Installing MATE on LMDE6 - Can't find Mint-X(Y) themes

[rweed]

I've installed LMDE6 on an old HP laptop and tried to add MATE using the MATE meta-package under the Software Manager. Everything appears to install O.K. but when I try to change the desktop theme/background I get a message about not being able to use Mint-X (and Mint-Y) theme because they are not found (ie. can't find a path to them etc). Mint-L can be accessed along with the original MATE themes but not Mint-X and Mint-Y. Anyone know the reason?

[vimes666]

I get this message every time after I install mate on lmde. I just select one of the legacy themes or any theme other than x and y and no worries after.
However it would be nice to know why the x and y themes don't work in lmde while in mint 21.3 mate (ubuntu) they do.

[Hoser Rob]

LMDE uses the Debian repos, not the Ubuntu ones. That's likely why they weren't there. You can't install all the same software (or version) in LMDE, and you also do not want to use ppa's in LMDE or any other Debian based distro.

See https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian

[rweed]

Yes but the fact that these are MINT themes to me indicates that they should be somewhere on the Mint repositories. Also, since similarly named themes are present for Cinnamon under LMDE6, why can't MATE see them. Are MATE and Cinnamon themes incompatible.

[vimes666]

You can't install all the same software (or version) in LMDE,

Then why is the mate desktop package in the lmde repository?
I know (and I hope the topicstarter knows as well) that lmde is a 'sort of' experimental version of mint. So why don't experiment and try to run mate on it. And if it doesn't do that flawlessly, why not try to solve it with the help of others?

[Hoser Rob]

You can't install all the same software (or version) in LMDE,

Then why is the mate desktop package in the lmde repository?
I know (and I hope the topicstarter knows as well) that lmde is a 'sort of' experimental version of mint. So why don't experiment and try to run mate on it. And if it doesn't do that flawlessly, why not try to solve it with the help of others?

LMDE isn't really 'experimental'. It's based on Debian Stable which is one of the most conservative and least 'experimental' distros you can get. And in whatever sense it is experimental, it certainly is not meant to encourage ill informed users to mess around with it. That's why I linked to that famous "Don't Break Debian" page (well, it's famous in geek circles).

LMDE gets the vast majority of its software from the Debian repos since it's based on Debian Stable, as Ubuntu based Mint gets almost all of its software from the Ubuntu repos.

LMDE doesn't really support Mate AFAIK because if it did wouldn't they offer a Mate version? But Debian does support Mate, you can get Debian shipped with Mate. But it wouldn't have Mint specific themes in its repos.

BTW I'm a fan of Debian Stable, my main laptop runs MX 21 KDE. Likely soon to be MX 23 KDE. If I liked Cinnamon more i very well might have installed LMDE.