Better create a Page for MX Linux before the blog looks like a MX Linux Blog, and since it has become clear to me that MX Linux is going to be one of my favorite Linux Distros, at least until another Distro can come along and knock Mint, Ubuntu or MX outta the Top 3.
I will bring copies of the MX blog posts over here, and will probably do the smaller updates here also.
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9/27/2022: MX Linux 21.2.1 reverts to an OS for ‘Password Dependent‘ users
UPDATE – 12/11/2021: MX Linux 21 Wildflower – Cinnamon – ‘*EXCELLENT* Linux OS and also well-suited for Newbies‘
UPDATE – 10/17/2020: MX Linux – ‘Root Login + Xfce to Cinnamon + *NO* Pesky Passwords!’
UPDATE – 8/17/20: MX Linux part 7: w/ *KDE* it’s Movin’ back into my Top 10!!!
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UPDATE #4 – 8/28/19: MX Linux part 6 – MX Linux 19 Beta 1 testing
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UPDATE #3 – 8/25/19: Going to remove MX Linux from Karmi’s Top 10 Linux Distros – it just doesn’t belong there, with all the problems it has – plus not being able to even do a ‘Live’ USB test on ‘Ace’ the Laptop without freezing. Pathetic! Sorry for overrating it in the beginning…
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MX Linux update – part 5
I removed MX Linux from its SSD this morning. Works good by itself, but doesn’t seem to want to share a drive with another Linux Distro (at least not with Mint). I’ll leave it on the USB installation, but have had too many problems with it as a ‘Main’ OS. New examples are, it wouldn’t install on my new Laptop ‘Ace’, it wouldn’t allow Mint to be installed alongside it on the ‘Rose’ computer (or even separately), it has problems with Wi-Fi connections (worked great when wired to the router) even after I just bought a new TP-Link Archer C1200 Dual Band Wireless AC1200 Gigabit Router, it’s had mouse problems, etc.
Worked fine in earlier tests and installations, and on ‘Live’ or full USB installs; however, still needs lots of work before I install it to a SSD again. I may put the Bionic Puppy on it, just to ‘Teach’ is a lesson. 😉
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UPDATE #2 – 6/20/19: Rule of Thumb – if you can’t install Ubuntu on it, then you can’t install any Linux Distro on it. Actually, more of a simple fact than a Rule of Thumb. Anyway, had just bought a Acer Aspire 3, 15.6″ Full HD, AMD A9-9420, 8GB DDR4, 1TB HDD, Windows 10 Home and tested the ‘Live’ MX Linux on it yesterday, with the intent of installing it onto the new laptop. Well, mouse/touchpad/keyboard barely worked at an incredibly slow pace, and no internet – drivers or something missing. Tried Mint and Ubuntu ‘Live’ versions next, and both worked perfectly, recognizing all hardware and software. Well, I had MX Linux in 3rd for a reason…make that a distant 3rd now!
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UPDATE #1 – 6/13/19: From MX Linux part 3 – in a 3-Way Tie! – Tie broke, and MX is running in 3rd – i.e. Mint in 1st and Ubuntu still 2nd. MX still has some rough-edges that need worked on – e.g. scrolling down a web-page shows a horizontal disruption (forget the word, but a ‘wavy‘ looking horizontal line). Also, most windows and browser seem to open on the left side, even after you place them somewhere else before closing window or browser … some don’t do it like that, and if something is already open on the left side, then the next window or browser opens on right side. Not as bad of a flaw as the ‘wavy’ horizontal line during scrolling, but certainly not what my 1st place Linux Distro (Mint) does. If this was a ‘Portability’ test, then MX Linux would win. Also, I may move to the Cinnamon Desktop, scrolling disruption seems less prevalent, and I am use to my app favorites on the left side of the panel. Great Linux Distro, and I am already having 2nd thoughts about using Cinnamon DE in MX Linux – also, speaking of second thoughts, I only spent about a minute on Mint before coming back just now to MX!
