MX Linux

Mid-weight family of operating systems

Linux distribution

MX Linux is a Linux distribution based on Debian stable and using core antiX components, with additional software created or packaged by the MX community.^[2] The development of MX Linux is a collaborative effort between the antiX and former MEPIS communities. The MX name comes from the "M" in MEPIS and the "X" in antiX — an acknowledgment of their roots. The community's stated goal is to produce "a family of operating systems that are designed to combine elegant and efficient desktops with high stability and solid performance".

MX Linux uses Xfce as the main desktop environment, to which it adds a free-standing KDE Plasma version and, in 2021, a stand-alone Fluxbox implementation. Other environments can be added or are available as "spin-off" ISO images.

History

MX Linux began in a discussion about future options among members of the MEPIS community in December 2013.^[3] Developers from antiX then joined them, bringing the ISO build system as well as Live-USB/DVD technology. To be listed on the Linux distribution clearinghouse Web site DistroWatch, MX Linux was initially presented as a version of antiX. It received its own DistroWatch page with the release of the first public beta of MX-16 on November 2, 2016.

• The MX-14, codename "Symbiosis", series was based on Debian Stable "Wheezy", using Xfce 4.10 and then, with the 14.4 release, Xfce 4.12. The MX-14 versions were intended to fit onto a CD-ROM, which limited the number of applications that could be included. This series saw the gradual evolution of the MX Tools, a collection of utilities to help users with common tasks that are often complicated and obscure.^[4]

• MX-15 "Fusion" moved to the new Debian Stable "Jessie" using systemd-shim, meaning that systemd is installed, but the default init is sysvinit.^[3] The size limitation was lifted, enabling the developers to present a full turnkey product. There was a substantial expansion of MX Tools.

• MX-16 "Metamorphosis" was still based on Debian Stable "Jessie", but with many applications backported and added from other sources. There were further refinements to MX Tools, the import of advanced antiX developments, expanded support, and a completely new icon/theme/wallpaper collection.^[5][6]

• MX-16.1 collected all bug fixes and improvements since MX-16, added a new kingfisher theme, upgraded and streamlined MX Tools, revised documentation, and added new translations.^[7]

• MX-17 "Horizon" changed its base to Debian 9 (Stretch) and brought upgraded artwork, new MX Tools, improved Live operation via antiX and other changes.^[8]

• MX-18 "Continuum" continued the development of MX Tools, introduced a new kernel, enabled whole disk encryption, and added GRUB themes, splash functionality through MX Boot options artwork, and improved localization.^[9]

• MX-19 "Patito feo" upgraded its base to Debian 10 (Buster) and its default desktop to Xfce 4.14. It is characterized by new and revised Tools, artwork, documentation, localization, and technical features.^[10]

• MX-21 "Wildflower" was released on October 21, 2021. It is based on Debian 11.0 (Bullseye) and is available as Xfce, KDE or Fluxbox versions. Details in the MX Blog.^[11]

• MX-21.1 was released on April 9, 2022. It is based on Debian 11.3 (Bullseye) and is available as Xfce, Xfce AHS, KDE, and Fluxbox versions. Disk Manager returns and for share settings, MX Samba Config app (GUI) is included. Further details are in the MX blog.^[12]

• MX-21.2 was released on August 28, 2022. It is based on Debian 11.4 (Bullseye) and is available as Xfce, KDE, Xfce AHS, and Fluxbox versions. Further details are in the MX blog.^[13]

• MX-21.2.1 was released on September 18, 2022. It is based on Debian 11.5 (Bullseye) and is available as Xfce, Xfce AHS,^[14] KDE, and Fluxbox versions. Includes Debian's recent Grub-PC updates. Further details are in the MX blog.^[15]

• MX-21.3 3rd refresh of MX-21, was released on January 14, 2023. Based on Debian 11.6 with bug fixes, new kernels, and many application updates. Available as Xfce (4.18), Xfce AHS, KDE, and Fluxbox versions. Further details are in the MX blog.^[16]

• MX-23 "Libretto" was released on July 31, 2023. Based on Debian 12 with bug fixes, new kernels, and many application updates. Available as Xfce (4.18), Xfce AHS, KDE, and Fluxbox versions. Further details are in the MX blog.^[17]

• MX-23.1 "Libretto" was released on October 15, 2023. ISO refresh of the initial MX-23 release, consisting of bug fixes, newer kernels, and application updates.^[18]

• MX-23.2 "Libretto" was released on January 21, 2024. 2nd ISO refresh of MX-23, consisting of Debian 12.4, bug fixes, newer kernels, updated firmware & mesa libraries, Pipewire 1.0, and two new tools MX Locale and papirus-folder-colors.^[19]

