MX Linux Forum

What's keeping you in MX Linux? Do you love MX Linux and distrohopping at the same time? Hehe.

I wonder if the antiX/MX Live USB persistence tools can be used with other distros, especially non-Debian based ones. Is it possible in a practical way?

Upon an initial search here in the forum, I gather it seems MX Conky Manager and related conky tools/goodies can be replicated somewhat in other distros. Has anyone here done it? Please share. :)

And MX Snapshot? What's the best alternative you think to MX Snapshot but for other distros? It seems the user friendliness of MX Snapshot is unmatched, but I'm seeking how I can replicate all the goodies of MX when I'm distrohopping about in an unfamiliar distro.

The Boot Options and Boot Repair, and User Installed Apps tool I find also amazing to replicate this experience with other distros.

Oh and MXPI: I've never seen a gui app store handle the removal of flatpaks and their runtimes sooo freakin' easily.

With other distros I've tried, I can uninstall the flatpak with the gui app store, but the runtimes and related files would still be occupying large space somewhere.

You missed an important point about MX Linux that makes it unique, and also would make it difficult to implement the tools in other distros.

MX Linux boots with sysvinit but default, but still allows things to run that require systemd to be present. That's the hidden magic of this distro.

Chris

chrispop99 wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 7:35 am You missed an important point about MX Linux that makes it unique, and also would make it difficult to implement the tools in other distros.

MX Linux boots with sysvinit but default, but still allows things to run that require systemd to be present. That's the hidden magic of this distro.

Chris

@chrispop99 I wasn't attempting to speak for all of us: only speaking for myself off the top of my head but yeah that's pretty cool, too. Best of both worlds.

Altho I don't like not having the ability to use AppImages by using sysvinit. Also there's a bug for me right now (MX23) in sysvinit that doesn't exist in systemd: default sound issues in sysvinit at boot.

Having said this tho, I would still like figuring out how to have sysvinit-systemd magic in other distros as well, but not as much as the other exclusive features I mentioned.

AppImages work fine when booting with sysvinit; it's Snap packages that don't.

Personally I would be unlikely to run an AppImage, and would never use Snaps.

Chris

chrispop99 wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 7:57 am AppImages work fine when booting with sysvinit; it's Snap packages that don't.

Personally I would be unlikely to run an AppImage, and would never use Snaps.

Chris

I'm indifferent to snaps also. I only run 1 AppImage so far: Normcap for OCR grabbing text on my screen by selecting a region: useful for copy pasting text on paused videos and text that refuse to be copied by traditional means. Normcap has a Pypi app, too but I couldn't get it to open with a keyboard shortcut so far. Once I figure it out, I'm off AppImages too haha.

A few of Garuda Linux's tools are based off of MX's tools. For example their Boot Options and Boot Repair tools.

See for instance: https://gitlab.com/garuda-linux/applica ... type=heads

Of course, they have made changes or added functionality to make it work better for them.

I think 1 or 2 others (network assistant?) are as well. Just check their gitlab list of Garuda applications. If Adrian or Dolphin Oracle or MX is mentioned, it's adapted from MX's tools.

Regarding Appimages, it's not that the appimage format requires systemd. For instance, Krita and Libreoffice appimages work just fine with sysvinit. However, some of the applications themselves that you wish to use as appimages may not have been packaged with the necessary sysvinit service scripts.

PS. nothing against Garuda. I'm a multibooter and have a VM of Garuda.

FYI for OCR:
gimagereader - Graphical GTK+ front-end to tesseract-ocr.
gimagereader (GUI for tesseract-ocr), must also install a tesseract-ocr-"language" ex: tesseract-ocr-eng to work.

asqwerth wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 10:32 am A few of Garuda Linux's tools are based off of MX's tools. For example their Boot Options and Boot Repair tools.

See for instance: https://gitlab.com/garuda-linux/applica ... type=heads

Of course, they have made changes or added functionality to make it work better for them.

