I’d been using CachyOS for a couple months. It’s impressive, very fast and great for gaming. But I noticed that the package selection, even with AUR, is not as good as Debian. CachyOS always has the latest version of everything, which has its benefits, but the constant updates, and a kernel update every 3 or 4 days is a lot of churn for my tastes.
So I decided to start with MX again. After replacing my old Nvidia card with a Radeon, gaming is great again on MX, and it’s good to have access to that great collection of software, just an apt-get away.
In addition to the stock Debian kernels, MX also has gaming-optimized kernels available.
I’m running 6.17.13-1-liquorix-amd64, and it’s been behaving very well.
As I have said many times. Debian is king. Interestingly I have found that most of the software I was using from the AUR was taken from a .deb file and converted for use in Arch. Maybe @hydn might know if there is a metric that shows how many software packages in the AUR comes from Debian.
I myself have a Radeon card to install in my computer. I am going to use it to return to using 3 monitors. When choosing between Nvidia and Radeon, I was aware that Nvidia cards needed extra drivers while Radeon tend to work from the current firmware.
I actually just switch over to CachyOS from linux Mint to test it out on my old HP EliteBook 840 G5 so far I’m still new to all this but I did notice a significant speed up from Linux mint but as I said I’m still learning my way around all this again so I’m sure I will be hopping around till I find the right one for me.
CachyOS is fast, since it’s optimized, and always has the latest of everything. I updated my MX Linux desktop to incorporate some of the things that were cachyOS defaults, e.g. zram swap, and systemd-managed automounts.
Most of the difference with zram in my case comes down to reduced wear and tear on the SSD. Since I upgraded my desktop to 32 GB that’s a good use for the extra memory. In the case of swapping, zram is going to be faster.
The systemd-managed automount performs the same, but the setup is simpler.
After replacing my nvidia quadro with a radeon rx 460, and instaling the liquorix kernel, gaming performance is very close to what it was under CachyOS.
you don’t have to update every 3 or 4 days lul ?!?!
I do update my arch every 3 months
some times I test my luck by doing partial upgrade with -sy a single package might break the entire system from even booting, but i got used to it, debian based people don’t go through all this hell but it’s worth it.
you situation is very understood, good luck with MX linux.
I know the feeling. When I was using Manjaro, the first thing I did was increase the update notification timing to the max, I think it was 1 week. At least it wasn’t a daily indicator showing updates are available.
I’ll tell you what, if you don’t get bored with reliable consistency, very solid software, and a reasonably good looking system, you’re right; it’s hard to beat MX Linux and I’ve always had a copy of Simply MEPIS (early 2000s until 2012), and MX Linux from 2013 until now.
Taking the “other side” for a few moments, the Arch Linux “alternatives” compete for the end of the spectrum where people can’t “just leave well enough alone”! I think that CachyOS is probably a VERY GOOD distribution for people like Hayden James, who like great looking hardware and software.
I’ve had CachyOS in my stable but for me, I’m also a native Debian kind of a guy. My “go to”, just because I can’t “leave things alone either”, but also as a retiree, I don’t want to sit around all day long debugging someone’s work. For those who like THAT, Manjaro Linux is a complete disaster for me, but it might be just right for someone ELSE. My Arch-based go to is Endeavour OS. It’s the number one Arch variety for me because it’s easy to put together, they have all the tools right on their Welcome box, and you can get really beautiful night sky images of the Galaxy as you cross the Endeavour universe, and they’ve mostly tamed the AUR repo - for me, I use a few AUR packages without breaking everything.
With Endeavour OS, I’ve slightly tuned my alias definitions in my .bashrc (I use Bash rather than fish or some other shell), so I made my alias u look like this: alias u=‘yay -Syu’ and I made my installation alias like this: alias inst=‘yay -S $@’. These would work with either CachyOS or Endeavour OS. In MX Linux, these are alias u=‘sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get dist-upgrade;
sudo update-grub;sudo apt-get autoremove’
(I use the \ and put the remaining pieces on a separate line so they are viewable on a fairly narrow viewing area; otherwise they can be strung together on a long line.
So with Endeavour OS I can keep the system up to date either with their tools or mine and the same is true with MX Linux; they both have pretty good “information centers” so if you are not an expert with either Debian packaging or Arch-style packaging (pacman, yay, or some kind of updater), no problem; that is a nice feature in general for most good Linux distributions - more than one way to do almost anything.
I liked CachyOS, but right now it’s in my USB Flash Drive collection; I’m sure I’ll visit it again, but MX Linux is a keeper.
CachyOS is more like a Formula 1 car. It’s built for raw speed and requires frequent pit stops. MX Linux is more of a high-end sports sedan reliable enough for the daily commute but has the engine (via Liquorix) to perform when you want to push it…!
I know the feeling. When I was using Manjaro, the first thing I did was increase the update notification timing to the max, I think it was 1 week. At least it wasn’t a daily indicator showing updates are available.