engine but offer it in bright orange and lavender and periwinkle colours. We also offer a super hi-fi stereo but leave out the cup holders. We brand that machine a "YouCan". We continue to get the engine and other parts directly from GMC. This is Mint's relationship with Ubuntu.

Someone else may develop an entirely new SUV using that same engine and some modified parts they got from GMC, too. They call themselves "Chevrolet" and decide to aim their new "Tahoe" at a different market with different features, or lack thereof. In Linux, GMC may have seen the value in Chevy's modifications and they may begin offering a "Yukon: Tahoe" edition because Chevy makes their modifications freely available, too. This is Mint XFCE and KDE flavours, or Ubuntu Budgie remix, etc.

 

[simple_gifts]

uc's description is spot on; i always suspected that's how GM built cars..... juuuuuuuuuuuust/k.

I was not the one using 'cobble' multiple times....


(owned capricen, impalae and les sabres)