• MX-23.3 "Libretto" was released on May 19, 2024. 3rd ISO refresh of MX-23, consisting of Debian 12.5, bug fixes, newer kernels, updated firmware & mesa libraries, Pipewire 1.0, and two new tools MX Locale and papirus-folder-colors.^[20]

• MX-23.4 "Libretto" was released on September 15, 2024. 4th ISO refresh of MX-23, consisting of Debian 12.7, bugfixes, kernel updates, application updates, updated firmware packages, and updated Xfce 4.18 core packages.^[1]

Desktop environments

MX Linux has four desktop editions:

• Xfce is a fast and medium-low resource usage desktop environment. 32-bit, 64-bit, and Advanced Hardware Support (AHS) versions are available. Xfce developers officially released version 4.18 of Xfce on December 15, 2022.^[21] MX-21.x users received the update to Xfce 4.18 in mid-January 2023.^[22]
• Fluxbox is a window manager with very low resource usage. This edition was first released on October 21, 2021.^[23] 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available.
• KDE is available only as a 64-bit Advanced Hardware Support (AHS) version. It currently features version 5.27 of the KDE Plasma desktop and Linux kernel 6.0 (or later).^[24] This edition was first released on August 16, 2020.^[25]
• AHS (Advanced Hardware Support), a 64-bit only version with newer graphics drivers, currently with Linux kernel 6.0 (or newer) and firmware for very recent hardware (for example, AMD Ryzen and AMD Radeon RX graphics cards or 9th/10th/11th generation Intel CPUs).^[26] Starting with MX 21.3 a KDE version of AHS was made available.^[27]

Recent releases

A table of current MX Linux Development Team supported releases and how long Debian will provide Long Term Support.^[28]

Features

MX Linux has basic tools like a graphic installer that handles Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) computers, a GUI-based method to change a Linux kernel and other core programs.

It includes MX Tools,^[43] a suite of user-oriented utilities, many of which were developed specifically for MX, while some were forked from existing antiX applications or are existing antiX applications; a couple were imported with permission from outside sources. These tools are also available in Debian Stable-based Linux distributions, and some of the main tools are as follows:

• Live-USB Kernel Updater
• Live USB Maker
• RemasterCC
• Snapshot
• Boot Options
• Boot Repair
• Cleanup
• FormatUSB

A particularly popular one is MX-snapshot,^[44] a GUI tool to remaster a live session or installation into a single .ISO file.^[45] The "cloned" image is bootable from a disk or USB flash drive, maintaining all settings, allowing an installation to be completely backed up, and/or distributed with minimal administrative effort, since an advanced method of copying the file system developed by antiX Linux uses bind-mounts to perform the "heavy lifting".

System requirements

Minimum

• 8.5 GB hard disk space for installation.
• 1 GB RAM for i686 and AMD64 architectures.
• Bootable CD/DVD drive or capability of booting from USB Flash memory.
• A modern i686 Intel or AMD processor.

Recommended

• 20 GB of hard disk space, SSD for faster performance.
• 2 GB of RAM.
• Multi-core processor for good performance.
• 3D-capable graphics card for 3D desktop support.
• SoundBlaster, AC'97 or HDA-compatible sound card.
• For use as a LiveUSB, 8 GB free if using persistence.

Derivatives

The developers of MX Linux also have been releasing "Community Re-spins" which are treated as unofficial releases. There are MX-Workbench, MX_Minimal, MX_CLI and so on.^[46]

MX users can further customize these re-spins by using a software application called "MX Snapshot". Some community members exchanging posts at MX Forum and distribute their custom respins.^[47] AV Linux^[48] is one of well-known respins.^[49]

