Non-Mint: MX Linux or Pop!_OS?

[The Muffin Man]

I use MX Linux, KDE.
I hopped about a month ago from KDE Neon since there was some system update that made wifi performance abysmal.
I found that I don't miss anything going straight up Debain (which I have done before) and the KDE version is pretty good, too.

[all41]

noticeable:
package updates are much more frequent using any MX versions.
Perhaps Mint updates are scrutinized further before release.

[Night Wing]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you transposed some numbers concerning what version Libretto is. It is now at (23.1).

Exactly correct. Thank you for noticing. I will edit to correct. Do you use it too?

Yes, I do use MX 23.1 (Libretto) Xfce. It is on one of my two HP desktop tower computers which has two SSD's in it and each drive runs (23.1). Both hard drives are a mirror image of each other.

My second HP desktop tower also has two SDD's in it as well. But both hard drives are running Mint 21.2 (Victoria) Xfce and both hard drives are a mirror image of each other.

I have an HP 14" laptop (dv4-5113cl) with a SSD in it and it is running MX 23.1 also. I use this laptop when I'm traveling. My wife has a HP 14" laptop (dv4-5213cl) with a SSD in it which runs MX 23.1 as well. Like me, she uses her laptop for traveling.

The 5113 laptop originally came with Windows 7 on it and the 5213 laptop originally came with Windows 8 on it.

[Hoser Rob]

noticeable:
package updates are much more frequent using any MX versions.
Perhaps Mint updates are scrutinized further before release.

That's true but most of them are feature updates (or sometimes fixes) to the tools provided by MX themselves. They're quite small and they update really fast.

The other updates ie. Debian Stable system ones are much less frequent than the ones in Ubuntu or its derivatives. They're actually better scrutinized because in Debian Stable packages have to be in the wild for longer with no critical bugs to get into the repo at all. Mint doesn't scrutinize the vast majority of updates anyway, Ubuntu does. Same with any Debian based distro.

[spamegg]

MX for sure!

[rick gen]

MX Linux is tolerable. Tried Xfce for 2 weeks many months ago and I found I could work my way around it and the difference is not that drastic. The syntax on the terminal with Debian/Ubuntu is pretty much the same. With a poor eyesight like me, the showstopper was the Zooming in and out function when pressing the Super key. They disabled it. And so I was back with Mint.

I used to be a KDE guy, but Mint Xfce is just right for me.

[TaterChip]

New-to-me spare desktop, (Lenovo M83, i7-4770, circa 2013) needs a Linux OS.
I already have Mint on a daily desktop and laptop, working well for my casual needs, so I am looking for something a bit different for the new box.

MX Linux or Pop!_OS?
Note: I like smooth updates.
And some day, in my remaining lifespan, find a solid distro with a novel look, not gonna happen here...but a girl can dream...!

I'm a little late to the party, but I'll give you my experience with both of those distros. With Pop! OS anytime I entered into my virtual machine. And then decided to use any web browser to go to YouTube after leaving the VM, the audio no longer worked. I would have to completely reboot the system. That problem could have been fixed in later versions.

I tried MX Plasma and hated the fact that you had to set up KDE Connect to be able to transfer files to my Android phone instead of the simple drag and drop we have with mint. I also could not get my second monitor to work with MX. The system told me what name brand and monitor I was trying to use, but it never would show me a picture. These issues may have also been ironed out in later versions. I have also learned that I probably should have installed MX XFCE version To solve my phone issues.

If I remember correctly, Pop!OS had a unique look to the desktop compared to what I was used to, And it worked right out of the box with my second monitor. My biggest turn off was having to reboot every time I needed to use my virtual machine.

[all41]

With a poor eyesight like me, the showstopper was the Zooming in and out function when pressing the Super key. They disabled it. And so I was back with Mint.

Both MX21 xfce and Mint21 xfce use the ctrl button to zoom with the scroll wheel and the +- buttons

[rick gen]

Both MX21 xfce and Mint21 xfce use the ctrl button to zoom with the scroll wheel and the +- buttons

The scroll wheel (with any other key) just cycles the 2 default workspaces.) I've gone over this before and I'm not going to rack my brain again trying to figure it out. It was disabled. (I'd appreciate it if you can provide a video link on how it is applied.)

In Mint Xfce I mentioned Superkey because I always change the default Alt in the Windows Manager Tweaks>Acessibility because it conflicts with a graphics application I use.

[thom_A]

Both MX21 xfce and Mint21 xfce use the ctrl button to zoom with the scroll wheel and the +- buttons

The scroll wheel (with any other key) just cycles the 2 default workspaces.) I've gone over this before and I'm not going to rack my brain again trying to figure it out. It was disabled. (I'd appreciate it if you can provide a video link on how it is applied.)

