Brian Masinick Blog

antiX 26 Released March 21, 2026

2026-03-29T11:44:00.000-04:00

antiX-26 (Stephen Kapos) is a new release based on Debian trixie that includes 5 init systems. (runit, sysVinit, dinit, s6-rc and s6-66). Default init=runit.

We continue using window managers and the following are included.

IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and the tiling window manager – herbstluftwm

There are 2 flavours – full (c2GB) and core (c660MB) for 64bit and 32bit arch.

ProwlerGR deserves all the credit for integrating the various inits onto antiX as well as implementing the experimental turnstile.

Special thanks to:

* all alpha and beta testers

* Robin for numerous scripts, localisation, and many more.

* PPC for numerous user improvements
* forum members Masinick, christophe, andfree, olsztyn, Xunzi_23, BobC, sybok, techore, rokytnji, stevesr0, abc-nix, anticapitalX, Xaver, anti-apXos, ile, FullScale4Me and anyone else I might have missed for helping out at the forums and/or writing scripts/apps for antiX

* Eric of Obarun for 66

* Freja for default wallpaper
* AK-47 for further impressive work on the installer’s extended features
* fehlix for improvements to our already wonderful antiX live system.
* dave for tireless work keeping the antiX repos going and up to date
* peregrine for all the work on the website

* CharlesV for keeping the forum up and running
* BitJam for developing the antiX live system and build system and making antiX what it is today
* all translators. Special mention to marcelocripe, Wallon and Robin for rightly insisting on supporting localisation and putting it into practice

antiX has been in development since June 16

2025-12-24T19:18:00.001-05:00

Just a quick note to remind myself that antiX 25 opened Alpha 1 testing on June 16. As I wrote in my previous entry, this release has been in the planning stages for over a year.

antiX 25 Beta 2

2025-12-24T19:04:00.000-05:00

I don't know if antiX 25 is going to make it to the final release while it's still 2025, but it has been a very good testing cycle during the antiX 25 development cycle.

The work really began about a year ago when anticapitalista, the founder of antiX, asked the community what they wanted to see in a new release.

A few months back we had a very early Alpha 1 release; that had minimal functionality, but showed the potential for the release. On November 4 we got the Beta 1 build and we tested it for close to a month.

Just over a week ago on December 17 we got the announcement of Beta 2. It's starting to look good, but we probably should have another test release, whether we start having Release Candidates or a Beta 3 is a matter of both function and semantics, but with this excellent software I expect a Beta 3; unfortunately based on the length of time it's taken, it'll be January before another release, and maybe a few more months until we're ready to release, but like REALLY good software, it'll be done when it's ready and I'm very willing to wait, and help test along the way!

I'll refer to it as antiX 26; not sure if that's what we'll end up calling it.

Doom Emacs

2025-07-30T19:07:00.006-04:00

Usually I devote most of my blog entries to writing about the latest distribution update that I've chosen; though I've changed my distribution setups, my main distribution has remained the same for a while: antiX Full Runit; the most recent version is antiX 23.2 Full Runit.

So what is Doom Emacs? It's an interesting merger of Vi bindings, easier key bindings influenced by the late (deceased) Spacemacs, such as SPC q q to save and exit Emacs. Doom Emacs was written by a vi user who wanted more features and to bring some vi users into the fold.

It turned out that there have been various key binding emulations in GNU Emacs for decades, but this is more. It is a modernization effort and a combined technology effort to merge some vi and Emacs features, and default to the vi key bindings.

How does it work? Very well. The specifics are that when you first invoke Emacs, that is, after you've installed Doom Emacs, is that you enter Emacs in edit mode, just as you do in vi. There are a LOT of "evil" functions built in, clearly geek humor at this stage; these integrate vi and Emacs functions.

Suppose you want to operate as traditional GNU Emacs did for a while? Easy: press the Ctrl key and hold it, then press the Z key; this is notated as Ctrl-Z. This will change the mode. If you were in the default (vi) mode, it will change to classic Emacs mode. If you want to switch to the other mode, press Ctrl-Z again.

If you experiment with this, you'll see that you can switch between the two styles.

How do you get started? Visit https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs

Install Git if it's not already installed, then run this command:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs ~/.config/emacs

This will quickly download the Doom Emacs configuration.

Then run this next:

 ~/.config/emacs/bin/doom install

This will install Doom Emacs.

