Why do you choose MX Linux but not other distro?

[SwampRabbit]

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.

You may not have heard of this but it is the norm if you use Linux long enough. Sooner or later some piece of software will not be compatible with one piece or another.

Rolling distros are really the only ones that you wouldn't have to reinstall at some point. Rolling distros come with their own set of problems.

[JamieDoo]

As for this "Considering how we see each new edition of debian consume more ram and being somewhat slower than the earlier one" notions, I never IMO felt that Debian consumed anymore RAM or was slower for each subsequent edition. If anything, I hear users saying that newer Debian releases are faster and more lightweight than the previous ones. So perhaps this is a case of "YMMV"? Naturally, what consumes RAM or what makes something performant is the combination of software inside a distro and how everything is built-in. Of course, you can't expect GNOME3 to be amazing on all PCs, but if one sticks with fluxbox, I think even "underpowered" PCs should be able to run it without much effort. Nowadays it isn't much or at all about the OSes but about browsers that make people annoyed when using older hardware. But that's a discussion for another topic.

I chose MX Linux, because, well, is stable, offers 32-bit editions and because I don't fancy rolling release distros. Sure, I can use the latter, but when having the choice of something stable, I'd choose that in a heartbeat. And also because I know my way about xfce and can use it comfortably. I don't think it gets better than that if you ask me.

[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.

You may not have heard of this but it is the norm if you use Linux long enough. Sooner or later some piece of software will not be compatible with one piece or another.

Rolling distros are really the only ones that you wouldn't have to reinstall at some point. Rolling distros come with their own set of problems.

For Ubuntu update to another version is one command or clicks in GUI. I google and even upgrade main version in Debian takes some steps with commands but not completely reinstall.

I agree one command upgrade may screw up stuff for some very customized system. But I just use the default simple stuff, I would not even have a choice to update with one command with mx linux.

[junoluna]

tried manjaro, ubuntu, kubuntu and mint in the past year ... had issues with each ...

MX was the one i enjoyed the most and the one with the best support

i did not need to upgrade to 19 but since my system was new, it was no big deal

well worth the 8 minutes it took to install in my opinion and once themed and tinkered with for a few hours, i just did a snapshot of the install to stick on the other laptops laying around

seems really hard to break MX ... that is a major plus for me though i am sure i will get around to it soon enough ... the snapshot ISO is a wonderful tool .. if you to manage to bork your system, you an have it back to where you were before the kettle is boiled..

[JayM]

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.

You only have to do a fresh installation of newer versions of MX when the underlying version of Debian Stable that it's based on is updated as it was in November of this year (Debian Buster.) Otherwise pretty much all of the version updates will happen automatically through the regular update method as they were from MX-17 to MX-18, both of which were based on Debian Stretch which was the previous version of Debian Stable. Long story short: as long as the base version of Debian hasn't changed you usually don't need to reinstall MX to update its version. That's why some people call MX a "semi-rolling release."

Editing to add that even if a newer version of MX is released there's no reason why you have to install it. MX-18.3 will be supported at least until the end of 2022, and even older versions of MX are still supported. The main thing is whether or not Debian is still supporting their version that that MX version is based on: still providing security updates and bug fixes. Even when that stops, MX's developers are known for going above and beyond the call of duty to continue to offer support for older MX versions as much as they can.

But since you're talking about doing a fresh installation anyway, whether to Mint LMDE, MX or (possibly) antiX, why are you even worrying about it and about possible loss of data? You would install MX the same way you would any other Linux distro: back up your data first, install the distro, then restore your data. The entire process takes perhaps an hour or two depending on the speed of your back-up media and the amount of data that you have. As has been pointed out earlier in this thread you should be making regular backups anyway.

Regarding the question in the subject, I chose MX because it was the best compromise between performance on my ~10 year old PC that I had at the time and ease of use, because almost all apps that I wanted were preinstalled for me as though the distro had been custom-built just for me, because when I tested it everything just worked, and because 90% of the questions or issues I had (and there were very few of those) had already been covered in the manual, the wiki or the forum and were found by simply searching those resources, or by simply looking around in the OS and getting familiar with it, such as the MX tools which provide easy ways of adjusting configuration settings and getting MX to work the way I prefer.

[junoluna]

i forgot to mention the qualified guides :)


also seems to me that people only post here when they have something constructive to add

one of the main problems i had with ubuntu was the forum ..... way too many potential solutions being posted with varying degrees of accuracy and i am an average clueless user, who had a lot of problems to try to troubleshoot

jumping about a bit is inevitable til you find the distro that suits you i guess...i did enjoy the kubuntu DE, which is why i have started using the kde 'version' of mx

[JayM]

I have an Ubuntu 11.10 Oneric Ocelot DVD dated March 2012 sitting beside me right now and I guarantee that if I installed it and ran the initial updates it would not update itself to 19.10 Eoan Ermine. Too much has changed in the meantime. If I wanted the latest and greatest Ubuntu version I would need to back up my data, install it (which would format and repartition my drive), and restore my data.

[SwampRabbit]

For Ubuntu update to another version is one command or clicks in GUI. I google and even upgrade main version in Debian takes some steps with commands but not completely reinstall.

I agree one command upgrade may screw up stuff for some very customized system. But I just use the default simple stuff, I would not even have a choice to update with one command with mx linux.

This is partially incorrect. You CANNOT update just ANY or ALL versions of Debian, Ubuntu, Mint to the next. Ubuntu only supports upgrading from one version to the next version, or from one LTS version to the next LTS version. But for any other you need to actually update from one release to the other until you get to the final one.

Sure you might be able to upgrade from from 16.04 to 19.10, but major changes to Ubuntu in between those releases, you risk going through multiple upgrades, at which something can go wrong multiple times. Heck just having a PPA installed on Ubuntu or Debian can crash a upgrade process and you'll be reinstalling then.

Not every version of MX needs reinstalled, from MX-17 to MX-18 you could, but MX-18 to MX-19 you couldn't. This isn't much different from other Linux Distros. You'll see more people complaining about sloppy dist-upgrades then you will see from fresh installs.
https://mxlinux.org/migration/

I google

Folks here aren't making things up, if you want to stick with Google that's fine.

[Mauser]

Because I have tried other distros and they don't have one or more of the following, the tools, tweaks, applications, and the speed of MX Linux which is why I have recently returned to using it. While I was away it was a good learning experience trying other distros.

[SwampRabbit]

Because I have tried other distros and they don't have one or more of the following, the tools, tweaks, applications, and the speed of MX Linux which is why I have recently returned to using it. While I was away it was a good learning experience trying other distros.

I was just about to say I haven't seen you on here in awhile, welcome back!

Looks like you have good reason to "re-choose" MX!