MX Linux Forum

I've used several Linux distros over the years (mostly lightweight and Debian-based), and MX Linux is my favorite. It's a more polished version of antiX Linux, a lighter and faster version of Linux Mint (albeit unofficial), and a better-supported version of Linux Mint Debian Edition (albeit unofficial). MX Linux is not only very user-friendly but also so polished that I'm never really tempted to tinker around with it. I like the Debian Stable base, because it's lightweight and low maintenance. I don't like Ubuntu as a base, because it's too slow and heavy for old computers.

I also appreciate the persistence and tenacity of the antiX/MEPIS team, because Snowlinux and Crunchbang Linux (both of which I used and liked in the past) are defunct. Even though I prefer MX over antiX, I like the changes in antiX that I've seen over the years, such as pre-installed LibreOffice.

Here are the reasons I prefer MX Linux over other distros:
1. Puppy Linux: Puppy Linux is very user-friendly and even more lightweight than MX/antiX Linux, but it doesn't have the vast software repository of a Debian base. That said, Puppy Linux is great as a rescue CD. For reasons I don't understand, it's better than other distros at recovering files from failing drives.
2. Linux Mint (Ubuntu base): It's the distro that I recommend to people switching away from Windows, but a Ubuntu base is much heavier and slower than a Debian base, and a Ubuntu base requires far more maintenance than a Debian stable base.
3. Linux Mint Debian Edition: It's as user-friendly and polished as the Ubuntu-based editions, but it's just not as well supported. There hasn't been a release since March 2015, nearly 2 years ago. The Linux Mint team is so busy supporting the Ubuntu-based editions that LMDE gets less attention. In contrast, the antiX/MX team is 100% dedicated to the Debian base.

If Linux Mint killed distro-hopping, then MX Linux could be another nail in that coffin, because it's that good. I'm hard-pressed to think of any major changes I'd like to see. In the Linux Mint forums, there are sometimes people who wish for a lighter and faster version of Linux Mint. MX Linux is the distro for them.

Thanks for the good words--and welcome to the Forum!

May I add my welcome too. Fully agree with your comment " MX Linux is not only very user-friendly but also so polished that I'm never really tempted to tinker around with it."

Welcome also. I have been trialing Mint 'Serena' for a couple of weeks on an older box for experience with something I considered similar to MX. Password entry is more frequent by comparison and as user v root in MX for a few items. They have a way to swap repositories and many more options (understandably) so I switched from a glitching major uni mirror to a major ISP provider's mirror. Your comments help me place Mint in the family tree as it were, cheers

Mick

Welcome and thanks for your words.

I would state however that if you treat MEPIS or its community as not defunct, then Crunchbang is also not defunct. Both projects had their original developer stopping work but had their community stepping in to continue it. CB's successor is called Bunsenlabs (Muppet show reference).

Hello jhsu802701,
I echo others here in welcoming you to the forum and welcoming your comments which I also largely agree with.
One thing though, your point 2. and this was somewhat discussed in the recent Distrowatch review where the reviewer implied/suggested that MX16 is more for the non-newbie (to Linux) user. Well, maybe I am a non-newbie to Linux but as I have written previously, my 20 odd years of dabbling in Linux has until now been just that, a dabble. It was for me, so comfortable to seriously consider leaving Windows. In fact, I would say at this point-in-time, even though I continue to dual-boot with Windows, I spend 80% of my computer time in MX16. I've tried to put myself in a new Windows leaver's shoes and I really can't see how Mint is anymore user friendly than MX16 for such a user (and yes, I've dabbled in Mint before too). One thing that a newbie might be well advised to do by supporters of MX who are in a position to recommend, is to point them to the wealth of videos and tutorial material that is easily accessible from the MX Community pages and perhaps in addition one (as I have) could do up a small document describing a) how to get MX and b) what to do when they get it (in terms of tuning and etc). I've written a Tips for New Users that you might care to refer to as well.
Cheers.

Jerry from MX Facebook page suggested I import my semi-rant to the MX Forum. This thread seemed to fit, as I don't particularly wish to torque off anyone by starting a new one...
RE: a Quora question as to why someone uses Windows, Linux or MacOS:

Franklin Veaux, Apple developer since the days of the Lisa, on Feb 18 wrote:I use, and develop for, all three...
I don't tinker with my computer. I don't sit there customizing it and changing the flapdoodle matrix to the turboencabulator interface like so many Linux fans do. I use my computer for other things, not as an end in itself. I boot it, I launch apps, and I do work. I have little interest in messing with the computer itself—it’s a tool, not a toy....
The Linux users who talk about how much they love Linux because you can customize everything frankly baffle me....
<THIS> It's like saying “I love Acme screwdrivers because I can change the color of the grip and I can choose plastic or rubber trim on the handle and I can make the end of the grip be round or square!” And…um, so? HOW GOOD IS IT AT DRIVING SCREWS? That's all I care about.
<& THIS> I don't buy screwdrivers to change the color of the handle and I don't choose an operating system so that I can change between init or systemd. To me, that's missing the whole point.

Which pretty much expresses why I LOVE MX so much. It's a truly beautiful, AND FUNCTIONAL,
TOOL !
Back when I learned Linux the FIRST TIME, circa 2001-2003, X-Win was in its infancy, and Linux (specifically Debian) was being used at the Community College where I was attempting to get a 2nd Bachelor's degree, in Computer Science (the 1st was in agricultural Integrated Pest Management, some 20 years previous) as an inexpensive learning and teaching TOOL. X was a novelty, and kind of useless, frankly. It boggles my mind how Linux Users have been transmogrified* into the nearly unrecognizable enthusiasts that exist today. Such would have been anathema to the 18-20 something CIS students my middle-aged self was rubbing shoulders with--and learning from--back then!
*transformed, especially in a surprising or magical manner.

I find the quoted statement a bit arrogant. If you like to modify, tinker, change things in Linux you are somehow a lesser being. I enjoy all that tinkering, but also use MX as a tool. So I have the best of both worlds, and have little use for his opinion.

I like the fact that you CAN tinker with it without breaking it.
But, if I've learned nothing else in the last 64 years of my existence it is:
Just because you CAN do a thing, doesn't mean that you MUST, or even SHOULD.

Agree unless you like to. Then you should.