"horizon"

Ten years ago, back around December of 2007, distros I was running included Ubuntu 6.06 ("Dapper"), PCLinuxOS 2007, Linux Mint 4.0 ("Daryna"), Debian 4.0 ("Etch"), and Mepis 7.0. Of those distros, Debian's the only one still installed here today -- we're now at Debian "Stretch" (currently version 9.3).

This morning, I downloaded the latest release of the Mepis descendent MX Linux, MX-17 ("Horizon"). I used dd to copy the image onto a flash drive, and took the live session for a spin.

MX-17 is based on Debian 9, the current Debian Stable, which was released back in June. The download comes in at only about 1.2 GB, but MX-17 ships loaded with apps and tools, including Firefox 57.0.2. Users have access to thousands more apps and packages via the Debian repositories, of course.

Here's how MX-17 welcomes the user at first boot:

The default MX-17 desktop, empty:

The repository setup consists of a few files in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d directory; the repos enabled by default:

deb http://repo.antixlinux.com/stretch stretch main

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free

deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ stretch main non-free


MX Linux uses SysVinit instead of systemd, as explained in the MX User Manual:

Because the use of systemd as a system and service manager has been controversial, we want to be clear about its function in MX Linux. Systemd is included by default but not enabled. You can scan your MX system and discover files bearing systemd* names, but those simply provide a compatibility hook/entrypoint when needed.

MX Linux uses systemd-shim, which emulates the systemd functions that are required to run the helpers without actually using the init service. This means that SvsVinit remains the default init yet MX Linux can use Debian packages that have systemd dependencies such as CUPS. This approach also allows the user to retain the ability to choose his/her preferred init.

For more info about MX-17, check out the MX Community web site at https://mxlinux.org/, where they describe the distro as "a cooperative venture between the antiX and former MEPIS communities, using the best tools and talents from each distro. It is a midweight OS designed to combine an elegant and efficient desktop with simple configuration, high stability, solid performance and medium-sized footprint."

The MX-17 package list at DistroWatch: https://www.distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mx&pkglist=true&version=17#pkglist

Also see the Current Release Features page at the MX site, and the release announcement and the MX Linux page at DistroWatch.