I think 1 or 2 others (network assistant?) are as well. Just check their gitlab list of Garuda applications. If Adrian or Dolphin Oracle or MX is mentioned, it's adapted from MX's tools.

Regarding Appimages, it's not that the appimage format requires systemd. For instance, Krita and Libreoffice appimages work just fine with sysvinit. However, some of the applications themselves that you wish to use as appimages may not have been packaged with the necessary sysvinit service scripts.

PS. nothing against Garuda. I'm a multibooter and have a VM of Garuda.

You didn't sound like you were being negative on Garuda. If they're giving credit where credit is due by mentioning the MX Team where appropriate then it's all good: especially for us users who can enjoy a sort of "MX Linux for Arch" in Garuda Linux haha. Here we go again I will try Garuda for the first time in live environment.

Btw, thank you for the clarification on "appimages that may not have been packaged with the necessary sysvinit service scripts" @asqwerth . :)

MXRobo wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 10:37 am FYI for OCR:
gimagereader - Graphical GTK+ front-end to tesseract-ocr.
gimagereader (GUI for tesseract-ocr), must also install a tesseract-ocr-"language" ex: tesseract-ocr-eng to work.

Thanks for the recommendation @MXRobo . :) It's pretty close to the simple functionality of Normcap (Linux/Windows) and TextGrab (Windows) where I just grab the text straight to the clipboard from anything displayed on the screen. Gimagereader looks to be a more powerful tool, I'll probably use it soon.

doodstecsonhere wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 11:17 am ...especially for us users who can enjoy a sort of "MX Linux for Arch" in Garuda Linux haha. Here we go again I will try Garuda for the first time in live environment.

....

They do have some interesting tools of their own, eg System Maintenance, and their iso downloader tool that utilises zsync.

But back to the topic - I think a fair number of the MX tools are a series of scripts/commands structured into a Qt graphical interface (of course that's an extreme simplification!).

To the extent that said commands are roughly similar across distro families (eg boot options tool will use commands that relate to grub or efibootmgr or plymouth, or editing their respective configurations), I guess they can be imported to different distros with appropriate adjustments.

"User-installed-packages" tool will probably translate well to Debian/Ubuntu-based distros with the same package management, if other parties actually wanted to adapt it. But since Arch uses pacman and not apt/dpkg/aptitude, UIP won't translate directly for Arch/derivatives.

@doodstecsonhere
IIRC -There was a post on this forum a few months ago - or longer - about this very subject, but it had more details - IIRC.
I think it had links to MX-Tools apps, maybe at an "in-house" MX site, github or something.

MXRobo wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:34 pm @doodstecsonhere
IIRC -There was a post on this forum a few months ago - or longer - about this very subject, but it had more details - IIRC.
I think it had links to MX-Tools apps, maybe at an "in-house" MX site, github or something.

Sounds amazing!!! Thanks for the tip, @MXRobo . :) I SHALL find it!!

I'm almost about to jump on the ArcoLinux train and to train myself out of ArcoLinux into Arch and beyond. :) Looks like I'll learn a few IT skills along the way, diversify my career options down the line. It's really cool that ArcoLinux is designed to eventually make you not use ArcoLinux lol. It's almost exactly where I'm at now: I'm interested in the education-progression. I want to bring as much MX goodness as I can when I switch my bare hardware. For now I'm starting with their most "easy mode" ISO on Gnome Boxes VM.

All MX and antiX tools and scripts are available for other linux devs to use and adapt to their distro if they wish (as Garuda has done)
We are not going to do it for them.

anticapitalista wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:48 pm All MX and antiX tools and scripts are available for other linux devs to use and adapt to their distro if they wish (as Garuda has done)
We are not going to do it for them.

Awesome. Rightly said, @anticapitalista . The live persistence tools in particular simply are on another level!!

doodstecsonhere wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:41 pm

MXRobo wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:34 pm @doodstecsonhere
IIRC -There was a post on this forum a few months ago - or longer - about this very subject, but it had more details - IIRC.
I think it had links to MX-Tools apps, maybe at an "in-house" MX site, github or something.

