MX Linux is a

Linux distribution A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...

based on

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

and using core

antiX antiX () is a Linux distribution, originally based on MEPIS, which itself is based on the Debian stable distribution. antiX initially replaced the MEPIS KDE desktop environment with the Fluxbox and IceWM window managers, making it suitable ...

components, with additional software created or packaged by the MX community. The development of MX Linux is a collaborative effort between the

and former

MEPIS MEPIS was a set of Linux distributions, distributed as Live CDs or DVDs that could be installed onto a hard disk drive. MEPIS was started by Warren Woodford and MEPIS LLC. The most popular MEPIS distribution was SimplyMEPIS, which was based pri ...

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 Xfce or XFCE (pronounced as four individual letters, ) is a Free and open-source software, free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. Xfce aims to be fast and Lightweight software, lightweight whil ...

as the main

desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphi ...

, to which it adds a free-standing

KDE Plasma KDE Plasma is a Shell (computing), graphical shell developed by the KDE community for Unix-like operating systems. It serves as the interface layer between the user and the operating system, providing a graphical user interface (GUI) and workspa ...

version and, in 2021, a stand-alone

Fluxbox Fluxbox is a stacking window manager for the X Window System, which started as a fork of Blackbox 0.61.1 in 2001, with the same aim to be lightweight. Its user interface has only a taskbar, a pop-up menu accessible by right-clicking on the d ...

implementation. Other environments can be added or are available as "spin-off"

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

images. MX Linux can be installed or run live (running from USB), unlike a Windows boot USB. Windows can only be installed (no live option). When booted from a USB, you can continue running 'live' without being prompted to install MX. This live environment gives you a fully functional desktop experience. MX Linux accomplishes this by way of a runtime inherited from antiX to give a fast read-write live boot media. This can be coupled with a persistent live USB setup to save any changes to settings and new program additions. As of April 13, 2025, there are a total of 106 MX Linux repository download mirrors worldwide in operation.

History

MX Linux began in a discussion about future options among members of the MEPIS community in December 2013. 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 called MX “Fusion”. It received its own DistroWatch page with the release of the first public beta of MX Linux 16 (Metamorphosis) on 2 November 2016. *The MX-14 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, 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. *MX-15 moved to the new Debian Stable "Jessie" using systemd-shim, meaning that systemd is installed but the default init is SysVinit. The size limitation was lifted, enabling the developers to present a full turnkey product. There was a substantial expansion of MX Tools. *MX-16 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. 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. *MX-17 changed its base to Debian 9 (Stretch) and brought upgraded artwork, new MX Tools, improved Live operation via antiX, and other changes. *MX-18 continued the development of MX Tools, introduced a new kernel, enabled whole disk encryption, added grub themes, splash functionality through MX Boot options artwork, and improved localization. *MX-19 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. *MX-21 "Wildflower" was released on 21 October 2021. It is based on Debian 11.0 (Bullseye) and is available as Xfce,

KDE KDE is an international free software community that develops free and open-source software. As a central development hub, it provides tools and resources that enable collaborative work on its projects. Its products include the KDE Plasma gra ...

versions. Disk Manager returns and for share settings, MX Samba Config app (GUI) is included. MX-21.1 was released on 9 April 2022. MX-21.2 was released on 28 August 2022. MX-21.2.1 was released on 18 September 2022. MX-21.3 3rd refresh of MX-21, was released on 14 January 2023. *MX-23 "Libretto" was released on 31 July 2023. Based on Debian 12 with bug fixes, new kernels, and many application updates. Available as

(4.18), Xfce AHS,

, and

versions. Further details are in the MX blog. MX-23.1 "Libretto" was released on 15 October 2023. First ISO refresh of the initial MX-23 release. *MX-23.2 "Libretto" was released on 21 January 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. MX-23.3 "Libretto" was released on 19 May 2024. 3rd ISO refresh of MX-23 MX-23.4 "Libretto" was released on 15 September 2024. 4th ISO refresh of MX-23 *MX-23.5 "Libretto" was released on 13 January 2025. 5th ISO refresh of MX-23, consisting of an update to Debian 12.9, kernel updates, MX Package Installer has UI improvements and better version display for packages, updated Xfce 4.20 core packages, bug fixes, language updates, and many new applications in the MX 'test' repository. *MX-23.6 "Libretto" was released on 13 April 2025. 6th ISO refresh of MX-23, consisting of: update to Debian 12.10, kernel updates, bug fixes, and language updates. UEFI Manager, a new app for managing UEFI settings. Many new applications in the MX 'test' repository.

