Yes, I know that the ranking is not a good metric of real world use.
Just posting this because MX Linux has been in the number one spot for a long time (2 years perhaps?) and it’s surprising to see some other distro on the top of their site.
IIRC, its because there is a vulnerability in some websites at https://example.com/mx so, since distrowatch has mx linux at https://distrowatch.com/mx a lot of bots will try to go to there and push its ratings up accidentally.
I have been using Mint for 3 years straight now. I used MXLinux for a while in the past and to be honest, it felt like a “better Debian” to me. The software from their repo list were usually more up to date and the stuff they did with XFCE really blew my mind.
At one point, I installed Cinnamon over MXLinux as an unholy mix of the two and used that for two years before committing to Mint!
MXLinux gets a lot of things correct about the desktop experience, but it still feels like you need some experience with Linux before using it. For example, one of the quirks in the XFCE desktop was that if the number of files (say 40 filea) in a folder ends up taking the full display page such that there is no , then there was empty space to right-click and get the toggle menu for the folder, then it would always select a file. So if I wanted to open a folder with elevated privileges, I’d have to fire up the terminal and navigate to the folder under root. That problem doesn’t exist with Cinnamon as you can toggle the menu by clicking in some obscure corner of the window.
Similarly, some Steam games launch easily with Mint, but you may need to tweak or entirely give up on certain games.
Of course these are trivial stuff, but for a beginner / non-expert, these quality of life feature make all the difference between recommending an OS or wishing to go back to something familiar.
Funny never heard of mx linux
No one has until they look at distro watch /j
ive been into linux for a year and a half and ive never hears of MX linux until today
I’ve been into Linux for like twenty years and used probably ten or fifteen distros and never heard of it
I really don’t think the /j is necessary.
You say that as a joke, but that is exactly how I figured out it exists.
It’s funny and awesome that the two top distro are Ubuntu remixes that remove snap.
What? MX Linux is a Debian remix in the style of antiX I thought?
Shoot, you’re right. I thought MX used Ubuntu as upstream but it uses Debian.
IMO Ubuntu without Snap, but with a default Gnome or KDE (and a visual DE selector screen during installation) would be absolutely perfect.
I really like mint although i never used it again.
Pros using mint :- It’s easy to learn
- It’s stable
- It’s Windows XP like
- Not recourse hogging like KDE
- Easy to customize
Cons using mint :
- It’s debian based
Why is Debian based a problem? I ask this as my first IRL Linux user that taught me about Linux still uses Debian Unstable as his daily driver workhorse, and he is a CS Theory Doctor, and has to reboot his system once a year or so to keep it functioning properly.
New to Linux, why is Debian based considerd a con?
Very old packages.
They have security updates, but are usually held back years to ensure stability.
And that’s a problem if stability is not one of your biggest priorities.
Thanks 👍
Cinnamon is way more resource hogging than KDE.
Not recourse hogging like KDE
KDE has been hogging no resources for ages now, it’s really snappy even on not so powerful machines!
Yes, unless you install some buggy stuff on top it’s as snappy as xfce - tested on literally j4125 (it’s GPU helps), with wobbly burning windows and everything no holdups, smol RAM usage too (especially stock).
How many fucking years will we be out of KDE 4 before these yahoos figure that out?
Debian based is alright, I’m more against it for being based on Ubuntu. Also con: apt
Not recourse hogging like KDE
Really not that bad nowadays.
There is an official Debian-based edition of Mint: LMDE. It’s what I use.
yeah I run kde on my 12yo laptop and it’s smooth
Cons: It’s not Debian
That’s what LMDE is for :)
That’s still not Debian ;)
I really don’t like Mint. It feels like a discount version of Debian/Ubuntu to me. It makes it even worse that the person who introduced it to me has all the worst toxic traits. Now I can’t see it as a good alternative.
It’s Ubuntu without Snaps and a nice DE.
Ignore people when it comes to software. Many advocate Mint. Some are lovely, some are dicks. That goes for every distro.
I’ve never understood the Mint hype. Like you say it seems like Ubuntu with extra steps.
I do have beefs with some of the decisions Canonical makes but if anyone asks me what distri they should start with I will always recommend Ubuntu simply because it’s “the distro” if you search for “Linux” tutorials online 9 times out of 10 you will get a tutorial aimed at Ubuntu. Packages for software that isn’t in repos are usually available as .deb …
Someone doesn’t like windows because they put ads in their start menu: aww you’re sweet
Someone doesn’t like Ubuntu because they put ads in their start menu: hello, human resources?
It’s not really a hype. It just vibes with a lot of people.
It might just be a matter of perspective. I’m not very knowledgeable on distros, so my opinion may come from ignorance:
To me, Ubuntu is too resource intensive with too much going on. Mint seems relatively lean yet modern, with all the basics covered. Debian is a little sparse (no sudo, no fdisk, what’s going on here?).
Kubuntu is where it’s at.
Everyone forgets Xubuntu 🫠
XFCE hasn’t changed in a decade, it feels like.
Just the way I like it
Does Thunar do image thumbnails nowadays?
Sure does!
Who told you you can’t sudo on Debian? ^^ I feel like Debian is flexible enough to give you the system you might want without the bullshit. Ubuntu has lost its way last decade, but you can still debloat it mostly and use one of its alternatives. The Cinnamon DE has improved a lot, but it still feels like Windows Vista to me.
I ended up using NixOS lately so I can have the flexibility, newer packages and very clean repeatable configuration.
I haven’t seen sudo installed by default on debian. Probably the comment is about that. When you start you tend to use only what is already there to not mess things too much.
Sudo is installed on Debian by default, but the default user is not in the sudo group by default. This is intended behavior and is different than Ubuntu or Mint, where the default user created during install is automatically part of the sudo group.
I dont remember exactly, but I understood the error as the generic command not existing when I tried it. I will check again when I can.
In Debian, if you don’t set a root password during the install your first user is added to the sudo group.
What’s interesting is if you look at Trending past 6 months, which puts elementary firmly in 1st. EasyOS and Mint are almost tied for 2nd.
i guess the bots that game the ‘rankings’ went down.
I cannot think of a single reason bots would be pimping MX Linux.
It’s a pretty low key project. Antix gets more “noisy” than MX does, and that’s not even much.
IIRC, its because there is a vulnerability in some websites at https://example.com/mx so, since distrowatch has mx linux at https://distrowatch.com/mx a lot of bots will try to go to there and push its ratings up accidentally.
MX Linux, the king of asking ‘what’s Mx linux’ and inadvertently fueling its growth in distrowatch
Save me the trouble, what is it?
Motocross Linux
It’s Debian with customizations, as well as some custom GUI programs for managing the system.
Look it up on distrowatch
Just think of it as Ubuntu with wm and no bloat
I wonder how long it will take before it will drop off the top 10.
Somewhere in between 10000 years and 5 minutes
Windows copy dialog be like.