Finally, if it's not there already, add

 ~/.config/emacs/bin to the end of your shell PATH environment.

I put my PATH definition in my .bashrc file and I can execute it

any time it is not already in place.

For more information read the documentation on the

Doom Emacs pages.

antiX 23.2 Full Runit ISO Snapshot, updated and remastered

2025-02-25T17:37:00.003-05:00

It's been quite a while since antiX 23.2 was released, and a few years since antiX 23 was released; we get incremental package updates all the time, but other than that, the status quo remains the same, which is fine because antiX is always an efficient, stable distribution.

Other than "boredom" and the desire to experiment, which I've been doing lately by installing and experimenting with as many text editors as I can get my hands on, and messing with the font colors and background themes.

This is a fantastic place to do all kinds of different things while maintaining stability for the every day tasks.

antiX 23.2 - a highly capable update to the antiX 23 release!

2024-07-03T13:38:00.000-04:00

The antiX 23.2 Full runit image has been made available for testing; with a few minor changes it will be ready for an update release.

As is always the case, I am using this test release; it may become the release, depending on how many changes are required.

antiX 23.1, my every day Linux distribution

2024-05-24T13:41:00.000-04:00

According to https://antixlinux.com/blog/

"antiX-23.1 (Arditi del Popolo) is a bug-fix release based on Debian bookworm."

"As usual we offer the following completely systemd-free and elogind-free flavours for both 32 and 64 bit architecture. Available iso files for sysVinit or runit.

antiX-full (c1.7GB) – 4 windows managers – IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm plus full libreoffice suite. x64 versions come with 2 kernels. Legacy 5.10 and Modern 6.1."

In addition:

"antiX-base (c1GB) – 4 windows managers – IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm.

antiX-core (c520MB) – no X, but should support most wireless.

antiX-net (c220MB)- no X. Just enough to get you connected (wired) and ready to build.

(If using core or net versions, to connect to the Internet, you might need to type as root user ifup eth0 or ifup eth1 or if using core – type ceni)

The 32 bit version uses a non-pae kernel.

Note: After installation of antiX-23.1_x64-full editions, the default kernel will be Modern 6.1 even if Legacy 5.10 was booted during the live boot.

* Based on Debian 12 (Bookworm), but without systemd/libsystemd0 and elogind/libelogind0.
* eudev instead of udev
* Customised 5.10.197 kernel
* Customised 6.1.60 kernel (x64 full only)
* libreoffice 4:24.2.0-1
* firefox-esr 115.8.0esr-1 on antiX-full
* seamonkey 2.53.18.1 on antiX-base
* claws-mail
* cups for printing
* pipewire/wireplumber on full editions
* alsa on base and core editions
* xmms -for audio
* celluloid and mpv – for playing video
* smtube – play youtube videos without a using a browser
* qpdfview – pdf reader
* arc-evopro2-theme-antix
* App Select – Much more than a launcher app.
* User Language – set up localisation of popular apps eg Libreoffice

* No snaps (systemd) and no flatpaks (elogind)!"

antiX: A Featureful Lightweight Linux

2024-03-25T16:42:00.003-04:00

Have an older desktop? An underpowered laptop? antiX might just be your ticket to turn that aging machine into a useful rig.

As a lightweight Linux, antiX is also useful for rolling your own distro, building a dedicated server, or creating a bootable live USB.

I've found it handy as a portable tool I carry about on its own USB memory stick. antiX is so small it leaves plenty of room for user data on the stick. Yet it includes all the apps you need for typical laptop or desktop work.

The antiX home page defines the product as:

"... a fast, lightweight and easy to install systemd-free 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!"

antiX 23.1 init-diversity

2024-03-22T16:01:00.002-04:00

If you look up init-diversity on the Internet you are likely to see various things.

Perhaps because of my posting history, my searches come up with forum messages about the versions of antiX that user @ProwlerGr has contributed recently to the team.

I found the @ProwlerGr blog at https://archive.org/details/antix-23.1_init-diversity-edition_UNOFFICIAL_20240302 that references the March 2, 2024 version of the init-diversity distribution.

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/antix-23-1_init-diversity-edition-sysvinit-runit-s6-rc-s6-66/ references this same thing and https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/antix-23-1_init-diversity-edition-sysvinit-runit-s6-rc-s6-66/page/16/#post-135277 is the specific post for the newest antiX version of this work; there is also a Devuan and MX Linux variation of this effort; for me personally I prefer the antiX work, but I'm thankful for everything that ProwlerGr has done to demonstrate and share these capabilities!

