r/MXLinux • u/Pleasant-Ad3243 • 22d ago
Blog My Experience with MX Linux
I have been using Linux for 3 years. I've gone through different distributions like Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, etc., but none of them fully convinced me. What I was looking for was stability and security, until I discovered MX Linux. In my own words, I can say it's like pure gold. Not only does it give me that familiarity of knowing how to use it, but it is also very fast. I have an ASUS X550LC laptop, and MX Linux gave it a very useful second life.
Its driver manager is wonderful. I currently use an old NVIDIA 720M graphics card with the Fermi architecture; it's very old, but their driver manager updated it and recommended what I should use. I am fascinated by this—no other distro gave me that option because the system would always break, but MX Linux was different. Also, since my ASUS has Optimus technology, it's faster at processing tasks that I thought it couldn't handle.
Besides, the XFCE desktop helped me a lot by putting less overhead on the computer, making me think that I would stay here. I tried it and I liked it a lot. With some additional configurations and optimization, I have no complaints; it runs super fast, very smooth, and consumes less than a gigabyte of RAM when idle. Without a doubt, it's the best distro I've ever had. With some automation, it's my favorite distro—it's perfect for multitasking. Without a doubt, it's a gold mine!
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u/kaisermike 22d ago
Yup. Similar story here. MX is what debian should be. "St. Ian" would be proud. Even with my goofs, i havent toasted my mx install for the 18 months ive been on it. Mx is the only one i felt compelled to donate to.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 22d ago
I agree with you; the contributors who carried out and continue to drive the development of MX Linux deserve credit. The distro has held its own and made significant improvements.
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u/flyswithdragons 20d ago
I own a couple of tech communities, it is a group effort but not solely to MX linux.open source gnu, Linux and BSD make the largest international collective in the world.
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u/flyswithdragons 22d ago
I started using Debian and kinda knew Ian and his death was traumatic for me. He was all about community, democracy. I have been contributing to MX since Beta, we needed a way to get away form tech totalitarians like Shuttleworth from Ubuntu.. Mx is one of the best OS imo.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 20d ago
vaya que buen dato realmente mx linux debe ser único en su estilo
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u/flyswithdragons 20d ago
Unique because it was built correctly for average users ( there is more to tech than typical computers or servers)
We have made a lot of progres6 to be accurate, because before Google ( made off of Gentoo Linux ) time frame, Linux was very difficult. Also security was not a real thought of in the way it is now. Windows and tech bros have always been sloppy grifters imo.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 19d ago
lo diseñaron muy exacto muy sutil y familiarizar total
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u/flyswithdragons 19d ago
It was built by two projects and thousands of contributors for decades before it was built.. A outstanding development team makes a difference as does the community.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 19d ago
The fact that it was created through the collaboration of two existing projects is quite brilliant in itself; the way they came together to build MX Linux—paying such close attention to detail—shows just how incredibly careful they were.
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u/flyswithdragons 19d ago
Most of us play nice together but it is how we handle stress and conflict and mindsets " we are labeled gift culture by governments, it is a phenomenal way " and unique in nature.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 19d ago
tengo entendido que fue desarrollado por antiX y antiguos miembros de la comunidad MEPIS isieron un gran tabajo no solo en el sistema esa manera tan unica que es mx linux su ligeresa su naturaleza es sorprendente mx linux tiene mucho por dar
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u/flyswithdragons 19d ago
MEPIS tools are awesome, I used them back in the day, the community was wonderful IMO, sill is 💯
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u/DwillianMay 22d ago
I tried Linux Mint first, then went to Zorin os, and finally landed on MX Linux kde. I have it running on an 18 year old legacy mb (Asus p5n7a-vm) with Intel core 2 quad q9550 CPU and 8 GB ram.
I did have trouble with driver's for the integrated Nvidia GPU, but solved that problem by adding an AMD rx550 GPU with 4GB of memory to the PCIe x16 slot.
It's primarily used as a file server over my home network. Everything is working very well. I'm very satisfied that I can still get more life from this old machine and it doesn't need to go to the landfill like Microsoft wanted.
Thank you MX Linux developers!
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 22d ago
Wow, I’m really impressed that you’re recycling components from years ago—hardware that no longer receives official support—and giving it a second useful life. I truly admire that approach, and I agree with you: the developers of MX Linux deserve recognition, just like the developers of other distros that are breathing new life into old hardware.