Desktop editions

MX Linux has four desktop editions: *

is a fast and medium-low resource usage desktop environment of Xfce version 4.20 offered in 32-bit and 64-bit ISOs. *

is a

window manager A window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of window (computing), windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment. They ...

with very low resource usage. This edition was first released on 21 October 2021. 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available. *

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). This edition was first released on 16 August 2020. * AHS (Advanced Hardware Support), a 64-bit only version of Xfce with newer graphics drivers, currently with Linux kernel 6.0 (or newer) and firmware for very recent hardware (for example,

AMD Ryzen Ryzen ( ) is a brand of multi-core x86-64 microprocessors, designed and marketed by AMD for desktop, mobile, server, and embedded platforms, based on the Zen microarchitecture. It consists of central processing units (CPUs) marketed for mains ...

and AMD Radeon RX graphics cards or 9th/10th/11th/12th/13th generation Intel CPUs). Starting with MX 21.3 a KDE version of AHS was made available.

Recent releases

A table of current MX Linux Development Team supported releases and how long

will provide Long Term Support.

Features

MX Linux has basic tools like a graphic installer that handles

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI, as an acronym) is a Specification (technical standard), specification for the firmware Software architecture, architecture of a computing platform. When a computer booting, is powered on, the UEFI ...

(UEFI) computers, a GUI-based method to change a

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a Free and open-source software, free and open source Unix-like kernel (operating system), kernel that is used in many computer systems worldwide. The kernel was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and was soon adopted as the k ...

and other core programs. It includes MX Tools, 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, a GUI tool to

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

a live session or installation into a single .ISO file. 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 A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

space for installation. * 1 GB

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

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 A solid-state drive (SSD) is a type of solid-state storage device that uses Integrated circuit, integrated circuits to store data persistence (computer science), persistently. It is sometimes called semiconductor storage device, solid-stat ...

for faster performance. * 2 GB of RAM. * Multi-core processor for good performance. * 3D-capable

graphics card A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics accelerator, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or colloquially GPU) is a computer expansion card that generates a feed of graphics output to a displa ...

for 3D desktop support. * SoundBlaster, AC'97 or HDA-compatible

sound card A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external audio ...

. * For use as a LiveUSB, 8 GB free if using persistence.

Derivatives

The developers of MX Linux have also been releasing their own "Community Re-spins", which are treated as unofficial releases. They currently are: * MX-Workbench - meant to be a "Swiss Army knife" type of Linux running live mostly. * MX_Minimal - contains only the Xfce environment, Firefox and pretty much nothing else. * MX_CLI - boots to CLI (Command line Interface) with no Xorg (GUI), no applications, pretty much nothing. Some community members exchange posts at the MX Forum and distribute their own custom respins. *

AV Linux AV Linux is a Linux distribution focused on multimedia content creation. Environment Versions 6 and earlier were 32-bit only, running a 32-bit Linux kernel with the IRQ threading and rtirq-init patches activated by default. For computers wit ...

is a Linux distribution based on MX Linux, focusing on multimedia content creation. * Commodore OS Vision is a community-driven Linux distribution for Commodore enthusiasts. *iDeal OS - a custom & enhanced "respin" of MX Linux with privacy and security settings enhancements. *MX-Moksha 23.6 - MX Linux+Bodhi Linux/Moksha with a Liquorix Kernel, extra system tweaks, and custom utilities WITH NO Audio and Video production applications or Plugins.

References

External links

* *
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 o
this
page. * The complete feature list can be seen o
this
page. {{Linux distributions, state=collapsed 2014 software Debian-based distributions Linux distributions Linux distributions without systemd X86-64 Linux distributions