Popcorn, UNIX brain storming, System V, BSD, then Linux!

2024-03-16T16:55:00.002-04:00

Glad there are a few people who can see my blog. Maybe it’s time to write something recent and current on it.

As far as writing, not only have I written a few blogs, over twenty years ago I was published a few times. Extreme Tech had a Linux distribution review series for a while back in the early 2000s and I wrote for them twice. I think I also wrote a few articles in Linux Review and maybe one or two elsewhere.

My longtime friend, dating clear back to 1985 in Merrimack, NH, Jon “maddog” Hall used to write books and magazine articles about Linux. The most recent article I read from him was only four years ago, so it’s possible that he STILL writes – this one was called “Maddog’s Doghouse @LinuxProMagazine.com. In fact, Jon specifically mentions “In 1986, I took a VAX computer with Ultrix-32 down to Richard Stallman so the GNU project could port its software to Ultrix”.

Around that same time, Jon and I ran into one another several times in the afternoon next to the popcorn maker near a coffee station. There, we’d share our ideas. I happened to be a member of Digital’s Telecommunications Systems Engineering Group, and we would sponsor development groups to write device drivers for new PDP and VAX systems in order that AT&T divisions and spin-off companies could run genuine UNIX System V on Digital Equipment computers. John wanted to go further than that: he wanted to unify features from BSD based UNIX systems, which Ultrix-16, Ultrix-32m and Ultrix-32 were at the time; that vision resulted in Digital UNIX; we both worked in that organization in the middle nineties, but by that time, both of us realized that large server systems were on the way out, to be replaced by Intel and AMD hardware running Linux! Naturally that was NOT a popular point of view, because about $200-300 Million per year was invested in each of Digital’s operating system groups; layered software products also had significant product investments.

It didn’t take very long; by the end of the first decade in 2000s, while UNIX wasn’t gone, it certainly was no longer bringing in a 20-30% or greater market. Even by 2000, many major companies, particularly IBM and Hewlett Packard, and later Dell, were bringing in 20-39% of their total server revenue from their Linux server business; desktop Linux never exceeded 1-2% ever, but when Google released Chrome at the beginning of the next decade, after making huge strides with their search engines in the early 2000s, that put Linux software squarely in both server and desktop configurations, though not always directly; Google stuff used Linux KERNEL components, not Linux-based window or desktop configurations.

Today, we have all kinds of stuff that has either a UNIX or Linux derived kernel; Apple products use system kernels derived from BSD-based UNIX kernels. Google still uses parts of the Linux kernel in many of their products. Automation manufacturers and automotive applications often put UNIX or Linux derived components into their software firmware that goes into many of their devices. Software from both UNIX and Linux communities, and also Linux-like code even in real time systems, is much more common than it was twenty or more years ago. Why completely reinvent something when you can use or reuse it? Some companies that want to copy WITHOUT acknowledging or recognizing the original source CAN sometimes do that with a BSD-based license, whereas that is never possible with Linux – you CAN use it, but you MUST cite the Linux license, which is the sticking point and why it’s not used even more.

I bring up the past and this history because all that is going on has evolved from the work that has taken place. The contested software licensing between 1984 and the period between 1989 and 1991 led to at LEAST four distinct branches that sought to protect themselves from AT&T or other expensive kernel licenses, which could be $3000 (on an individual small computer), or much more on larger servers at that time. With the cost of hardware plummeting, that was a major incentive to develop cooperative free licensed software. FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD were three BSD-based free approaches. Apple poached from parts of these; Linux, at nearly the same time, was written because those non-Microsoft licenses were prohibitive, as was Microsoft Xenix (the Unix license they once sold themselves). Torvolds couldn’t afford buying one; that’s what led him to write his initial simple kernel and share it.

Hall became familiar with all of these activities and sought to get Digital much more involved; he pretty much did so without much help and it eventually happened; once HP bought Digital some of the big companies finally realized that Linux in almost any form could be profitable; the servers were still definitely the main money makers, but as Google helped others see, there are MANY different ways to make money; the best way is to get into as many of them as possible, which has clearly taken place.

As for what we do, we carve our own niche; it’s not a money maker; it’s a money saver for those who are keeping old hardware alive.

