Debian-based, systemd-free Linux distribution antiX 19.4 is released. This is what’s new.
antiX is a lightweight desktop Linux distribution that is completely systemd free. It is targeted to the very old hardware and systems. If you are looking to rescue and bring life to your super-old hardware, then this might be the ideal distro. It uses sysvinit / runit for service management tasks. antiX comes with four installer variants and gives you flexibility on install. You can also get a 32-bit .iso for those very old systems as well.
Coming after almost 10 months since antiX 19.3 release, this fourth point antiX 19.4 release brings usual Kernel updates, the latest Debian 10 Buster packages, and the respective application’s stable version. Let’s take a look in brief at what’s new in antiX 19.4.
Here’s what’s new.
antiX 19.4 – What’s new
The Linux Kernel is updated to 4.9.0-264 in this release. The antiX installer is now having new options with updated localisation.
Firefox extended support version is updated to 78.10.0esr while the SeaMonkey browser is added on the full and base editions.
The mps-youtube is removed in this release as it was broken and was not working.
Other changes includes –
- ytfzf included. It opens/downloads YouTube clips using mpv/youtube-dl
- libreoffice 7.0.4~rc2
- IceWM upgraded to latest upstream version (2.3.4)
- latest firmware backported from Debian sid.
- various upstream Debian security upgrades
- base edition fits on a cd
- iso-snashot-cli replaces iso-snapshot (gui) on base edition
- removed Package Installer from base edition
- removed smtube from base edition
- removed virtualbox-guest apps from base
- frugal install to encrypted partition supported
Download
antiX comes with four variants – full, base, core, and net. You can download the latest antiX 19.4 from the below links.
antiX-full (~1.2GB) – 4 windows managers – IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm plus full libreoffice suite.
antiX-base (~770MB no longer fits on a cd) – 4 windows managers – IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm.
antiX-core (~470MB) – no X, cli-installer without UEFI support nor encryption, but should support most wireless.
antiX-net (~170MB)- no X, cli-installer without UEFI support nor encryption. Just enough to get you connected (wired) and ready to build.
There are many lightweight Linux distributions available today to use it on old hardware. But few of them provide a 32-bit iso file and that too systemd free. You can test the antiX 19.4 in newer machines as well. It will run just fine with its options for window managers. Even you can consider using it as your daily driver as well.
