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MATE Desktop: Stable and efficient

MATE is definitely one of my favorite desktop environments to use on Linux/BSD. MATE is based on GNOME 2, and also has a set basic applications and utilities, which are also forked from GNOME 2. Since version 1.18 it no longer uses GTK2, and as of December 2025 it has partial Wayland support. It has clearly come a long way from GNOME 2, while still maintaining the look and feel of the original desktop environment. I sometimes wish it would have a media player using GStreamer or something, but Parole from the Xfce desktop is a good replacement.

I can also thank MATE for providing most Linux distributions' package repositories with GTK3 versions of the Clearlooks theme, which is nice.

OpenBox: A completed project, and it shows

OpenBox is a floating window manager based on an older window manager called Blackbox, but it has since then been rewritten and no longer uses any Blackbox code. It's considered feature complete and bug-free, making it a good option for people needing a stable graphical environment that "just works". It has an easy-to-use configuration tool called "ObConf" that lets you change the look and functionality of the window manager, and you can configure it further by editing its rc.xml, menu.xml, and autostart files. It can also be used alongside other desktop environments such as Xfce, MATE, and LXDE. Personally, I use it on its own, and I like it a lot. I have an external tray program and use Feh to load wallpapers, and it works just fine.

Small notes

• ThinkPads are my favorite laptop brand. I also like Toughbooks, they are very durable.
• If you are new to Linux, don't use Ubuntu. I recommend Linux Mint. Debian is also good if you are willing to learn a little bit more.
• Flatpak is probably the best "universal" package manager, AppImage is also definitely up there as well. Snap, however, is just not good.
• I honestly don't have a problem with video games being nonfree to an extent, the developers should make the game's engine open-source, while still being able keep the game's resources behind a paywall and copyright restrictions.