news
Review: MX Linux 25
Quoting: DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. —
Something which stood out about my time with MX Linux was that, twice, people saw my computer's screen while I was running the distribution and asked why my system looked odd. I asked what they meant and they basically said, "You're a professional computer techie, but your system looks old. I thought you'd have something more modern." I explained to them that my operating system might not look modern, but it was new and I was enjoying it because it was practical.
MX Linux may not look pretty and its icons are not using the latest fad in design, but it is incredibly fast, it's relatively light on resources (even for a desktop Linux distribution), it stays out of my way, the desktop is unusually responsive, and it has a collection of useful tools that handle almost any administrative function I want. My being a professional is exactly why I do not want my desktop to look flashy and pretty. I might end up looking at a screen 12 hours a day; I want the system to be responsive, not taking up my time with animations or burning my retinas with the colourful theme du jour. I want my system to be practical and easy to navigate, the exact theme and layout isn't all that important.
I think that sums up my feelings about MX Linux. It feels like a distribution which has grown organically, created by a team of professionals for professionals. It's tech by techies, for techies. It doesn't use the latest packages, it has stable ones; it doesn't use cute themes, it uses efficient visual defaults; it doesn't have flashy notifications and step-by-step wizards, it has a toolbox of flexible utilities. The hardware support is great, the defaults are useful, massive software repositories are available, the system is pleasantly efficient. The documentation is available locally and contains useful information instead of hype and buzzwords. I don't think I encountered a bug or error during the entire week. For someone like me, someone who sits down in front of a computer to work, this is an ideal distribution.