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MX Linux part 4 – Seven Desktop Environments
First: I have created a ‘Page’ for MX Linux – small updates and MX posts will go there. Here is the link to the new MX Linux Page. The Pages Section is located just below the Posts Section, on the right side. OK, today I tested Desktop Environments (DE) on MX Linux, using the MX Package Installer – there are five Desktop Environments (DE) listed in the “Popular Applications” tab: Budgie, Gnome Base, KDE5 Standard, LXDE and MATE. Just check the box next to the DE you want, and MX Package Installer does the rest…without the need of the Command Prompt.
Did a little searching for a Cinnamon DE in the installer, and found it in the “Stable Repo” tab (after searching for “cinnamon” in search bar). I usually use Synaptic Package Manager, for installing Cinnamon DE onto other Distros, but it missed a/or/some applet/s or disklet/s when I tried installing it on a Test USB two days ago. Worked, but a notification kept popping up on a reboot, and I didn’t feel like taking the time to fix it. The MX Package Installer handled it today with no problems (on the SSD), no need for a Command Prompt, and did a better job at it than Synaptic. MX developers and community have worked hard to make MX Linux a tight singularly Distro, IMHO.
Cinnamon made it six DE’s to go along with the MX default Xfce DE, for a total of seven DE’s. Gnome ends up offering Gnome, Gnome Classic and Gnome Wayland in the Log In selection area – I tried all 3, but couldn’t switch the primary mouse button, so I uninstalled it. I’m right handed, but want to use my right-finger on that right-button as the primary (hands are big enough for right-finger to move to a secondary left-button when needed), and this method eliminates my wrist getting sore. A Distro or DE that can’t swap the mouse button is useless to me. Budgie DE had the same mouse problem, so it got uninstalled also. I never liked KDE Plasma or MATE, but will leave them as DE choices if needed. LXDE was OK, but certainly not better than Xfce on MX. (*HOLD ON* – many Linux users refuse to accept that Linux has a*MAJOR* Fragmentation problem, but I just noticed that I was typing “LMDE” here instead of “LXDE” – in fact, I used a screenshot of LMDE instead of LXDE when working on the LXDE DE, i.e. the LXDE wallpaper was terrible, so I grabbed a different wallpaper from another computer and used it…it was LMDE wallpaper instead of LXDE). Anyway, here are some DE screenshots:
Budgie had ugly wallpaper also – black, I think. DE wasn’t bad, but mouse problem…
Gnome also had mouse problem…
KDE Plasma just never worked for me…
Here’s a small LXDE wallpaper from the internet (the DE choice was terrible and I accidentally grabbed a LMDE DE one) – not going to bother getting a bigger one at this point, Linux fragmentation problems never ends, and is the main reason Linux can’t get over the 1-2% of desktop/laptop users hump.
Here’s MATE…none of the newly installed DE’s offered much in wallpaper…
Here’s Cinnamon DE…
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MX Linux part 3 – in a 3-Way Tie!
MX Linux had already moved ahead of BionicPup/Puppy for my favorite portable Linux distro, and then into desktop/laptop competition with Mint 19.1 and Ubuntu (note: I count Ubuntu 18.04.2 & 19.04 as one) … IMHO, I have them in a 3-way tie right now, which reflects just how impressive MX Linux has been!
Today’s tests and changes: Less than 4-minutes to install on a 120GB SSD – this was a lot faster than the install to USB. Note: I also did a new portable install to a better and larger USB – I love the portability of MX Linux and wanted to upgrade the USB installation. Had tested the old USB install on 3 different computers (a 2006 build, a 2016 build and the new 2019 main Linux build) and it didn’t miss a beat with the mixture of old and new hardware – which includes 2 new Intel MB’s and 1 old AMD MB. Installation setup offers to ‘Save the Live session’s settings’ – it saved all my setting changes (e.g. switched primary mouse button, moved panel to horizontal @ bottom, reset panel Row Size, etc & those settings stayed when newly installed OS rebooted on the SSD; however, Firefox changes and added bookmarks didn’t get remembered). I don’t recall seeing that save ‘Live’ settings to new installation before – MX has a lot of new and interesting stuff…most I haven’t even seen or gotten to yet.
