antiX has been in development since June 16

 Just a quick note to remind myself that antiX 25 opened Alpha 1 testing on June 16.  As I wrote in my previous entry, this release has been in the planning stages for over a year.

 

antiX 25 Beta 2

 I don't know if antiX 25 is going to make it to the final release while it's still 2025, but it has been a very good testing cycle during the antiX 25 development cycle.

The work really began about a year ago when anticapitalista, the founder of antiX, asked the community what they wanted to see in a new release.

A few months back we had a very early Alpha 1 release; that had minimal functionality, but showed the potential for the release.  On November 4 we got the Beta 1 build and we tested it for close to a month.

Just over a week ago on December 17 we got the announcement of Beta 2.  It's starting to look good, but we probably should have another test release, whether we start having Release Candidates or a Beta 3 is a matter of both function and semantics, but with this excellent software I expect a Beta 3; unfortunately based on the length of time it's taken, it'll be January before another release, and maybe a few more months until we're ready to release, but like REALLY good software, it'll be done when it's ready and I'm very willing to wait, and help test along the way!

I'll refer to it as antiX 26; not sure if that's what we'll end up calling it.

Doom Emacs

 Usually I devote most of my blog entries to writing about the latest distribution update that I've chosen; though I've changed my distribution setups, my main distribution has remained the same for a while: antiX Full Runit; the most recent version is antiX 23.2 Full Runit.

So what is Doom Emacs?  It's an interesting merger of Vi bindings, easier key bindings influenced by the late (deceased) Spacemacs, such as SPC q q to save and exit Emacs.  Doom Emacs was written by a vi user who wanted more features and to bring some vi users into the fold.

It turned out that there have been various key binding emulations in GNU Emacs for decades, but this is more.  It is a modernization effort and a combined technology effort to merge some vi and Emacs features, and default to the vi key bindings.

How does it work?  Very well.  The specifics are that when you first invoke Emacs, that is, after you've installed Doom Emacs, is that you enter Emacs in edit mode, just as you do in vi.  There are a LOT of "evil" functions built in, clearly geek humor at this stage; these integrate vi and Emacs functions.

Suppose you want to operate as traditional GNU Emacs did for a while?  Easy: press the Ctrl key and hold it, then press the Z key; this is notated as Ctrl-Z.  This will change the mode.  If you were in the default (vi) mode, it will change to classic Emacs mode.  If you want to switch to the other mode, press Ctrl-Z again.

If you experiment with this, you'll see that you can switch between the two styles.

How  do you get started?  Visit https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs 

 Install Git if it's not already installed, then run this command:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs ~/.config/emacs

This will quickly download the Doom Emacs configuration.

Then run this next:

 ~/.config/emacs/bin/doom install

This will install Doom Emacs.

Finally, if it's not there already, add 

 ~/.config/emacs/bin to the end of your shell PATH environment.

I put my PATH definition in my .bashrc file and I can execute it

any time it is not already in place.

For more information read the documentation on the

Doom Emacs pages.

antiX 23.2 Full Runit ISO Snapshot, updated and remastered

 It's been quite a while since antiX 23.2 was released, and a few years since antiX 23 was released; we get incremental package updates all the time, but other than that, the status quo remains the same, which is fine because antiX is always an efficient, stable distribution.

Other than "boredom" and the desire to experiment, which I've been doing lately by installing and experimenting with as many text editors as I can get my hands on, and messing with the font colors and background themes.

This is a fantastic place to do all kinds of different things while maintaining stability for the every day tasks.

antiX 23.2 - a highly capable update to the antiX 23 release!

The antiX 23.2 Full runit image has been made available for testing; with a few minor changes it will be ready for an update release.

As is always the case, I am using this test release; it may become the release, depending on how many changes are required.

antiX 23.1, my every day Linux distribution

 According to https://antixlinux.com/blog/

"antiX-23.1 (Arditi del Popolo) is a bug-fix release based on Debian bookworm."

"As usual we offer the following completely systemd-free and elogind-free flavours for both 32 and 64 bit architecture. Available iso files for sysVinit or runit.

antiX-full (c1.7GB) – 4 windows managers – IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm plus full libreoffice suite. x64 versions come with 2 kernels. Legacy 5.10 and Modern 6.1."

In addition:

"antiX-base (c1GB) – 4 windows managers – IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm.

antiX-core (c520MB) – no X, but should support most wireless.

antiX-net (c220MB)- no X. Just enough to get you connected (wired) and ready to build.

(If using core or net versions, to connect to the Internet, you might need to type as root user ifup eth0 or ifup eth1 or if using core – type ceni)

The 32 bit version uses a non-pae kernel.

Note: After installation of antiX-23.1_x64-full editions, the default kernel will be Modern 6.1 even if Legacy 5.10 was booted during the live boot.

* Based on Debian 12 (Bookworm), but without systemd/libsystemd0 and elogind/libelogind0.
* eudev instead of udev
* Customised 5.10.197 kernel
* Customised 6.1.60 kernel (x64 full only)
* libreoffice 4:24.2.0-1
* firefox-esr 115.8.0esr-1 on antiX-full
* seamonkey 2.53.18.1 on antiX-base
* claws-mail
* cups for printing
* pipewire/wireplumber on full editions
* alsa on base and core editions
* xmms -for audio
* celluloid and mpv – for playing video
* smtube – play youtube videos without a using a browser
* qpdfview – pdf reader
* arc-evopro2-theme-antix
* App Select – Much more than a launcher app.
* User Language – set up localisation of popular apps eg Libreoffice

* No snaps (systemd) and no flatpaks (elogind)!"

antiX: A Featureful Lightweight Linux

 Reviewed by Howard Fosdick © 2024, originally posted at RexxInfo.org, under open license CC BY-ND 4.0.

Have an older desktop? An underpowered laptop? antiX might just be your ticket to turn that aging machine into a useful rig.

As a lightweight Linux, antiX is also useful for rolling your own distro, building a dedicated server, or creating a bootable live USB.

I've found it handy as a portable tool I carry about on its own USB memory stick. antiX is so small it leaves plenty of room for user data on the stick. Yet it includes all the apps you need for typical laptop or desktop work.

The antiX home page defines the product as:

"... a fast, lightweight and easy to install systemd-free linux live CD distribution based on Debian Stable for Intel-AMD x86 compatible systems.

antiX offers users the “antiX Magic” in an environment suitable for old and new computers. So don’t throw away that old computer yet!"