Sounds amazing!!! Thanks for the tip, @MXRobo . :) I SHALL find it!!

@MXRobo any suggestions on search keywords to find that specific old gem of a post? "in-house" perhaps?

Q4OS also tries to use MX Tools.

https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3477

https://github.com/q4os/mxtools-for-debian

I prefer MX Linux myself (esp XFCE version), but Q4OS does have a great Trinity desktop version, so if someone likes Trinity, a possible option. It is an ongoing project, and the integration of MX tools is not yet perfect.

Not really, and "in-house" is my term.
I did find some links, but I think the forum post addressed what you're seeking.
https://repology.org/repository/mx_19
https://github.com/MX-Linux
https://github.com/MX-Linux/MX-21_sources
https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=146083 Replace Debian with Arch

????
https://ftp.kaist.ac.kr/mxlinux/mx/repo/dists/
https://mxlinux.org/current-release-features/
https://ftp.linux.edu.lv/mxlinux/mx/rep ... /bookworm/
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/applications/mx-tools-credits/
https://mxrepo.com/

Bonus: https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... 175711329/

Also think about the community behind MX. If you have a problem or question, you will be able to simply reach out to the devs in this forum and they will actually provide immediate support. Don't underestimate that "feature"

indielinuxpower wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 1:49 pm Q4OS also tries to use MX Tools.

https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3477

https://github.com/q4os/mxtools-for-debian

I prefer MX Linux myself (esp XFCE version), but Q4OS does have a great Trinity desktop version, so if someone likes Trinity, a possible option. It is an ongoing project, and the integration of MX tools is not yet perfect.

That's cool that somebody else uses the tools, too bad I haven't seen any pull request from them -- I mean I'm sure they can find bugs or fixes that would make the tools work better for all.

MadMax wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 3:47 pm Also think about the community behind MX. If you have a problem or question, you will be able to simply reach out to the devs in this forum and they will actually provide immediate support. Don't underestimate that "feature"

That is actually legit. Dev support is amazing and is one of the actual standout features of MX.

As for MX Tools, I'm sure some of them are being used by some other distros, but if you want the entire package with full support, then you need to use MX.

indielinuxpower wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 1:49 pm Q4OS also tries to use MX Tools.

https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3477

https://github.com/q4os/mxtools-for-debian

I prefer MX Linux myself (esp XFCE version), but Q4OS does have a great Trinity desktop version, so if someone likes Trinity, a possible option. It is an ongoing project, and the integration of MX tools is not yet perfect.

@indielinuxpower thanks for the tip! :) I'll boot it soon...

MXRobo wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 1:56 pm Not really, and "in-house" is my term.
I did find some links, but I think the forum post addressed what you're seeking.
https://repology.org/repository/mx_19
https://github.com/MX-Linux
https://github.com/MX-Linux/MX-21_sources
https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=146083 Replace Debian with Arch

????
https://ftp.kaist.ac.kr/mxlinux/mx/repo/dists/
https://mxlinux.org/current-release-features/
https://ftp.linux.edu.lv/mxlinux/mx/rep ... /bookworm/
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/applications/mx-tools-credits/
https://mxrepo.com/

Bonus: https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... 175711329/

This is a lot!!! THANK YOU @MXRobo hehe. I very much appreciate your generosity.
You've given me so many more fun things and goodies to do for the weekend hahaha.

MadMax wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 3:47 pm Also think about the community behind MX. If you have a problem or question, you will be able to simply reach out to the devs in this forum and they will actually provide immediate support. Don't underestimate that "feature"

Oh that's one the the best FEATURES here definitely agree @MadMax !

@doodstecsonhere

Just a heads up on MX's' git location:

asqwerth wrote: Fri Jul 28, 2023 1:30 am @doodstecsonhere

Just a heads up on MX's' git location:

Screenshot_20230728_132643.png

HA! HELLO THERE. Thank you, @asqwerth!

As my skills increase: interesting to see how all of these goodies can connect with other great stuff later on. :)