Moved on fairly quickly from recent OS tests of Kali Linux, Clear Linux OS, Deepin Linux and Astra Linux – and that doesn’t include the recent list of portable OS distros I tested; however, I am still with MX Linux during such tests, which I find interesting…it also got installed onto its own SSD instead of the old test 160GB HDD. Look out Mint and Ubuntu!
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MX Linux part 2 – *AMAZING* OS!
I think Renard Moreau (of Renard’s World) might have said it best, i.e. MX Linux must be giving – “a lot of the developers of Linux envy!” MX developers (and MX community) have certainly developed an amazing Linux Distro! I can see that MX Linux is going to require a series of posts (maybe even its own Page?) here at the Linux Newbie.
Since Cinnamon DE has been my favorite DE for some time now, I wanted to see how or if it would work on MX Linux, and I learned something else about MX in the process (more on that later). I used Synaptic Package Manager to install the Cinnamon DE onto MX – 1) launch it, 2) click search icon and type “cinnamon” and select search, 3) scroll and then check the blank box “cinnamon-desktop-environment” (note: a popup notifies you that other files and/or such will be needed – click OK), 4) then hit “Apply” – all done, and w/o the Command Prompt. Basically the same as the Install Cinnamon Desktop post. Here are some screenshots pre-cinnamon DE:
After you Log Out, it will go to a Log In screen (I still haven’t figured out how to do screenshots of boot-ups or Log In windows) … the window is different than other Distros that I installed Cinnamon DE on, but close enough, and I found the Cinnamon DE selection in upper right-hand corner … select Cinnamon option from drop-down menu, then back down to password and Log In button. New Cinnamon DE opens, and I get a notification that “Cinnamon started successfully, but one or more applets, desklets or extensions failed to load.” It said I could probably disable the one/s that failed to load, in order to prevent that notification again; however, I had actually liked the MX Linux Xfce DE, and didn’t feel like bothering with a minor cinnamon problem during these early tests. Here are some screenshots of the MX Cinnamon DE:
OK … another lesson learned about MX Linux, i.e. Cinnamon DE is great, but looks like Xfce DE works even better on MX Linux, i.e. the developers probably intended that Xfce be used. Heck, I rarely like a Distro’s background and usually change and/or customize it if I’m going to use or test it for any time – Ubuntu has been the exception, since I have always liked their backgrounds … tho I do use the Cinnamon DE on 18.04.02 & 19.04. Anyway, for whatever reason I like the default background that MX comes with – even the Xfce DE – it just seems that everything fits so well, IMHO!
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MX Linux – Swiss Army Linux Distro
Took me long enough to finally test the #1 Page Hit Linux Distro on DistroWatch, and I am truly impressed by it! Was reading Jack M. Germain’s “MX Linux Reinvents Computer Use” article yesterday and came across this:
… snip … MX Linux has another very redeeming feature not found in most Linux distros. It is highly portable.
MX Linux is a great option if you need to carry a fully functional Linux operating system in your pocket without lugging around a laptop. That can be a huge convenience if you travel or work at different locations with access to computers. It is easy to install the entire system to a USB stick … snip …
Certainly missed MX Linux during my recent Searching for a ‘Portable’ Linux Distro tests and post; however, with the Linux renown ‘Fragmentation’ problems, leaving us with over 600+++ Linux distributions, *PLUS* the flavors and/or Desktop Environments also being offered by most of those same 600+++ distros it’s almost impossible to check them all out – GEEZ!
Think: Linux fragmentation – The Sum of All Egos, which does a good job of pointing out the main fragmentation problem – The EGO.
MX Linux seems to be like BionicPup on steroids, but with a much younger look and feel to it – all the same portability and installation options, but more of a modern Linux Distro. Hard to believe that MX Linux is clearly beating BionicPup/Puppy distribution/s in speed, ease of installation, hardware recognition, ease of use, etc (in my tests so far). Did I mention that MX Linux is incredibly snappy-snappishly fast?!
I am going to add MX Linux to my category and tag lists, since it has moved into my #3 favorite Linux Distro spot, in less than a day. Lookout BionicPup, there is a new Dog in town!
Linux Newbie - since 1996 