What is the difference between the Mate and Xfce ISOs?

[k357k9]

The http://na.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/sabayo ... iso/daily/ page shows that the current Xfce version is about 460 MB bigger than the Mate one. One big difference is Libre Office vs gOffice. Does this account for most/all the diffence or is there something else, too?

[phd7]

You may want to check the pkglist on the same page for the 2, or else search youtube for an idea of the difference

[k357k9]

I did look at the pkglist and the office suite was the only thing that jumped out right away. If I remeber correctly, the big office suite takes up about 300 MB. Leaving it out lets some distros stay with a CD rather than a DVD. That still leaves 160 MB.

As far as Youtube goes, my watching memory doesn't recall anything here either.

Maybe some distro hopper or reviewer might know the answer.

[nomko]

Iĺl give it a shot... Mate was forked from the old Gnome2 desktop environment. With MATE the "standard" applications for the Gnome desktop are installed as default, with this LibreOffice which is a more heavier, full-riched office application. These "standard" applications do require more space. The MATE desktop can run on low memory/spec systems as well on more modern systems.

Xfce on the other hand, was designed to run on low-spec/low-memory systems. Keeping this fact in mind, the Xfce desktop provides low-spec/low-memory applications which doesn need as much system resources as "standard" applications, under Xfce the office application LibreOffice is not installed but replaced by Gnumeric and Abiword or, as mentioned by the topic starter, gOffice. By removing system resource consuming application and replace them with lesser memory and system resources consuming application, the Xfce desktop is much lighter than, let's say, the Gnome3 desktop or Cinnamon or KDE. This can result in lesser disc space.

[k357k9]

@nomko
That is what is strange about this -- Xfce is heavier and Mate is lighter as far as applications go. And, I don't think it could be just the office suite. Maybe the Xfce comes with lots more themes, wallpapers, icons, etc.

[nomko]

Xfce is heavier and Mate is lighter as far as applications go

Any examples i can check myself?

And, I don't think it could be just the office suite. Maybe the Xfce comes with lots more themes, wallpapers, icons, etc.

MATE also comes with a bunch of preselected themes, icons, wallpapers, etc. But that should not be such a hugh difference.

I will have a look at it myself as soon as you come up with some examples.

[k357k9]

The big one is Libre Office in Xfce and gOffice in Mate as listed in the pkglist files.