Ungoogled Chromium

2024-01-10T15:57:00.003-05:00

Ungoogled Chromium

"A lightweight approach to removing Google web service dependency"

Objectives

In descending order of significance (i.e. most important objective first):

ungoogled-chromium is Google Chromium, sans dependency on Google web services.
ungoogled-chromium retains the default Chromium experience as closely as possible. Unlike other Chromium forks that have their own visions of a web browser, ungoogled-chromium is essentially a drop-in replacement for Chromium.
ungoogled-chromium features tweaks to enhance privacy, control, and transparency. However, almost all of these features must be manually activated or enabled.

antiX 23 releases

2023-10-17T13:07:00.001-04:00

The antiX project continues to grow and offer a variety of choices.

For the antiX 23 release, there are four distinct release choices:

1) antiX-full (c1.7GB) – 4 windows managers – IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm plus full libreoffice suite. x64 versions come with 2 kernels. Legacy 5.10 and Modern 6.1.

2) antiX-base (c1GB) – 4 windows managers – IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm.

3) antiX-core (c520MB) – no X, but should support most wireless.

4) antiX-net (c220MB)- no X. Just enough to get you connected (wired) and ready to build.

These four choices have iso files for sysVinit or runit.

They are also available for 32-bit or 64-bit systems, so there are a total of sixteen images available.

Known issues.

IMPORTANT IF INSTALLING GRUB TO UEFI/ESP

Before installing
sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade
This will update the gui and cli installers and bring in missing efivar and efibootmgr

Alternatively,
sudo apt update && sudo apt install efivar efibootmgr

antiX-23.1 will have this fixed

On antiX-base versions:

1. the browser may not open from the menu or toolbar/taskbar.
Fix: Open Control Centre > Preferred Applications > Web-browser > Select first SeaMonkey option > Apply

2. ps_mem.py tool doesn’t open
Fix: sudo apt install python-is-python3

Also, The default repos for antiX and Debian are reported to be extremely slow.

Use Repo-Manager in full versions or manually edit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/antix.list to a more reliable one.

antiX 23 update

2023-08-22T12:38:00.001-04:00

The antiX 23 distribution was originally planned to be released in August. The primary developer, anticapitalista works in education, and the months of August and September have been particularly busy for him personally, and there were also a few issues that he wanted to resolve before prematurely releasing antiX 23.

The "relative", MX Linux, had also experienced difficulties with the boot loader configuration, but their development team is larger and they overcame their issues and released Version 23.

I have no problems with either of these distributions. Both of them emphasize reliability over other concerns and are excellent examples of what freely available software can accomplish.

Both operate using Debian software packages for the majority of their programs, and they build their own configuration management and appearance tools, as well as their own packaged images. The results are predictable, stable software like Debian, with the added value of better appearance, forum support, and distinctive distribution "use cases" - specific things that work well. For MX Linux, it is the desktop, for antiX it is the leanest possible stable software.

It's well worth the wait!

Distro: antiX-23-beta2-runit_x64-full Arditi del Popolo 11 June 2023

2023-06-13T16:58:00.002-04:00

I'm now using the next update to the antiX 23 test image;

if all works out as expected, this version will be upgradeable to the final antiX 23 Arditi del Popolo release.

I've had no trouble at all during the testing cycle so I look forward to the release with patience and positive expectations.

Distro: antiX-23-beta1-runit_x64-full Grup Yorum 21 March 2023

2023-04-22T11:10:00.004-04:00

I've been testing the upcoming antiX 23 release for a few months.

Typically this distribution puts out a new release when there is a
Debian release - definitely when there is a major Debian release change,
for example from Bullseye (Release 11) to Bookworm (Release 12).

While the upcoming Debian release effort is going well, in typical
Debian style, though they have a release planned, and it's been on
their calendar for at least a year, the last I looked, they STILL did
not provide a projected final release date, so I'm not 100% certain if
the antiX 23 release will WAIT for Debian's eventual release, or if
it'll release as the functionality freeze sufficiently stabilizes the
software enough to make it practical for antiX to finalize their own
release, with or without a final Bookworm release date. Time will tell.
There are still minor issues to work out in both releases; I'm not sure
if any of them are considered release blockers for either release or
not. If I see anything definitive about those matters, I may get an
opportunity to write about it and check into it.

antiX 22 wtih updater and icon manager

2023-02-18T11:55:00.004-05:00

I've been working with a couple of different antiX distributions. My main one is antiX 22. The others are Legacy OS 2023 and antiX 23 Alpha 1.