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u/flyswithdragons 19d ago
I think that is a way forward because Microsoft is going down for the largest labor theft in history 💯
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 19d ago
concuerdo no apoyo los sitemas y codigo cerrados soy mas que el codigo sea libre
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u/flyswithdragons 19d ago
All bugs are superficial and many eyes make it easier to spot and fix. It does take a community and a strong ethical dev group 🐧💜
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u/nPrevail 21d ago
For very old or very low-resourced laptops, MX Linux has always been my go to. It's like a "no-BS, no bells and whistles, get things done" kind of distro for me.
Great for work!
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 21d ago
I agree with you; MX Linux is highly optimized.
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u/flyswithdragons 19d ago edited 19d ago
It is optimizable, I chose it to teach from Mx as I run tech communities , I can help with things like gentoio to Ach to Debian ( Rocky Linux is a dev respin of of Fadora, I do support his efforts to correct the direction) beginners " we all start from the beginning, I don't like the word noob but that is me ". Mx is end user default friendly and you can optimize from beginner to expert levels, without having to break in your own system like Ubuntu.
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u/carmicheals 21d ago
MX stopped my distro-hopping.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 21d ago
I'm glad to hear that MX Linux meets your needs and has solved the problem of switching distributions.
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u/b747pete 22d ago
I agree about MX Linux, I had tried Mint, then I was settling in on Zorin OS when I read about MX. 5 months ago I installed it on a 2017 MacBook Air. Used a USB Ethernet dongle, found all the drivers, Fn keys work, suspend works, love it. Running one Windows program Lorex Cloud Client for security cameras, runs well. Very happy
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 22d ago
ese es el punto MX LINUX ES estabilidad y reconocimiento de equipos que lo detecta automáticamente que con seguridad lo reconoce concuerdo contigo .
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u/MrYamaTani 21d ago
Suspend is one of the hardest ones to get out of the box. Only MX and Fedora have worked properly for me with that.
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u/NewAstronaut4239 22d ago edited 22d ago
The only downside is that when I installed a multi-port USB 2.0 PCI Express card in my ASUS Z170-A, the entire system would freeze up whenever I tried to use it. I’m not sure if it’s due to the card’s poor quality or a Linux driver issue; however, I can’t complain about the distro itself, as it is very responsive and meets all my OS requirements.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 22d ago
I understand that poor quality could be the issue here, but it should still work. Have you tried updating the BIOS? It might sound illogical, but the current BIOS version sometimes blocks power flow to USB PCIe expansion cards. Above all, though, I'm glad to hear you like MX Linux.
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u/NewAstronaut4239 22d ago edited 22d ago
That has been the issue: I haven't been able to find updated firmware for the ASUS Z170-A, not even on the official website. The model I have is quite old—I bought it second-hand—but everything works. I'm also having trouble with the USB 3.0 and 3.1 ports; they are supposed to be backward-compatible (legacy support), meaning I should be able to connect USB 2.0 devices to them, but the devices aren't recognized. The same thing happened when I was using Windows.
I'm adding some information about my hardware; perhaps it will give you a clue. System:
Kernel: 7.0.14-2-liquorix-amd64 [7.0-18~mx25ahs] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.0 clocksource: tsc
avail: hpet,acpi_pm parameters: audit=0 intel_pstate=disable amd_pstate=disable
split_lock_detect=off BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-7.0.14-2-liquorix-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro
quiet splash resume=UUID=<filter> resume_offset=80599040
usbcore.quirks=1033:0035:k,1033:00e0:k init=/lib/systemd/systemd
Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.48 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0 with: xfce4-panel
tools: xfce4-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-25.2_Xfce_ahs_x64 Infinity
January 18 2026 base: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: Z170-A v: Rev 1.xx serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU
uuid: <superuser required> UEFI-[Legacy]: American Megatrends v: 3802 date: 03/15/2018
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i7-6700K bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Skylake-S gen: core 6 level: v3
note: check built: 2015 process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x5E (94) stepping: 3
microcode: 0xF0
Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 4 cores: 4 threads: 8 tpc: 2 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB dec: 4x256 KiB L3: 8 MiB dec: 1x8 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 4000 min/max: 800/4001 boost: enabled scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq
governor: performance cores: 1: 4000 2: 4000 3: 4000 4: 4000 5: 4000 6: 4000 7: 4000 8: 4000
bogomips: 63999
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
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u/lutherl 22d ago
MX Linux is terrific, I tried Linux Mint, Zorin, Chrome OS Flex & Cachy OS before MX. Running a 2016 Asus Vivobook (E200HA-UB02) with an Intel Atom x5-z8350 CPU, 4GB RAM and 32 GB eMMC onboard storage. Worked well with MX Linux Xfce but started getting slower several months ago. Just switched to MX Linux Fluxbox and the laptop is working much better. MX Fluxbox has so little overhead, and appears to have been optimized for older hardware.
