Why do you choose MX Linux but not other distro?

[hkjz]

once as a n00b (now only noob) i was trying diferent known distros on some old machines, and none of them really worked,
then i went to DISTROWATCH and i see that MX is on the first place of popularity (still is). I gave it a chance, it worked out of the box, it is a great experience. Thank you.

[KoO]

You do not need to uninstall it. You can install right over it.

Would one just choose to keep their home folder in this case during the install. Plus having a backup of course..?

[seaken64]

You do not need to uninstall it. You can install right over it.

Would one just choose to keep their home folder in this case during the install. Plus having a backup of course..?

That's what I did. But I also did not have a lot of customizations to the XFCE interface or themes. I re-installed a few packages that were lost after the install and I was good to go.

But I have read that others took a more careful approach and used some specialized software to backup all the custom keybindings, themes, etc.

Seaken64

[seaken64]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that another big reason for me to stay with MX was the LiveUSB Maker utilities/tools. I had not come across an easier system to use and setup a LiveUSB linux. This is another reason to choose MX/antiX IMO.

Seaken64

To Admin: why do we have two threads on this same topic? Can we merge these two threads?

[KoO]

You do not need to uninstall it. You can install right over it.

Would one just choose to keep their home folder in this case during the install. Plus having a backup of course..?

That's what I did. But I also did not have a lot of customizations to the XFCE interface or themes. I re-installed a few packages that were lost after the install and I was good to go.

But I have read that others took a more careful approach and used some specialized software to backup all the custom keybindings, themes, etc.

Seaken64

Thanks for the info this is always handy for people who are upgrading.

[j2ee]

Any technical reason why need to reinstall mx linux when there is a new version? I tried different distros before and I never heared of this.

[seaken64]

Yes, it has to do with the change of generations in the underlying Debian. MX 19 is based on Debian 10. MX 18.3 was based on Debian 9. You can't go from one generation to the next without a re-install. At least it is difficult, at best, and not recommended for the non-experts.

There are some links at the top of the forum for more information.

Seaken64

[j2ee]

Yes, it has to do with the change of generations in the underlying Debian. MX 19 is based on Debian 10. MX 18.3 was based on Debian 9. You can't go from one generation to the next without a re-install. At least it is difficult, at best, and not recommended for the non-experts.

There are some links at the top of the forum for more information.

Seaken64

Ubuntu is based on Debian but doesnt have issue like this?

[seaken64]

Yes, it has to do with the change of generations in the underlying Debian. MX 19 is based on Debian 10. MX 18.3 was based on Debian 9. You can't go from one generation to the next without a re-install. At least it is difficult, at best, and not recommended for the non-experts.

There are some links at the top of the forum for more information.

Seaken64

Ubuntu is based on Debian but doesnt have issue like this?

No, it does have these issues. All distro's that focus on "stable" software have the same issues. Ubuntu does offer to do the upgrade tasks on your behalf. But it does not always work and it will depend on how complex your system has become over time. I have had both success and failure moving from one generation to another using the tools provided by Ubuntu.

To me it makes more sense to follow MX's plan and not attempt a direct upgrade if your system has been around awhile. If you don't care and can risk a broken system then go for it. But most folks would be smarter to follow the lead of the MC developers and start with a re-install when the current stable changes generation. There are tools to help make the process easier. But it takes some understanding.

Using a "rolling" release distro does not eliminate problems from upgrades. The best solution to upgrades is careful planning. Some things happen in MacOS and Windows worlds. Computer operating systems are not generally understood by the general public and end-users. This is why we have IT departments and software engineers.

Seaken64

[richb]

The official MX position.
https://mxlinux.org/migration/