Legacy OS 2023 is a stable, good looking, minimal and useful antiX alternative for older systems. As such it doesn't work with my newest system, my HP-14 laptop, but it's especially good on my old Lenovo X201 and my Dell Inspiron 5558.

As for the updater, PPC, an antiX contributor, has written several useful tools using yad with either Bash, Python, or a combination of both. yad-updater, icewm-toolbar-manager, icewm-quick-personal-menu-manager, yad-touchpad, and FT10 are several of the tools written by PPC.

antiX 23 Alpha 1

2023-02-05T10:41:00.003-05:00

The first build for this year's version of antiX, a lean, efficient distribution, is available. The first build was generated using "runit (is) an init and service management scheme for Unix-like operating systems that initializes, supervises, and ends processes throughout the operating system."

"Why use runit?

"Runit's simple collection of tools can be used to build flexible dependency structures and distributed systems, or blazing fast parallel runlevel changes (including the initial boot)."

Regarding antiX - "(from 2017)

The Most Extensive Live-usb on the Planet!

Back in 2009, the antiX devs foresaw that usb flash drives would be the wave of the future for live Linux media. During the ensuing eight years antiX has been refining their live-usb technology striving to improve the live-usb experience and to find new and unique ways for making use of fast read-write live boot media. During this same time usb flash drives have got larger, more reliable, much cheaper, and much much faster."

Regarding the new test image -

"Just to give you a taste of where antiX-23 stands at the moment.

Do not use this on critical systems.
The default Debian repos point to bookworm, but antiX ones to testing.
This will change to bookworm once the Debian hard freeze begins.
This is labelled an alpha as it will not be supported at all.
It is only to help in testing, bug fixing etc.

Size of iso = approximately 1.6GB
Includes 2 kernels – 4.19 legacy and 5.10 ‘modern’
Defaults to zzz-IceWM ‘desktop’
No ft10 transformaton pack, but PPC’s changes to zzzFM are included (eg trash option). Still single-click though.
New wallpaper from Sakasa (thanks to roky for posting the links). I reduced the size and made it smaller though since the original weighs in at 9MB!"

Legacy OS 2023

2023-01-26T23:00:00.000-05:00

I’m here on my old Thinkpad X201 with John’s adaptation of antiX called Legacy OS 2023.

inxi -v4
System:
  Host: LegacyOS Kernel: 5.10.57-antix.1-amd64-smp arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 Desktop: IceWM v: 3.3.0 Distro: Legacyos-2023_x64
    base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 3249CTO v: ThinkPad X201
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 3249CTO serial: <superuser required> BIOS: LENOVO
    v: 6QET66WW (1.36 ) date: 05/31/2011
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 78.1 Wh (98.5%) condition: 79.3/84.2 Wh (94.2%)
    volts: 12.0 min: 10.8 model: Panasonic 42T4696 status: N/A
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core i7 M 620 bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Westmere rev: 5 cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 512 KiB L3: 4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1572 high: 1777 min/max: 1199/2667 boost: enabled cores:
    1: 1413 2: 1469 3: 1777 4: 1632 bogomips: 21281
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Lenovo
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-5.75 bus-ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: Lenovo Integrated Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 1-1.6:4
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.11 driver: X: loaded: intel dri: i965
    gpu: i915 resolution: 1280x800~60Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 2.1 Mesa 20.3.5 renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (ILK)
    direct render: Yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e
    v: kernel port: 1820 bus-ID: 00:19.0
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: f0:de:f1:19:05:16
  Device-2: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 02:00.0
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 00:24:d7:60:86:70
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 119.24 GiB used: 7.07 GiB (5.9%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: THNS128GG4BAAA-NonFDE
    size: 119.24 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 110.9 GiB used: 7.07 GiB (6.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
  ID-2: swap-1 size: 6 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda2
Info:
  Processes: 172 Uptime: 19m Memory: 7.57 GiB used: 1.39 GiB (18.4%)
  Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 Packages: 1920 Shell: Bash
  v: 5.1.4 inxi: 3.3.24