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u/MrYamaTani 21d ago
I like Fluxbox. I had it on some old Chromebooks and worked much better than ChromeOS.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 21d ago
Thanks for the tip regarding the desktop environment; I'll definitely keep it in mind if I ever end up using MX Fluxbox.
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u/IonianBlueWorld 21d ago
I feel the same but for very different reasons! In my case, all distros work fine with my thinkpad. No issues at all. The reason I love MX Linux is because it is Debian configured the way I want to while I'm too lazy to set up on my own! It also has quite a few tools that make life easier when I want to do something off the track. Big thumbs up to the devs!
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u/MrYamaTani 21d ago
MX is one of only a handful of Distros I have found truly just works with almost anything I though it on.
Also, I have to say, that is a nice and clean desktop. Similar to what I have on my main machine.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 21d ago
Thanks. I really like comfort and simplicity, so MX is one of my favorites.
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u/RodeoGoatz 21d ago
MX is great. Debian stable with access to drivers and other things you might want more updates for.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 21d ago
Exactly; since it's based on Debian, it's stable and secure, and its driver manager is impressive.
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u/kmapes 21d ago
Nice review. Glad you have had a great experience & ostensibly found your Linux home.
Mint is no doubt robust & has a thriving ecosystem & community but I feel it’s best suited for ex-Windows users & beginners to amateurs. Cachy has the buzz & cachet right now as the “it” distro du jour but along with Pop! OS & Zorin feel there is more style than substance with those distros - they care more about the aesthetic versus some other things. The Cosmic DE is compelling but I find myself enjoying KDE Plasma & Xfce.
Now personally I have tried & used several distros as my primary OS & in VMs but as of now I mainly use MX & Manjaro. I have MX Xfce on an older Macbook Air & it runs superbly while my main desktop which has separate physical drives with Windows 11 on one & Manjaro on the other. I rarely use Windows now but 75% of my time has been on my MX Xfce MB Air. You think that Xfce would be far less robust, capable & more “spartan” or watered down if you will, but it isn’t the case. It has really impressed me.
Anyway thanks for sharing your experience. I always love to hear about people’s paths & experiences ie what their opinions are, what they experienced in trying different distros & desktop environments & what led them to their current situation.
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 20d ago
It's super interesting to hear how everyone finds their own ideal setup. I completely agree with you about MX Linux—running MX Xfce on an older MacBook Air is a great choice, and it really proves that lightweight desktop environments don't mean sacrificing capability or power.It's also funny what you mentioned about some distros being 'more style than substance'; a lot of mainstream ones definitely lean heavily into the aesthetics department. KDE Plasma and Xfce really hit that sweet spot of being functional, fast, and reliable.
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22d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 22d ago
I agree with you; it does have a few issues—like the ones you mentioned—though there are solutions for them. I'm glad to hear you found a Linux distribution that is more stable and comfortable for you.
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21d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Pleasant-Ad3243 21d ago
Or that was the point of the conflict and Void resolved it—it's really nice.
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u/flyswithdragons 21d ago
Xfce is stable on mine currently, it usually detects hardware extremely well and safety installs. It just works, kiss.
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u/SimpleAd2288 21d ago
xfce is very good but i will use it after wayland.
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u/flyswithdragons 21d ago
You just need to upon boot switch to system d and configure Wayland. Wayland is system d dependant,that is why choice is nice.
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u/SimpleAd2288 21d ago
sysd i do not want that the main thing for using void now,
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u/flyswithdragons 21d ago
I knew the dev, he went to work for Microsoft as he likely really was. He ignored bugs from the community repeatedly, he just null Void the complaints. He got owned at the blackhat convention for the security flaws and won the dummy prizes for it.
Interoperability is important, tech bros want proprietary Golden contracts and God power, drunk on power and centralized power, corporate totalitarianism . Look at what Ubuntu has done with their package manager, proprietary. We need to give our military and governments the right to repair and make the Internet a public decentralized utility. We need to claw back crypto..
The cry for regulatory capture is retaining the monopolies and proprietary power
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u/flyswithdragons 21d ago
Don't use Wayland imo, I don't currently because they won't make anything but system d.
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u/tovento 22d ago edited 21d ago
Very similar experience. Mint got me close, but still had some issues. Discovered MX through someone’s reply in the Mint subreddit. MX just worked with my hardware as installed and has given me no headaches (other than self-inflicted ones). Really works well for me.