The Technical Foundations of MX Linux 25 Release Candidate: Debian 13 Base and LTS Kernel
The release of the MX Linux 25 Release Candidate (RC1) marks a crucial step in the evolution of this highly popular distribution, now built on Debian 13 “Trixie”. This base provides proven stability and significant improvements to software packages and the system. The choice to integrate Debian 13 reflects the developers’ desire to affirm the robustness and modernity of MX Linux while benefiting from the vast community and regular updates of the Debian project.
Regarding the Linux kernel, MX Linux 25 retains the Linux 6.12 LTS series for its standard editions, ensuring long-term support and the reliability needed by professional and amateur users. At the same time, the Advanced Hardware Support (AHS) editions adopt an optimized kernel, Liquorix Linux 6.15, specially compiled to deliver increased performance on recent hardware and improve system responsiveness.
This duality meets the diverse needs of users: a stable version for reliable production or everyday use, and a more aggressive and powerful version for recent configurations or demanding environments. MX Linux can thus be seen as appealing to both system administrators seeking a robust platform and those passionate about performance and custom configurations.
Furthermore, the integration of systemd-cryptsetup on systemd-based ISOs addresses a recurring issue with encrypted /home partitions, ensuring better support for native encryption. This patch significantly improves security and compatibility for users using encrypted data, an increasingly essential criterion in a digital world where information protection is paramount.
- Debian 13 “Trixie” base for enhanced stability
- Linux kernel 6.12 LTS for standard editions
- Liquorix kernel 6.15 for Advanced Hardware Support (AHS)
- Fix with systemd-cryptsetup for encrypted /home partitions
It’s important to note that the adoption of Debian 13 also brings with it an update to system tools and libraries, positively impacting compatibility with many popular software programs, such as LibreOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird. These programs benefit from more recent features and bug fixes, ensuring a smoother and more secure user experience. Finally, this preliminary stage of the Release Candidate invites testers to evaluate overall stability, particularly installation via different file systems such as EXT4 or Btrfs, in order to identify potential regressions before the final release. This collaborative approach is a strong point of MX Linux and demonstrates its maturity and commitment to community involvement.Discover the MX Linux 25 release candidate: optimized performance, new features, and improved stability. Download now and test the new features before the official release! Visual and Ergonomic Improvements in MX Linux 25: Themes, Conky, and Desktop Management The visual aspect is also at the heart of the new features in this Release Candidate, updated with the mx-ease and mx-matcha themes that first appeared during the beta phase. These themes modernize the graphical interface while maintaining the functional simplicity typical of MX Linux, contributing to better usability without sacrificing performance. One of the major technical additions concerns Conky, a lightweight and flexible system monitoring tool pre-installed on MX Linux. This version now offers several predefined configurations, allowing the user to select the time display in 12-hour (AM/PM) or 24-hour format, depending on their locale. This flexibility demonstrates the attention paid to user preferences, while providing real-time system information, such as CPU usage, memory, and network bandwidth.
In terms of desktop environments, each edition benefits from specific updates. The
edition benefits from a significant improvement to the
Whisker Menu , with a new settings format providing greater clarity and easier navigation within applications. Meanwhile, the KDE Plasma version introduces new actions for the Dolphin
file manager, including root gestures and other integrated service menus, providing better privilege management and administrative tasks directly from the graphical interface. Additionally, the Fluxboxversion has its default toolbars adjusted to provide better organization with corrected styles, and replaces
DeaDBeeF with Audacious as the default audio player, providing an improved audio experience, particularly in terms of compatibility and ease of use. Additionally, a bug preventing the installer from displaying in this edition has been fixed, improving user experience throughout the installation process.Deployment of new mx-ease and mx-matcha themes Enhanced Conky configurations with 24/7 supportRevised Whisker Menu in Xfce, more intuitive Integrated root actions in Dolphin for KDE PlasmaFluxbox: new toolbar, Audacious replaces DeaDBeeF
These developments reinforce the appeal of MX Linux 25 and continue its tradition of combining lightweight design and user-friendliness. For users seeking full control over their environment, these graphical customizations provide a solid and modern foundation while keeping an eye on performance and resource consumption, essential on modest machines. System Optimizations and MX Tools: Updates for Simplified Management Among the major technical improvements, MX Linux 25 Release Candidate brings several fixes and new features to its proprietary tools. The installation system has been revamped, including a fix for the updated replace function, which improves reliability during installation on different media and configurations. The live-usb-maker tool also benefits from an update enabling an “update” mode; this mode allows installation USB drives to be updated, eliminating the need to recreate a disk image with each new version or patch. This feature is a crucial asset for regular users testing MX Linux on different machines or environments. The live-kernel-updater
- has been adjusted to optionally exclude Memtest from the kernel choices available at boot, thus aligning with a logic of optimizing the options presented to users. Regarding update management,
- mx-updater
- has seen its automation strengthened to ensure seamless operations, reducing manual intervention while ensuring system consistency.
