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please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

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yop
Posts: 107
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:55 am

please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

#1 Post by yop »

Everyone appreciates how y'all go out of your way to make it totally a mystery exactly why one would use antix or MX or what the differences between them are.

The perfect confusion produced by the makers! Wonderful. Quite a feat. :number1:

No clarity whatsoever, and vagueness abound. Exactly what the world needs. :fox:

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Adrian
Developer
Posts: 8230
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:42 am

Re: please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

#2 Post by Adrian »

We'll do our best.

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Old Giza
Posts: 426
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:31 pm

Re: please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

#3 Post by Old Giza »

I think MX is explained pretty well on its main page:
MX Linux (antiX MX) is a special version of antiX developed in full collaboration with the MEPIS Community, using the best tools and talents from each distro and including work and ideas originally created by Warren Woodford for his MEPIS project. It is a midweight OS designed to combine an elegant and efficient desktop with simple configuration, high stability, solid performance and medium-sized footprint.
And antiX on its:
antiX is a fast, lightweight and easy to install linux live CD distribution based on Debian Stable for Intel-AMD x86 compatible systems. antiX offers users the "antiX Magic" in an environment suitable for old and new computers. So don't throw away that old computer yet! The goal of antiX is to provide a light, but fully functional and flexible free operating system for both newcomers and experienced users of Linux. It should run on most computers, ranging from 256MB old PIII systems with pre-configured swap to the latest powerful boxes. 256MB RAM is recommended minimum for antiX. The installer needs minimum 2.7GB hard disk size. antiX can also be used as a fast-booting rescue cd. Special XFCE editions made in collaboration with the MEPIS Community called MX-15 "Fusion" (released 24 December 2015) and MX-14 "Symbiosis" (released March 24, 2014) are also available. antiX MX series has a separate development schedule to antiX.
Where do you see the confusion?

yop
Posts: 107
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:55 am

Re: please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

#4 Post by yop »

so, according to the above, MX ist a special Antix.

Then what are the differences, and is there any reason at all (which would that be?) to use MX since the Antix release is 6 months newer ?

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Jerry3904
Administrator
Posts: 21859
Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:13 am

Re: please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

#5 Post by Jerry3904 »

yop wrote:Everyone appreciates how y'all go out of your way to make it totally a mystery exactly why one would use antix or MX or what the differences between them are.

The perfect confusion produced by the makers! Wonderful. Quite a feat. :number1:

No clarity whatsoever, and vagueness abound. Exactly what the world needs. :fox:
Interesting: your first three posts on the Forum have all been sarcastic complaints about documentation. Is there something you like about Mx-15 you would like to mention?
Production: 5.10, MX-23 Xfce, AMD FX-4130 Quad-Core, GeForce GT 630/PCIe/SSE2, 16 GB, SSD 120 GB, Data 1TB
Personal: Lenovo X1 Carbon with MX-23 Fluxbox and Windows 10
Other: Raspberry Pi 5 with MX-23 Xfce Raspberry Pi Respin

yop
Posts: 107
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:55 am

Re: please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

#6 Post by yop »

yes. I run MX-15 because I thought it had better REMASTER features than Antix, and MX is pretty decent already.

But now I am totally confused as to whether

1. that is accurate or
2. whether people could possibly find that out (by way of reading the official documentation) short of actually running both distros.


Some name confusion going on from where I come from.

yop
Posts: 107
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:55 am

Re: please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

#7 Post by yop »

MX = Special XFCE edition on Antix


But both are based on XFCE, no? Why point out a similarity rather than the differentiating properties?

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anticapitalista
Developer
Posts: 4158
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:40 am

Re: please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

#8 Post by anticapitalista »

antiX has never come with xfce
anticapitalista
Reg. linux user #395339.

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - lean and mean.
https://antixlinux.com

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dolphin_oracle
Developer
Posts: 19831
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 1:17 pm

Re: please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

#9 Post by dolphin_oracle »

No they are not. Antix uses straight window managers and is designed for lower end hardware. Perhaps any of my videos on the subject would provide enlightenment.

Youtube.com/runwiththedolphin

I recommend the "what's new" videos
http://www.youtube.com/runwiththedolphin
lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 - MX-23
FYI: mx "test" repo is not the same thing as debian testing repo.

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BitJam
Developer
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Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2009 11:36 pm

Re: please add even more confusion about Antix vs. MX distro

#10 Post by BitJam »

I think this is a fair question. I think the answer is very obvious to the devs which may be why we have not made it totally obvious to the outside world even with the resources Old Giza quoted from.

The live system and many of the special features of both distros are very similar. It is true that the latest release, be it either MX or antiX, has the latest versions of our software. This time around, MX-16 will be catching up with the live system of antiX-16 but this is not always the case. For example, MX-15 had many improvements over antiX-15. Then antiX-16 caught up and leap-frogged ahead. Now MX-16 will mostly catch up. The leap-frog ahead of antiX-16 was mostly due to user feedback from MX-15.

Technically, MX combines the build tools and live system of antiX with the community repo and backports of Mepis. As for the user experience, you should choose MX if you want all GUI all the time. People who are/were comfortable with Windows-XP should find the transition to MX relatively easy. The antiX distro is closer to the metal. It is probably closer to a traditional Linux experience where some use of the command line is needed. Since one of the flavours of antiX is command line only, the command line support in antiX is better IMO.

MX uses the XFCE desktop environment which provides a more integrated experience than simple window managers do. There is a suite of XFCE programs that are designed to work together. Even though antiX is small and lightweight, it comes in several different flavours/sizes and the Base and Full flavours each provide several windows managers. So antiX comes with more custom built tools that can be used across window managers which aren't needed in MX because these tools are already provided by XFCE.

While it is very easy to make your own custom version of either MX or antiX, I think antiX was designed more with customization in mind. With MX, I think the focus was more on a seamless GUI user experience and a community repo with an amazing and extensive collection of backports. AntiX is more geared toward people who want to tinker and do-it-themselves while MX provides a stronger community experience, but there is plenty of overlap.
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -- and you are the easiest person to fool."

-- Richard Feynman

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