Random note... I tend to like Niz keyboards a lot, especially with 35g domes. Their boards are like Topre but smoother and nicer. They've kind of spoiled me for MX keyboards... until today. Some sample TTC Frozen Silent V2 switches arrived, and they remind me of nothing less than Niz domes in an MX form factor.
I'm going to get some more of them and fill out this Vortex Multix board I used to test them.
When you want to run a middleweight Linux distribution and you already love & know Debian but don't want to run on super stable Server level since you are running a workstation not a server MX Linux is a very good choice as a distribution for you
You've got the power of Debian you'll get the stability of Debian yet you are bleeding edge and don't have applications which are rock stable but for a workstation a tad old
If you don't have a recent MX Linux installation you can download the new ISO version 23.6
If you have v23.5 there's no need to execute a fresh installation. The updated executables will roll out to you automatically.
The screencap displays a mobile device screen with a dark background and a gray header at the top. The header features a logo with a mountain and a cross, followed by the text "MX Linux" in white. Below the header, there is a menu icon on the left and a search icon on the right. The main content area of the screen announces "MX-23.6 now available!" with the date "April 13, 2025" below it. The text explains that MX-23.6 is the sixth refresh of the MX-23 release, including bug fixes, kernel updates, and application updates. It states that if the user is already running MX-23, there is no need to reinstall, and packages are available through regular update channels or by installing the changed applications. The time on the device is 08:22, and the battery is at 93%.
There's one thing I had not done in a long time which is install a distribution of my choice with a full KDE desktop manager. I haven't done that in more than 2 decades. KDE has been wonderful at it's infancy and KDE is still wonderful now.
Since MX Linux is my distribution of choice, it's logical that I installed the KDE version of that distribution even if it's just for a test drive.
I've allocated just 20 gigs for KDE which means it's tight with space but it's still usable for a test run.
One tool I immediately missed was gparted the powerful gnome UI, which puts the precision of partition manipulation at your fingertips, without the chances of making costly mistakes if you don't pay enough attention or are not affluent enough with the commands in your favorite shell.
I missed that tool during the installation of mxKDE because I needed to add partitions before the installation could proceed I just left Blank Space on an SSD.
Apart from that I can tell you from the initial view that KDE has not just matured, advanced and elevated itself. KDE has become so lightweight in resource usage that it can complete with very Light Desktop managers.
You can still edit your widgets up to & icons almost the pixel. The things that I love about KDE from decades ago are still there and are even more powerful.
Since I started to use KDE when GPU usage on the desktop was not even a thing, you can imagine how fast the DE is now and a period where GPU usage is normal for everything.
Out of the box KDE is already fantastic. Go and see what KDE can be for you, by installing it yourself