Xubuntu 20.04.5 LTS Live

2022-10-08T16:44:00.002-04:00

Running Xubuntu live:

inxi -b
System:
Host: xubuntu Kernel: 5.15.0-46-generic x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 Distro: Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS (Focal Fossa)
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP Laptop 14-fq1xxx v: N/A
serial: <superuser/root required>
Mobo: HP model: 887C v: 59.11 serial: <superuser/root required> UEFI: AMI
v: F.18 date: 11/26/2021
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 40.6 Wh condition: 40.7/40.7 Wh (100%)
CPU:
6-Core: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U with Radeon Graphics type: MT MCP
speed: 1100 MHz min/max: 400/4056 MHz
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD driver: amdgpu v: kernel
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: amdgpu,ati
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: AMD RENOIR (DRM 3.42.0 5.15.0-46-generic LLVM 12.0.0)
v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.6
Network:
Device-1: Realtek driver: rtw89_pci
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 252.80 GiB used: 662.1 MiB (0.3%)
Info:
Processes: 303 Uptime: 25m Memory: 7.10 GiB used: 1.58 GiB (22.2%)
Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.38

Distro: antiX-21-runit_x64-full

2022-08-27T13:39:00.001-04:00

I'm here today with one of my longtime favorite distributions, antiX!

This edition is antiX 21 runit x64 full - breaking that apart, this is Version 21, using the "runit" process handling routines on the AMD/Intel 64-bit image, and this is the "full-featured" version of antiX, still quite lean and efficient, yet full in terms of providing all of the every day features that many of us use on a regular basis.

siduction 21.3.0 Wintersky - Xfce

2022-05-29T13:55:00.001-04:00

I'm here today with siduction, using the 5.17.11-2-siduction-amd64 siduction kernel.

This system starts with Debian 12.1.0-2, adds it's own kernel, the Calemares installation program, distribution-specific backgrounds and themes, and a very fast job scheduler included in the kernel.

Here is a listing containing the configuration and some of its capabilities:

inxi -Fxz
System:
Kernel: 5.17.11-2-siduction-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 12.1.0 Desktop: Xfce v: 4.16.0
    Distro: siduction 21.3.0 Wintersky - xfce - (202112231826)
    base: Debian GNU/Linux bookworm/sid
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire A515-55 v: V1.12
    serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: IL model: Doc_IL v: V1.12 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Insyde
    v: 1.12 date: 09/07/2020
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 47.8 Wh (100.0%) condition: 47.8/47.8 Wh (100.0%)
    volts: 12.2 min: 11.2 model: LGC AP18C8K status: full
CPU:
Info: dual core model: Intel Core i3-1005G1 bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Ice Lake rev: 5 cache: L1: 160 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 4 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1113 high: 1195 min/max: 400/3400 cores: 1: 977 2: 1137
    3: 1195 4: 1144 bogomips: 9523
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Iris Plus Graphics G1 vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0
Device-2: Quanta HD User Facing type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-5:3
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915 resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (ICL GT1) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.0.4
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Ice Lake-LP Smart Sound Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.17.11-2-siduction-amd64 running: yes
Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.51 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Intel Ice Lake-LP PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000
    bus-ID: 01:00.0
IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 1-10:5
Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>
    bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 119.24 GiB used: 18.49 GiB (15.5%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLQ128HBHQ-00000
    size: 119.24 GiB temp: 26.9 C
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 28.67 GiB used: 18.49 GiB (64.5%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6
ID-2: /boot/efi size: 252 MiB used: 692 KiB (0.3%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 3.91 GiB used: 3 MiB (0.1%)
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 46.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 206 Uptime: 47m Memory: 3.63 GiB used: 1.81 GiB (50.0%)
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.3.0 Packages: 2046 Shell: Bash
v: 5.1.16 inxi: 3.3.16

antiX 21 "runit" Base

2022-05-19T11:27:00.003-04:00

I’m here with antiX 21 runit on an old, but capable HP 5000 series desktop, specifically the model s5747c.

I “think”, but I am not 100% positive, that this particular model and series was “inherited” from the old Compaq 5000 desktop series that was inherited from the assets that Hewlett Packard acquired from the [Tandem, Compaq, Digital Equipment Corporation] acquisitions. It’s a solid desktop and you can see that one of the modules in it came from a 2010 board, so my guess is that this machine was manufactured in late 2010-2011. It runs quite well with antiX 21 runit “Base”.

