#System Setup and Configuration

#Ubuntu MATE 18.04 / Linux Mint DE4(ish)

This is the process for Ubuntu MATE, but the Cinnamon desktop is close enough to MATE that the process for LMDE4 is almost the same.

#Setup Environment

$ ./setup-apt-packages.sh
$ ./setup-bin.sh
$ ./setup-dotfiles.sh

#Update Mouse and Trackpad Settings

• Goto Menu -> Mouse -> Touchpad
  • Uncheck 'Enable mouse clicks with touchpad'
  • Set 'Two-finger click emulation:' to 'Right button'
  • Check 'Enable natural scrolling'

#Update Terminal Settings

• Open mate-terminal
• Goto Edit -> Profile Preferences -> General
  • Uncheck 'Terminal bell'
  • Uncheck 'Show menubar by default in new terminals'
  • Set font to 'Ubuntu Mono Regular' size 16
• Goto Edit -> Profile Preferences -> Scrolling
  • Set 'Scrollbar is:' to 'Disabled'
  • Set 'Scrollback:' to 'Unlimited' by checking the 'Unlimited' box
• Goto Edit -> Keyboard Shortcuts and disable everything except:
  • Copy = Shift+Ctrl+C
  • Paste = Shift+Ctrl+V
  • Full Screen = Shift+Ctrl+F11
  • Hide and Show menubar = Shift+Ctrl+F12
  • Zoom In = Ctrl++
  • Zoom Out = Ctrl+_

#Update Keyboard Shortcuts

• Goto Menu -> Keyboard Shortcuts.
• Disable pretty much everything from 'Desktop' down by clicking an item and then entering when asked to rebind the shortcut.
• Set the following predefined shorcuts:
  • Lock Screen = Ctrl+Alt+L
  • Take a screenshot = Print
  • Run a terminal Ctrl+Alt+T
  • Move between windows, using a popup window = Alt+Tab
  • Switch to workspace left of the current workspace = Ctrl+Alt+Left
  • Switch to workspace right of the current workspace = Ctrl+Alt+Right
  • Maximize window = Mod4+Up
  • Tile window to east (right) side of screen = Mod4+Right
  • .................... (left) side of screen = Mod4+Left
  • ................ (top left) side of screen = Ctrl+Mod4+Up
  • ............... (top right) side of screen = Alt+Mod4+Up
  • ............. (bottom left) side of screen = Ctrl+Mod4+Down
  • ............ (bottom right) side of screen = Alt+Mod4+Down
  • Move window one workspace to the left = Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Left
  • Move window one workspace to the right = Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Right

#Change Caps Lock to Escape (MATE DE)

• Goto Menu -> Keyboard -> Layouts.
• Select 'English (US)' and click 'Options...'.
• From the popup menu goto 'Caps Lock Behavior' and select 'Make Caps Lock an additional Esc'.

#Uninstall Default Bloat

$ apt-get -y purge plank

#Manjaro MATE

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Keyboard Shortcuts->Run a terminal->Ctrl+Alt+T

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Keyboard Shortcuts->Tile window to east (right) side of screen->Shift+Alt+Right # Mod4+Key does not seem to be supported?

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Keyboard Shortcuts->Tile window to west (left) side of screen->Shift+Alt+Left # Mod4+Key does not seem to be supported?

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Keyboard Shortcuts->Maximize Window->Alt+Up

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Keyboard Shortcuts->Minimize Window->Alt+Down

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Mouse Preferences->Mouse->General->Uncheck Enable middlemouse paste

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Mouse Preferences->Mouse->Pointer Speed->Acceleration->Slowest

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Mouse Preferences->Mouse->Pointer Speed->Sensitivity->Slowest

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Mouse Preferences->Mouse->Pointer Speed->Acceleration Profile->Flat

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Mouse Preferences->Touchpad->Pointer Speed->Acceleration->Slowest

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Mouse Preferences->Touchpad->Pointer Speed->Sensitivity->Slowest

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Mouse Preferences->Touchpad->Two Finger Click Emulation->Right button

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Power Management->On AC Power->Display->Put display to sleep when inactive for->Never

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Power Management->On Battery Power->Display->Put display to sleep when inactive for->Never

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Power Management->On Battery Power->Display->Uncheck Reduce backlight brightness

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Power Management->On Battery Power->Display->Uncheck Dim display when idle

• System->Preferences->Hardware->Power Management->General->Notification Area->Always display an icon

• System->Preferences->Look and Feel->Appearance->Interface->File Chooser->Show hidden items # Not sure if this one actually changes anything.

• System->Preferences->Look and Feel->Appearance->Screensaver->Uncheck Activate screensaver when computer is idle

• System->Preferences->Look and Feel->Popup Notifications->Theme->Standard Theme

• System->Preferences->Look and Feel->Screensaver->Background picture for lock screen->/usr/share/wallpapers/manjaro-arm/generic/manjaro-bamboo-at-night.png

• Terminal->Edit->Keyboard Shortcuts->Terminal->Set Title->Shift+Ctrl+Alt+T

• Terminal->Edit->Keyboard Shortcuts->View->Hide and Show menubar->Shift+Ctrl+F12

• Terminal->Edit->Keyboard Shortcuts->View->Zoom In->Ctrl++

• Terminal->Edit->Keyboard Shortcuts->View->Zoom Out->Ctrl+_

• Terminal->Edit->Profile Preferences->General->Font->Monospace Regular (size 14)

• Terminal->Edit->Profile Preferences->General->Uncheck Show menubar by default in new terminals

• Terminal->Edit->Profile Preferences->General->Uncheck terminal bell

• Terminal->Edit->Profile Preferences->Colors->Foreground, Background, Bold, and Underline->Uncheck Use colors from system theme

• Terminal->Edit->Profile Preferences->Colors->Foreground, Background, Bold, and Underline->Built-in schemes->Solarized dark

• Terminal->Edit->Profile Preferences->Scrolling->Scrollbar is->Disabled

• Terminal->Edit->Profile Preferences->Scrolling->Scrollback->Unlimited

For some reason, lightdm does not want to log into the MATE session after boot. Apparently it might be a bug between lightdm and recent versions of X? You will have to manually start your MATE session.

# During Setup
$ cp .xinitrc-mate ~/.xinitrc

# On login
$ startx

Before I got into my MATE session I ran:

$ sudo pacman -Syu mate mate-extra

but I don't know if that was necessary or not. There is wiki section that I thought would help, but it did not seem to be of much use.

It doesn't apear as if the "Caps Lock Behavior" setting is present, so I had to add ~/bin/init-xmodmap as a startup program in my .xinitrc.