My Journey
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 9:22 am
After getting fed up with Windows, I was constantly repairing my PC that had some sort of virus or malware. A frined of mine mentioned Linux, which I had never heard of. I looked into this and at the time, Ubuntu seemed to be popular and it also seemed to be supported well so I took the leap of faith and installed Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. I stayed with Ubuntu for awhile, learning more about Linux but I didn't like the fact that every 6 months an upgrade would come through and would mess up my system. Many times I just had to do a fresh install of Ubuntu for it to work properly for me and that became a real pain over the years.
Then I heard about Deepin, and I fell in love with the new 'Bling' it had. One of the best looking desktop environments and I loved the panel setup. Deepin would not work properly with my graphics cards (NVidia GTS 450) and it had issues recognizing my USB external drive. I stuck with Deepin for a few iterations hoping the bugs would be fixed and they weren't. By pure accident I heard the Manjaro made a Deepin version, so I hopped over to Manjaro and unfortunately, my problems persisted.
Since I was already on Manjaro, I tried Manjaro GNOME. Not the most resource friendly Desktop Environment, but it had what I need and I really started to like the pacman package manager and all of the software available in the AUR. Every single program I needed or wanted was there along with any driver I ever needed so I was getting high on my software crack. Then as of the last few updates, Manjaro started borking my system and the resource usage of GNOME just made my system slow and lifeless. The last update borked my system so bad, I could't even boot into it. Next I tried Solus, I heard it was an 'up-and-comer' so I installed it and noticed I had gained some speed moving from GNOME, but immedoately it bacame apparent Solus could not fill my needs. The software selection is very limited and the software I needed was not easily install-able because of their eopkg package manager. I just grew tired of Ubuntu, then Deepin, then Manjaro, and Solus constantly messing up my system after an update/upgrade and/or not having the drivers and software I need. I was ready for something new.
I looked over Distrowatch and saw that MX Linux is #5 (at the time of this writing). Elementary was #4 but I had tried that in a VM earlier and although it's beautiful, doesn't meet my needs. A Youtube channel that I subscribe to and respect reviewed MX Linux and gave it an "A+". Other reviews were very complementary so I decided to fire up a VM and give MX a spin. I was amazed how fast the system installed, like 10 minutes from installation start to booting into the system. I could not believe how snappy MX was even in a VM environment. I checked the repositories and all the software and drivers I needed were either there or available at the manufactures website via a .DEB package.
I never worked with XFCE before but I find it very customizable and surprisingly intuitive. I took the plunge and installed it on my system and love that I got my old system back. Everything runs fast and it literally took me 20 minutes to get back up and running with all of my files and drivers that I needed. And oh, this is really important! I never experienced an installer that recognized my Home folder and asked to retain the Home folder info as the system is being installed. What a time saver!
The support here has been active and very helpful. The manual for MX is second-to-none, very well written and thorough. I've already gone through a few updates since my system was freshly installed and so far no issues. I am very impressed. I just want a system that works and works well and so far all of those boxes have been checked by MX Linux. I consider myself a "tweener". Somewhere in-between a newbie but not knowledgeable enough for many thing Linux. That is why I am so impressed with the MX Tools and other custom developed utilities. I can follow a guide to get things installed, or changed, but the tools make it so convenient and time-saving. Thank you for all of your efforts, I will proselytize everyone I come in contact with to extol the virtues of MX Linux...
Then I heard about Deepin, and I fell in love with the new 'Bling' it had. One of the best looking desktop environments and I loved the panel setup. Deepin would not work properly with my graphics cards (NVidia GTS 450) and it had issues recognizing my USB external drive. I stuck with Deepin for a few iterations hoping the bugs would be fixed and they weren't. By pure accident I heard the Manjaro made a Deepin version, so I hopped over to Manjaro and unfortunately, my problems persisted.
Since I was already on Manjaro, I tried Manjaro GNOME. Not the most resource friendly Desktop Environment, but it had what I need and I really started to like the pacman package manager and all of the software available in the AUR. Every single program I needed or wanted was there along with any driver I ever needed so I was getting high on my software crack. Then as of the last few updates, Manjaro started borking my system and the resource usage of GNOME just made my system slow and lifeless. The last update borked my system so bad, I could't even boot into it. Next I tried Solus, I heard it was an 'up-and-comer' so I installed it and noticed I had gained some speed moving from GNOME, but immedoately it bacame apparent Solus could not fill my needs. The software selection is very limited and the software I needed was not easily install-able because of their eopkg package manager. I just grew tired of Ubuntu, then Deepin, then Manjaro, and Solus constantly messing up my system after an update/upgrade and/or not having the drivers and software I need. I was ready for something new.
I looked over Distrowatch and saw that MX Linux is #5 (at the time of this writing). Elementary was #4 but I had tried that in a VM earlier and although it's beautiful, doesn't meet my needs. A Youtube channel that I subscribe to and respect reviewed MX Linux and gave it an "A+". Other reviews were very complementary so I decided to fire up a VM and give MX a spin. I was amazed how fast the system installed, like 10 minutes from installation start to booting into the system. I could not believe how snappy MX was even in a VM environment. I checked the repositories and all the software and drivers I needed were either there or available at the manufactures website via a .DEB package.
I never worked with XFCE before but I find it very customizable and surprisingly intuitive. I took the plunge and installed it on my system and love that I got my old system back. Everything runs fast and it literally took me 20 minutes to get back up and running with all of my files and drivers that I needed. And oh, this is really important! I never experienced an installer that recognized my Home folder and asked to retain the Home folder info as the system is being installed. What a time saver!
The support here has been active and very helpful. The manual for MX is second-to-none, very well written and thorough. I've already gone through a few updates since my system was freshly installed and so far no issues. I am very impressed. I just want a system that works and works well and so far all of those boxes have been checked by MX Linux. I consider myself a "tweener". Somewhere in-between a newbie but not knowledgeable enough for many thing Linux. That is why I am so impressed with the MX Tools and other custom developed utilities. I can follow a guide to get things installed, or changed, but the tools make it so convenient and time-saving. Thank you for all of your efforts, I will proselytize everyone I come in contact with to extol the virtues of MX Linux...