The team behind MX Linux is inviting everyone to take the new MX-25 “Infinity” Release Candidate 1 for a spin. This version is built from Debian 13 “Trixie” and the MX repositories, and yes, it now ships with systemd by default. For those who prefer it the old-fashioned way, sysvinit variants are still available and clearly marked in the filenames.
The developers say this RC is mainly about testing the installer, especially with ext4 and btrfs setups. If you’re already running the beta, you’ll get all the updates except for new package installations. Your version string won’t change to RC1 yet since the team still needs to track ISO issues, but it’ll be updated after the final release.
There are plenty of changes since Beta 1. Systemd users will notice that systemd-cryptsetup has been added, fixing encrypted home folder problems. There’s also a workaround for grub display glitches on older Intel hardware, and new options in conky let you switch between 12-hour and 24-hour time formats depending on your locale. The installer’s new replacer function has been improved, and MX tools like service-manager, cleanup, and mx-updater have all seen polish and bug fixes.
The mx-ease and mx-matcha themes have both been updated, and the KDE edition now replaces TLP with power-profiles-daemon, which helps the power profile widget work properly. KDE users also get new root actions and service menus in Dolphin. Over in Fluxbox, Audacious replaces Deadbeef as the default audio player, and there are several toolbar and style tweaks to make the experience smoother.
Nvidia users should see improvements too, with ddm-mx offering better Wayland compatibility and a fallback for the developer repo feature. Live-usb-maker now supports “update” mode, live-kernel-updater filters out memtest, and mx-updater gets better automatic update handling.
Anyone testing MX-25 RC1 is encouraged to share feedback on the official forum thread. Just remember to include your system info and the relevant log files to help the developers iron out any remaining bugs.
