Why I keep coming back to MX and Antix

[Danathar]

Is there a support group for distro hoppers? If there is, I certainly belong to it. :) I'm always in pursuit of the latest, most appealing distro, curious about its potential as a daily driver.

However, typically within a span of two days to a month, I always find myself reverting to MX (or Antix if it's an older system).

Why, you may ask?

Simply because MX operates more efficiently, encounters fewer issues, and is backed by a fantastic community!

I've experimented with Ubuntu, but the slow start times of snaps and the occasional inexplicable behavior that's difficult to trace have been sources of frustration.
Debian has been a part of my journey, and I have a deep appreciation for it. It's my default choice for servers, but setting it up for desktop use requires considerable effort to get things functioning as they should.
Every time I use `pacman -Syu` on Arch, it feels like I'm strapped to the front of a speeding train, unsure of what's coming next.
Fedora is decent, but their insistence on labeling it a "community project" when a significant majority of the developers are likely paid Red Hat employees doesn't sit well with me.
SuSE's longevity impresses me, considering they've managed to survive while maintaining their unique approach, but their history of being bought and sold multiple times is noteworthy.

What's your reason for choosing MX after experimenting with other distros?

[talera]

MX is very reliable and offers a good compromise between stability (through the base) and user-friendliness (community support, own tools and backports if desired and possible).

It is also fun to browse through less "peaceful" distributions (such as Arch or Void), especially as you can learn a lot there. They all certainly have a target group.

I think I read somewhere in the forum that the average age of the community here is quite high. Maybe that's why MX is such an uncomplicated distribution, so that nobody risks their health by frequently getting bugs and errors. :)

Joking aside, sorry. :)

But I feel really comfortable here and if I have problems I can find help quickly and easily in the forum. For me and my area of application, there is no added value from a "full rolling release" distribution. Or at least not any more. And yes, it's exciting when you have to write your own configuration files, but on the other hand it's done here by people who really know what they're doing and who simply don't make the mistakes I'm likely to make.

[thinkpadx]

why not stick with it instead of always coming back to it.

:-)))

[Danathar]

why not stick with it instead of always coming back to it.

:-)))

It’s a weakness. I need a distro hopping addiction recovery group

[uncle mark]

why not stick with it instead of always coming back to it.

:-)))

It’s a weakness. I need a distro hopping addiction recovery group

I got over it by getting old and becoming calcified and cranky. New and shiny does nothing for me any longer.

Now, all you damn kids, get off my lawn!

[danielson]

Clint Eastwood is back, alive and feistier than evar!

Keep coming back to MX KDE - stable, not too resource hungry, good selection of default apps, and especially, for great support from very patient forum members.

[jeffreyC]

why not stick with it instead of always coming back to it.

:-)))

It’s a weakness. I need a distro hopping addiction recovery group

If you run across Distrohoppers Anonymous, I need to give you fair warning; we're a bunch of enablers, not an addiction recovery support group.

[linexer2016]

Just looking at this thread moves me to say that I (a long time user of MX) have to say that out-of-the-box support for some Realtek wifi dongles is definitely a negative for me at least. I tried to set up a dual boot with W11 and MX on several occasions and inevitably my realtek dongle's device isn't easily available. That's not to say a similar occurrence isn't with other distros (cf Mint) but it seems to me that the download and compile of the correct driver from say github is much easier and more intuitive under Ubuntu based distros. I expect this post may engender some comment from other long time users but if the dongle's firmware (in my case rtl8812au) was available OOTB it surely would be easier than trying to get it working otherwise. It's problematic having to use another platform to download the driver and then compile it when if it came within the distro packaging it would be superior.

[Danathar]

Just looking at this thread moves me to say that I (a long time user of MX) have to say that out-of-the-box support for some Realtek wifi dongles is definitely a negative for me at least. I tried to set up a dual boot with W11 and MX on several occasions and inevitably my realtek dongle's device isn't easily available. That's not to say a similar occurrence isn't with other distros (cf Mint) but it seems to me that the download and compile of the correct driver from say github is much easier and more intuitive under Ubuntu based distros. I expect this post may engender some comment from other long time users but if the dongle's firmware (in my case rtl8812au) was available OOTB it surely would be easier than trying to get it working otherwise. It's problematic having to use another platform to download the driver and then compile it when if it came within the distro packaging it would be superior.

I’m VERY picky when it comes to usb wifi adapters for specifically that reason. Choosing one that the manufacturer specifically supports Linux and/or has open sourced the firmware and driver is an import requirement. Otherwise I avoid it.

[FraterLinux]

Of the distributions that use XFCE, MX is the lightest and most stable. Few packages to update from time to time. And most importantly, Init freedom!!!
Debian has improved Runit support and now uses collection of run scripts as Gerrit Pape presents on his website.
Setting Runit as Pid1 in MX 23 has several advantages over SysV!