This web site is developed and maintained by the MX Linux Community in collaboration with the antiX Community for the purpose of supporting the MX Linux OS.
Origin
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 the Live-USB/DVD technology. The name “MX” was chosen to combine the first letter of Mepis with the last of antiX, thus symbolizing their collaboration. In order to be listed on DistroWatch, MX Linux was presented as a version of antiX and released its first version in March of 2014. It received its own DistroWatch page as a separate distribution with the release of the first Public Beta of MX-16 on November 2, 2016. Full release history is here.
Why do we do it?
When Warren Woodford decided to stop developing Mepis in 2012 some of us at Mepislovers decided we needed a replacement that felt similar (a lot of us had distro-hopped before we found Mepis and didn’t want to settle for the other options available) and nobody was going to build it for us, so, with a lot of help from the antiX team (antiX was originally spun off from Mepis about the time I discovered it) we did it ourselves.
So we tend our creation for each other and all our users, and some of those users find they feel the same way we did and join us to try to keep improving MX. For some it’s a hobby, for some it’s paying it forward to the free software community that has given us so much, for some it’s a labor of love.
And while none of us do it for the money, the donations do help because hosting this website and the MX repositories and the rsync servers to sync the third party mirrors do cost money which those donations cover.
Dev Team
The MX Dev Team is composed of a group of volunteers of various backgrounds, talents and interests. Its administrative structure can be represented thus:
These positions are filled by periodic vote within the Dev Team.
Our Positions
Systemd
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 crucial Debian packages that have systemd dependencies such as CUPS and Network Manager. This approach also allows the user to retain the ability to choose his/her preferred init on the boot screen (GRUB). For details, see the MX/antiX Wiki.
Non-free software
MX Linux is fundamentally user-oriented, so includes a certain amount of non-free software to assure that the system works out of the box as much as possible.
Credits
General thanks to all the Dev Team members, starting with the Lead Dev Dolphin Oracle. Special thanks for strong ongoing support of this project go to the MX Linux Packagers, video producers, wonderful and hard-working volunteers, Translators and code-contributing users!
Supporting Communities
antiX Community
MX & former MEPIS Community
Contact Info
Help: MX Forum
Development Team: development team Not for support.
Documentation: documentation team