- A highly anticipated tool, the
- nvidia-installer (ddm-mx)
, has been reworked to provide a fallback function when using the NVIDIA developer repository, increasing compatibility, particularly with Wayland, an increasingly popular display environment that is superior in security and performance to the traditional X.org.
Fixed the replace function in the installer
Added “update” mode for live-usb-maker
Memtest filtering in live-kernel-updater Improved automatic updates via mx-updater Better management of the NVIDIA repository with Wayland compatibility
It’s also important to note that several system tools, including the service manager, have received bug fixes, making system service management smoother and less error-prone. For example, for system administrators and enthusiasts, this increased stability simplifies common operations such as starting, stopping, or controlling essential services. The GRUB fixes allow for a significant improvement in boot performance on older Intel graphics cards (Ivy/Sandy Bridge), a relief for those with legacy configurations who still experience difficulties on some modern distributions. Discover the MX Linux 25 release candidate: a fast, lightweight, and secure operating system, ideal for all users looking to test the latest innovations before the official release. Advances in Hardware Support and Security for MX Linux 25 MX Linux 25 RC1 features notable new features in security and hardware management. The removal of TLP – a power management tool – in favor of the power-profiles daemon Fixes a widget issue related to power profiles, particularly in the KDE Plasma edition. This change ensures a more standardized approach and better integration with modern power management environments, improving battery life and system responsiveness.
On the subject of security, support for Secure Boot is highlighted in this release. This mechanism, which verifies system integrity at startup by preventing the execution of unauthorized software, represents an important step towards better protection against rootkits and other threats. For those interested in Linux security, an overview of the risks of bypassing Secure Boot is a useful complement to understanding current issues. At the same time, the developers have improved MX Linux’s compatibility with Secure Boot and various recent UEFI firmware, facilitating installation and booting on modern hardware that often encounters hang-ups with other distributions. Regarding proprietary drivers, work on the nvidia-installer (ddm-mx) and its better integration with Wayland is aimed at users looking to take advantage of advanced graphics performance, particularly for demanding activities such as gaming or intensive computing.TLP replaced with power-profiles-daemon for power management
- Enhanced support for Secure Boot for secure boot
- Improved UEFI and Secure Boot compatibility
- Optimized support for NVIDIA GPUs on Wayland
- Fixed display issues for older Intel GPUs
- These advancements clearly demonstrate that MX Linux 25 adapts to modern requirements while maintaining an openness to older hardware, a delicate balance that appeals to a wide range of users, both professionals and home users.
Wide Variety of Editions and Software Management in MX Linux 25 to Satisfy All User Profiles A key strength of MX Linux 25 lies in its wide range of editions, already recognized in the Linux community. Available versions include graphical environments ranging from the popularity of Xfce 4.20
to the feature-richness of KDE Plasma 6.3.6 , and the classic lightweight nature of
. This diversity covers a wide range of uses and preferences.
Choosing between these environments allows MX Linux to be adapted to different uses: Xfce : Ideal for users who value stability and lightweight design, with updated tools and an intuitive desktop. KDE Plasma : Recommended for users looking for a modern, feature-rich, and customizable interface with good support for administrative actions.
Fluxbox : Targets fans of minimalist window managers, optimized for older machines or extremely bare-bones environments. This strategic selection also fuels the efficient integration of many essential free software programs preinstalled or accessible via Synaptic, the package manager renowned for its clear interface. Among the flagship applications are LibreOffice for office applications, Firefox for browsing, Thunderbird for email, and GIMP for image editing. Users are thus equipped for a variety of tasks, from simple office use to more advanced operations such as graphics editing or network management. MX Linux continues to strengthen this proposition by focusing on easy maintenance and easy handling, which explains its growing success over other distributions. Those wishing to delve deeper into different options for Linux distributions compared to Windows will find many useful resources on the subject. Three major editions: Xfce 4.20, KDE Plasma 6.3.6, Fluxbox 1.3.7 Strong integration of key open source software Updated Synaptic Manager for easy installation of new tools
Suitable for both new and older machines Support for multiple user and administrator profiles This allows you to breathe new life into older PCs with a fast and user-friendly distribution, connected with proven solutions, both in terms of power and comfort.
Discover MX Linux 25 release candidate: optimized performance, new features, and improved stability. Test this pre-release of one of the most popular Linux distributions now!