In Mint Xfce I mentioned Superkey because I always change the default Alt in the Windows Manager Tweaks>Acessibility because it conflicts with a graphics application I use.

I can confirm the (desktop) Zooming IN/OUT function in MX Xfce is disabled. No need to go crazy looking for it. I can also confirm it's working in Linux Lite and Xubuntu, just like with Mint Xfce.

[rick gen]

I can confirm the (desktop) Zooming IN/OUT function in MX Xfce is disabled. No need to go crazy looking for it. I can also confirm it's working in Linux Lite and Xubuntu, just like with Mint Xfce.

Yeah, thanks. It got me scurrying again downloading the latest MX Xfce, burn it and see if such feature do exist. Waste of time.

It's never a good sign when developers start taking off some features without providing alternatives, which I'm not a fan of because the original will always be the best version and irreplaceable, imho. What other feature are they going to get rid of next in the name of minimalism? (Coders' convenience, not users.) I just hope the other Xfce versions won't follow suit.

[The Muffin Man]

It's not really comparing apples to apples.
MX Linux is Debian stable while Mint is Ubuntu LTS. They are not the same. Did the MX folks turn off this feature? I don't know. You'd have to try another Debian stable (not Ubuntu) XFCE distro.

[MurphCID]

It's not really comparing apples to apples.
MX Linux is Debian stable while Mint is Ubuntu LTS. They are not the same. Did the MX folks turn off this feature? I don't know. You'd have to try another Debian stable (not Ubuntu) XFCE distro.

Also POP!_OS is based on Ubuntu not Debian Stable.

[TaterChip]

It's never a good sign when developers start taking off some features without providing alternatives, which I'm not a fan of because the original will always be the best version and irreplaceable, imho.

This is why I'm not a fan of running updates.

[Hoser Rob]

It's never a good sign when developers start taking off some features without providing alternatives, which I'm not a fan of because the original will always be the best version and irreplaceable, imho.

This is why I'm not a fan of running updates.

AFAIK feature sets changing almost always happens when you do a point release upgrade, not normal updates.

[Moem]

This is why I'm not a fan of running updates.

I'm not a fan of wearing seatbelts. But I do wear them every time I drive a car. They're not meant for fun, they serve a function. Same as with OS updates.

[Petermint]

I'm not a fan of running updates

I'm not a fan of running updates when in a motel 1,500 km from my backup disks.

Some of the Linux distributions that are not Linux Mint have updates with very little testing. There are some I would not trust again.

I'm not a fan of wearing seatbelts

As an ex rally driver, seat belts help when the cornering forces exceed your body mass. The first time I really appreciated them was entering a creek bed 5 metres lower than the creek bank. And at considerable speed. Yeah, air bags can help keep you in your seat but they mess up your car and you cannot continue driving full speed.

[MurphCID]

I update as soon as one gets pushed, but I understand the reluctance to update on non-secure wifi.

As for MX and POP both are just excellent distributions, MX uses xfce/KDE and POP uses Gnome (Cosmic). POP looks ugly to me, and you cannot do much to make it look better although it will take Gnome extensions. MX looks good out of the box, with the xfce looking dated as always. KDE looks amazing.

[Hoser Rob]

I'm not a fan of running updates

I'm not a fan of running updates when in a motel 1,500 km from my backup disks.

Some of the Linux distributions that are not Linux Mint have updates with very little testing. There are some I would not trust again.

You don't specify but yeah, there are some bleeding edge distros like Arch that will happily and often break themselves for you when you update. In Debian Stable (which my MX KDE uses as a code base) or RHEL, while you can certainly break it, you generally have to do the breakage yourself. Something like Ubuntu/Mint or Fedora would be in the middle between the two somewhere.

I began to like Debian Stable a lot more when I learned that managing Linux dependency conflicts is an nP-complete problem. Which means it's not technically insoluble but completely intractable for large values of n, and it doesn't matter how fast your computer is. If I liked Cinnamon more I might have installed LMDE. But I prefer KDE and I'm going to use a distro that supports it.

I'm not a fan of wearing seatbelts

As an ex rally driver, seat belts help when the cornering forces exceed your body mass. The first time I really appreciated them was entering a creek bed 5 metres lower than the creek bank. And at considerable speed. Yeah, air bags can help keep you in your seat but they mess up your car and you cannot continue driving full speed.

I've never been a rallyist but driving here can get extremely slippery. And I've gotten myself out of a couple of situations that I just wouldn't have been able to if I hadn't had the belt on. They hold your butt in place and give you much better control if the arse end is sliding around on you.

[Moem]

I should have known better than to use an analogy in here... they always lead to derails.