MX Linux's New AHS Release Targets Modern Hardware, But Is It Enough?

Some key things the AHS release includes:

• A more recent Linux kernel (though the exact version varies by release cycle)
• Updated graphics stack for better support of newer Intel and AMD integrated graphics
• Firmware packages that many stable distros leave out for licensing reasons
• The same MX Tools that make the distro genuinely useful for tweaking and maintenance
• Xfce desktop, which honestly still feels snappier than it has any right to in 2024

The trade-off, and there's always a trade-off, is that you're running slightly less battle-tested software. The AHS kernel might have bugs that the older LTS kernel already worked out. For most desktop users, this probably doesn't matter. For someone running a production server, it absolutely does.

So who is this actually for?

I think MX Linux is targeting a specific person: someone technical enough to install Linux but not technical enough (or patient enough) to manually compile drivers. Someone who bought a laptop in the last couple years and wants something that just works without spending a weekend on forums.

That's a real audience. It's actually a bigger audience than the Linux community sometimes acknowledges.

The thing is, I'm not sure MX Linux alone can solve the broader hardware support problem. It's a symptom of how Linux development works. Kernel developers need hardware to test on. Hardware manufacturers don't always cooperate with documentation. Everything moves slower than consumer hardware release cycles.

Tbh, I should know more about the kernel development process than I do. What I do know is that distributions like MX Linux are doing the unglamorous work of packaging newer components in ways that regular people can actually use. That matters.

The bigger picture

There's something almost philosophical about this release. Linux has always had this tension between stability and currency. Debian, which MX Linux is based on, famously prioritizes stability to the point where software can feel outdated. Arch and its derivatives go the opposite direction, always chasing the newest packages.

MX Linux is trying to find a middle path, at least for hardware support. Keep the stable base. Update the parts that actually need updating for modern machines. It's pragmatic rather than ideological.

Whether it works depends on factors the MX team can't fully control. Will hardware manufacturers start providing better Linux support? Will the kernel development cycle speed up? Will someone finally figure out how to make Nvidia drivers less of a nightmare? (Okay, that last one might be asking too much.)

For now, if you've got a relatively new PC and you want to try Linux, MX Linux AHS is probably worth a look. It's not perfect. Nothing in the Linux world is perfect. But it's a thoughtful attempt to solve a real problem, and honestly, that's more than a lot of distributions can say.

The download is available from the MX Linux website. It's free, obviously. The only cost is your time, and maybe a little patience while you figure out how partitioning works. But that's a different article.

James Chen · 42 mins ago · 7 min