MateForPi is a simple script that installs a fully functional MATE desktop environment on Raspberry Pi OS.

Before running the script, you need to perform some actions:

• Install Raspberry Pi OS Lite (not tested on the 64-bit version, but it is supposed to work) and connect the board via Ethernet (preferably) or Wi-Fi.

• If you don't use Raspberry Pi Imager for flashing images and creating your own users, then

  • Enter default login data (login/password): pi/raspberry
  • Create a new user and delete a standard one:
    • sudo adduser YOURNICKNAME
    • sudo adduser YOURNICKNAME sudo
    • Create the file using sudo visudo /etc/sudoers.d/010_YOURNICKNAME-nopasswd
    • Insert the following contents as a single line: YOURNICKNAME ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
    • Save the file and exit.
  • login with your newly created account and run sudo userdel -r pi

• Open the configuration menu:

sudo raspi-config

• In the "Performance Options" section, you can select "GPU Memory" and enter the prefered value in the input field, i.e. "320". If you use Raspberry Pi 4 and want to overclock your board, then open the configuration file:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

and enter at the end of the file:

#for RPi 4
over_voltage=6
arm_freq=2000
gpu_freq=750

How we are ready to start installation:

sudo apt install git --no-install-recommends && git clone https://github.com/ByloTonix/mateforpi/ && cd mateforpi && sudo bash mateforpi

My MATE Desktop after 3-min customization:

• Since Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm and Raspberry Pi 5 were released, this guide may be outdated.