So, MX Linux looks quite interesting; I’d be rid of systemd for one, and my system would have a smaller footprint.
However, I have concerns about upgrades which will occur sooner or later. With Linux Mint this is simply an option which appears in the update manager. Is there a nice graphical front-end for the process with MX Linux?
There is an MX tool for normal packsge management. It is in the menus, so I it is graphical.
For cross release upgrades see here
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/system/upgrading-from-mx-21-to-mx-23-without-reinstalling/
I have never used it, but I have read that it has a method to preserve any user addons and your /etc configurations.
You only get one of these about every 2 years.
I use MX sometimes, but have not seem a GUI for updates. It seems to me that all updates were applied when the update process was started. Maybe @nevj or another MX user can give us some insight.
@xahodo means upgrades… like when there is a new release and you want to step up to it.
MX does have a normal update GUI. It is in MX tools. I use it often. Not as fancy a GUI as, say, Solus, but it works.
Thanks for the info. I believe the upgrades and updates are handle the same way, but I am not sure. On My MX system there is a small black box in the panel or task bar. When I hover over it with the mouse, it said no updates available. In the terminal I ‘sudo apt update’ and the box turned green. CLicking on the box now, I get the screen below.
I could also go to the terminal and ‘sudo apt upgrade’ to do the same function. Or at least that’s my understanding.
Yes, it is doing the same as apt upgrade.
I never noticed the panel box.
The GUI is in MX Tools in the menu… I forget is exact name… something like Mx Package Manager
Yes, …, watch the terminology
update means refresh the package database
upgrade means reinstall any changed packages
you normally do both together, ie
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
Then there are cross-release-upgrades… they are different. A new release means
a fresh intall , or
an inline cross-release- upgrade (Debian used to call these dist-upgrade)
It is the latter that I think @xahodo was referring to.
You cant do those with apt alone. You need to take steps to preserve things
G’day Neville,
If pacman isn’t your jam and like me, you don’t really enjoy using the command line then, have you looked into or tried the BAUH GUI? It’s one of the first bits of software I add when Installing Manjaro . It is an Arch based app but I believe there may also be a ppa for use with Debian flavours. It manages several app types including Arch, Flatpak, Snap, AppImage, and WebApps.
I like the cutting edge of software via rolling releases. Yes, I have had a few crashes from time to time but being on the sharp edge of both hardware and software is fun - jmho.
Cheers,
Michael
I am happy with CLI. I grew up with BSD Unix, so I did not come to Linux from Windows.
Have not looked at BAUH. It may help with Artix although I generally stick to Arch apps in Artix, I have no objection to using a pak if I need it.
It depends on the distro. I have never had a crash with rolling release in Void Linux, but I have in Arch (Artix). Some distro managers are more careful than others
Yes, you are so right. 
For years (maybe 45 or more) coming from a mainframe and windows background “updates” meant just that. You were applying updates to your system. And upgrades were more commonly used for hardware.
And yes in the Linux world, it means two different things. I know better, but was not thinking. 
Here I was using upgrades as in “release upgrade” and updates meaning “upgrade” packages.
There is an article here on It’s Foss.
That green thing
There is also this in the menu
System → MX Updater
it does the same
And there is the package manager
MXTools → MX Package Installer
And there is a cross-release upgrade procedure here
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/system/upgrading-from-mx-21-to-mx-23-without-reinstalling/
It is non-gui
Sorry for the confusion, I muddled things a bit there.
That’s how I know that there are updates. Choosing that automatically opens the MX Package Manager GUI and displays what will be updated. And choosing to update opens the terminal, input password, and watch the udpates happen (here is where I can see if any issues arise). Once completed, terminal closes.
The MX Tool is the only GUI I am aware of to install packages. Otherwise, just use CLI. I usually search for it in the repositories, even flatpak is there. Then if not there, I can use the terminal to install other apps.
I care about desktops, but after having KDE/ Cinnamon for so long, I found Xfce refreshing and quite comfortable. So I haven’t felt the need to find a different DE.
All in all, I can’t see ever changing my daily driver from MX Linux. As I said before, if it would not be so much work, I would change my LM Cinnamon machine to MX, but who has the time? Not me, at least not right now.
Sheila
Yes, but it is black if the system does not believe there any updates.
I turned the box from black to green when I ‘sudo apt updates’ to check to see if there was upgrades for the system.
For select users, this is a dream, update from command line, icon or not on bottom bar near the clock.
But for 90 % of the end user market, who dont always see the icon change colour or when. They just want to click and follow screens that just say update. Nice easy and clean. Many dont even know they can continue working in most cases, unless the update is for the app they are currently using.
Whilst the command line appeals to some, that keeps many away from using it as they think linus must have that to do anything.
Howdy Neville,
Most Aussies have lived here from birth. I live here by choice, having moved here from the USA 8 years ago next week, at the ripe old age of 64. Now 72 and retired from a long career in consumer electronics before cross-training into the compute repair field at the turn of the century/millenium. Trained in Windows, but recently gave it up for Linux Mint after a number of years growing more and more disgusted with the Redmond crowd. Now that I’m retired I no longer have to kowtow to Microscum for the sake of my customers. LOL
Yes, I’ve tried them. I find them bizarre/bland for my taste. Compared to tem better off with the default Xfce DE. Someday, I hope, more appealing DEs will be officially available for MX.
Hi James,
My neice married an American , who moved here.
I was born here. My family were British migrants in the early 1900’s.
You have a lot of training . You could help a lot on this forum.
I came from Unix/BSD background. I worked in scientific computing, so my experience is very narrow. This forum has opened my eyes a bit.
You get to see all sorts of issues, and it is not tied to one distro, not even to Linux.
Regards
Neville
@Rohit ,
You can get MX isos with KDE, Xfce, or Fluxbox.
Fluxbox is primitive.
Anything else requires installing a DE from the Debian repo.
For me my favorite distro is Fedora. I’m thinking of distrohpering on Manjaro as soon as they support wayland-only with GNOME48 ( edited inJanuary 2025).
what’s today? Thursday already?
I did some distrohopping the other day - decided Ubu 24.10 was too bleeding edge and inconsistent on my Dell Latitude E7270 - could’t get Synergy KVM to work on 24.10 and was using it via a 27" FHD monitor - so - wanted Synergy…
Managed to find my 128 GB Ventoy stick… Plonked Pop!_OS 24 (alpha) on there and elementary 8… NEITHER of them would boot from the Ventoy stick into a live session…
Ubu 24.04 did (boot live session from Ventoy) - so I installed it - with “experimental” ZFS support (and encrypted)… So far so good - I think that was Monday… Oh and disabled Wayland 'cause Synergy 1.16.1-beta supposedly can work on Wayland - but - it wouldn’t respond (Synergy client configure) until I rebooted into xorg - but it’s progress - it used to just basically refuse to run on Wayland, period…
But - despite having a Pro license for Synergy (lifetime “early adopter”) - I may yet give up and jump to “inputleap” port of Barrier (which is now discontinued I think) as it’s allegedly 100% compatible with Wayland…