`inxi -Fxz
System:
  Kernel: 5.11.0-21.2-liquorix-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
  Desktop: IceWM 2.9.7 
  Distro: antiX-21-runit_x64-base Grup Yorum 30 October 2021 
  base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: s5747c v: N/A 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: PEGATRON model: 2A6C v: 5.00 serial: <filter> 
  BIOS: American Megatrends v: 6.01 date: 09/29/2010 
CPU:
  Info: Dual Core model: AMD Athlon II X2 255 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: K10 
  rev: 3 cache: L2: 2 MiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm bogomips: 12456 
  Speed: 3100 MHz min/max: 800/3100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3100 2: 3100 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA C61 [GeForce 6150SE nForce 430] vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
  driver: N/A bus-ID: 00:0d.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: nouveau,vesa 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting resolution: 1024x768 
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 11.0.1 128 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 20.3.5 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA MCP61 High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:05.0 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.11.0-21.2-liquorix-amd64 running: yes 
Network:
  Device-1: NVIDIA MCP61 Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
  type: network bridge driver: forcedeth v: kernel port: e480 
  bus-ID: 00:07.0 
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Ralink RT2790 Wireless 802.11n 1T/2R PCIe vendor: Lite-On 
  driver: rt2800pci v: 2.3.0 port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 698.64 GiB used: 11.1 GiB (1.6%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST3750528AS size: 698.64 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 681.18 GiB used: 11.1 GiB (1.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 5.5 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) 
  dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 25.5 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 138 Uptime: 3m Memory: 3.6 GiB used: 434.7 MiB (11.8%) 
  Init: runit runlevel: 2 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 Packages: 1253 Shell: Bash 
  v: 5.1.4 inxi: 3.3.06`

What is antiX? Here is how to try it out - or install it

2022-03-26T16:22:00.006-04:00

If you have never seen antiX and do not know what it is, read the article at the link in the antiX Linux Forum:

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/what-is-antix-and-how-to-try-it-out-or-install-it/#post-79779

systemrescue-9.01 for amd64

2022-02-19T15:39:00.000-05:00

I downloaded the systemrescue-9.01 for amd64 today, used the MX Linux Live USB Maker utility to install the contents on a removable USB drive, and now I'm using this software on my Acer Aspire 5 A515-55 laptop.

This is a handy image to have in the event of hardware or software issues, and it's also handy to carry around for remote use.

This image works with Wifi so it is portable, not only in size and capability, it's also handy. This used to be called SystemRescueCD, but since it's commonly used with either CD/DVD or other removable devices, such as the very common USB sticks, the name has been changed to simply systemrescue (or SystemRescue).

Changed disk to SSD

2021-12-21T11:26:00.002-05:00

I've had a solid, reliable Dell Inspiron 5558 laptop for 5-6 years now. Just over a year ago I bought an Acer Chromebook 715 and I was very happy with it. Like this Dell laptop, the Acer is a well-built system. Like most Chromebook models, it has solid state drive (SSD) technology. Unlike my previous Lenovo Chromebook N22 (which was a good unit too), the Lenovo was a low powered device; the Chromebook 715 is much more modern and fast.

A few months after I got the Acer Chromebook 715 I found another good deal on an Acer Aspire 5 A515-55. This model was an end of the model run, and was trimmer, thinner, and lighter than the Chromebook, but one thing it had in common with the Chromebook was the SSD.

With that background, back to the Dell - it's been a very good device and it's still solid, and it still works, but compared to the other systems, it's been getting to the point that only antiX with a lean window manager worked well (with reasonable speed and response). Though many distributions still run well, they show their age on the Dell. Processor-wise, it has plenty of process slots and plenty of memory, and gobs of disk space too, the perfect place to test. What it was lacking was speed.

I decided to get a Kingston A400 SSD; reportedly ten times faster than a standard 7200 RPM traditional hard drive. I know that this isn't the TOP END SSD; I rarely buy TOP END, especially now that I'm retired, but I do look for reasonable deals, and this one fit my budget.

Here I am today on the Dell - with the A400 SSD installed, and with 3-4 distributions installed. Now, with antiX 21 Base runit installed and using Ungoogled Chromium to write this, I can report that this system, while never to be confused with a super fast machine, is still the "stable workhorse" that I purchased, but now it has "new life". I kept the hard drive; should this SSD fail, I can always either get another SSD or reinsert the original hard drive. Meanwhile, this machine is running very well and boots much faster than it did previously.