See also

• Linux portal
• Free and open-source software portal

• antiX
• MEPIS

References

1. Dolphin Oracle (15 September 2024). "MX-23.4 "Libretto" now available! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
2. Smith, Jesse (1 January 2018). "MX Linux 17". DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. Copenhagen: distrowatch.com. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
3. "About Us – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
4. Igor Ljubuncic (16 January 2015). "AntiX MX-14.3 review". dedoimedo.com. Dedoimedo. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
5. Igor Ljubuncic (14 January 2017). "MX Linux MX-16 Metamorphosis - Winds of change". dedoimedo.com. Dedoimedo. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
6. Smith, Jesse (9 January 2017). "MX Linux 16". DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. distrowatch.com. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
7. Dolphin Oracle (4 January 2019). "MX-16.1 now available – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
8. "MX-17 released December 15, 2017 – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
9. "MX-18 Continuum Now Available – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
10. "MX-19 "patito feo" released! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
11. Dolphin Oracle (21 October 2021). "MX-21 "Wildflower" released! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. MX Linux. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
12. Dolphin Oracle (9 April 2022). "MX-21.1 "Wildflower" released! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. MX Linux. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
13. Dolphin Oracle (28 August 2022). "MX-21.2 "Wildflower" released! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. MX Linux. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
14. Delony, David (29 August 2022). "MX Linux 21.2 "Wildflower" Lands, Keeping Things Simple". MakeUseOf. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
15. Dolphin Oracle (18 September 2022). "MX-21.2.1 "Wildflower" released!". MX Linux. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
16. Dolphin Oracle. "MX-21.3 "Wildflower" released! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
17. Dolphin Oracle. "MX-23 "Libretto" now available – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
18. Dolphin Oracle (15 October 2023). "MX-23.1 "Libretto" released! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. MXLinux. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
19. Dolphin Oracle (21 January 2024). "MX-23.2 "Libretto" released! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
20. Dolphin Oracle (19 May 2024). "MX 23.3 now available - MX Linux New". mxlinux.org. MXLinux. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
21. The Xfce development team (15 December 2022). "Xfce 4.18 released". XFCE Desktop Environment. Xfce Development Team. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
22. Dolphin Oracle (13 January 2023). "Xfce 4.18 will be coming to MX 21 main repos this weekend. – MX Linux". news blog. mxlinux.org. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
23. "MX-21 "Wildflower" released!". mxlinux.org. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
24. "MX-21.3 "Wildflower" released! – MX Linux". 15 January 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
25. "MX-19.4 now available! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. April 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
26. "Download Links – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
27. Dolphin Oracle. "MX-21.3 "Wildflower" released! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
28. Wiki Staff (27 November 2022). "LTS - Debian Wiki". wiki.debian.org. Debian.Org. Retrieved 14 January 2023. Debian Long Term Support (LTS) is a project to extend the lifetime of all Debian stable releases to (at least) 5 years.
29. Jesse Smith. "DistroWatch.com: MX Linux". distrowatch.com. Atea Ataroa Limited. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
30. "New "Advanced Hardware Support" Repo (ahs for short) – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
31. wiki staff (12 November 2022). "Debian Releases - Debian Wiki". wiki.debian.org. Debian.Org. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
32. "Debian 12 "bookworm" released". www.debian.org. Debian.Org. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
33. Nestor, Marius (11 December 2022). "Linux Kernel 6.1 LTS Released with Initial Support for the Rust Programming Language". 9to5Linux. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
34. "Debian 12 "bookworm" released". www.debian.org. Debian.Org. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
35. Dolphin Oracle. "MX-21.3 "Wildflower" released! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
36. Dolphin Oracle (3 November 2022). "Linux 6.0 kernel now available in our ahs repo". Twitter. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
37. Dolphin Oracle (3 May 2022). "Kernel updates - MX Linux Forum". forum.mxlinux.org. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
38. Dolphin Oracle (22 November 2021). "MX-21 "AHS" iso now available – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. MXLinux. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
39. Dolphin Oracle (21 October 2021). "MX-21 "Wildflower" released! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. MXLinux. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
40. "Chapter 5. Issues to be aware of for buster". www.debian.org. Debian Org. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
41. Dolphin Oracle (31 March 2021). "MX-19.4 now available! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org blog. mxlinux.org. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
42. Dolphin Oracle (1 June 2020). "MX-19.2 now available! – MX Linux". mxlinux.org. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
43. MX Linux Developers (10 October 2021). "Tools To Make Common Tasks Easier". Current Release Features – MX Linux. mxlinux.org. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
44. Bond, Jerry (13 June 2015). "HELP: MX Save system to ISO (Snapshot)". MX Wiki. MXLinux. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
45. Ljubuncic, Igor. "MX Snapshot - Superb system imaging and backup tool". www.dedoimedo.com. Dedoimedo. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
46. "MX-Linux - Browse /Community_Respins at SourceForge.net". sourceforge.net. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
47. "MX Respins - MX Linux Forum". forum.mxlinux.org. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
48. "AV Linux MX Edition". 22 January 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
49. "DistroWatch.com:". distrowatch.com. Retrieved 2 June 2024.

External links

• Official website
• MX Linux at DistroWatch
• MX Linux support forum
• MX Linux support group on facebook
• A full list of substantive reviews, both written and video, that are known to MX Linux developers can be found with summaries on this page.
• The complete feature list can be seen on this page.