If you’re tired of hearing that systemd is just “the way things are now,” antiX 26 is here to remind you that it isn’t. This new release (download here), based on Debian 13 Trixie, doubles down on doing things differently, and it’s not subtle about it.
Right out of the gate, you get five init systems. runit is the default, but sysVinit, dinit, s6-rc, and s6-66 are all there too. That’s not just flexibility, that’s overkill in the best way.
antiX still avoids systemd entirely, and that means no libsystemd0 and no elogind either. It uses eudev instead, keeping things lean and predictable. For some folks, that alone will be reason enough to give it a spin.
The distro sticks with lightweight window managers, which honestly makes sense. IceWM is the default, with fluxbox, jwm, and herbstluftwm available if you want to switch things up. No bloated desktop environments here, just fast and functional setups that get out of your way.
You get two main flavors. The full version comes in at around 2GB, while the core edition is a much smaller 660MB. Both support 64-bit and 32-bit systems, which is becoming increasingly rare. If you’ve got an old machine collecting dust, this could bring it back to life.
Kernel-wise, there’s a customized 5.10.240 build, plus a newer 6.6.119 option for 64-bit full installs. It’s a nice balance between stability and newer hardware support.
The app selection is surprisingly complete for something this lightweight. LibreOffice is included, along with Firefox ESR, Claws Mail, and CUPS. For media, you get mpv, Celluloid, Xine, and even XMMS. There’s also gtk-pipe-viewer, which lets you watch YouTube without opening a browser. Little touches like that go a long way.
Audio defaults to PipeWire and WirePlumber on 64-bit systems, while 32-bit sticks with ALSA. Again, practical choices.
File managers include zzzFM, rox-filer, and Midnight Commander. Networking is handled by connman and ceni, and yes, dial-up support is still technically there if you need it. Editors like Geany and Leafpad keep things simple, while nano and vim-tiny cover the terminal crowd.
Where antiX really stands out is its toolkit. You get snapshot and remastering tools, boot repair, package management utilities, and even ddm-mx for NVIDIA drivers. There’s also a long list of smaller apps like luckybackup, transmission-gtk, scanning tools, and more.
Then there are the in-house tools, which give antiX its personality. antiX Control Centre, antiX TV, antiX Radio, and various scripts make it feel like more than just another Debian-based distro. It feels intentional.
There are even some niche extras in the repos, like encrypted voice chat and remote assistance tools over SSH. Not everyone will use them, but it’s nice to have.
Of course, no Snap and no Flatpak. That’s going to be either a feature or a dealbreaker depending on who you ask. antiX clearly isn’t trying to sit on the fence.
This isn’t a distro for everyone. If you want something polished and hand-holdy, look elsewhere. But if you like control, speed, and doing things your own way, antiX 26 is very easy to appreciate.
