Additional comments on MX-Linux 21 Fluxbox and Lubuntu 22.04

rev 6/23/22 (see Notes)

After trying Lubuntu 22.04 and finding that it's fantastic [1], I decided to take another look at MX-Linux 21 Fluxbox. I had tried it and gave up due to frustrations with making changes to the panel and dock, but I've since realized that docks are easy to change, create, delete, move, etc., once you learn a few tricks (mentioned below), and that you can tailor the panel or panels to your liking by selecting Settings, then Tint2 Settings in the main menu. I just selected one of the prefabbed panels and left it as it was, although the panel included Clipman, so I went into Clipman's settings, selected the History tab, and set Remember History to O, because clipboard-management apps are security risks and should be used only when necessary, such as if you're writing code and want to save code-clippings for reuse. In some cases, I ended up uninstalling the clipboard manager app because there was no way to prevent it from keeping a clipboard history.

As usual, APT-offline wasn't installed by default, but all that's necessary to install it is apt-offline.deb and python3-magic.deb, which are both minuscule, and which I installed by using a package-installer. Later, I installed APT-offline-gui via APT-offline, but the launcher added to the main menu during installation didn't work, so I tried to fix the launcher but couldn't because the problem was deeper in the system. So, I'll just launch it by entering "sudo apt-offline-gui."

I had a problem with updating the package index via APT-offline without first updating it with a direct connection, because I kept getting "cannot authenticate package" (CAP) messages while trying to install software until I performed a direct update. I gave up on trying to understand precisely what was wrong, because it requires a good grasp of the Debian security system, which is very convoluted and is supposedly undergoing changes (including to validate packages when they're being installed, apparently in addition to when they're being downloaded), but performing an update with a direct internet connection seems to have corrected the problem, and then it could apparently be updated via APT-offline from then on, without producing CAP-messages. After performing a direct update, then an update via APT-offline, I performed another direct update, and APT apparently found that the existing package index was the latest, and just left it alone.

A couple of days later, I realized that MXL-Fluxbox includes a "Fix GPG Keys" tool, and created an unencrypted installation to see whether this tool would take care of the CAP-problem, which it didn't, even when online. (When booting the installation, it stopped with an "(intramfs)" (initial RAM file system) prompt, and I entered "exit" and the boot-process resumed. When the login screen appeared, I clicked on the menu-symbol at the top-center and selected the Fluxbox option, although I'm not sure what it does. But I confirmed that performing a direct update does fix the problem, whatever it is, by using APT-offline to install some package-index files which I downloaded a few days earlier for my initial MXL-FB installations, finding that it had the CAP-problem, and performing a direct update (which required only about 1MB, probably because the package index was just a few days old and APT apparently decided not to replace it). After the direct update, the CAP problem was gone, and then I performed another update via APT-offline (reinstalled the same package index files), and found that the CAP problem was still gone. 

Then I performed another update via APT-offline, using package-index files obtained about a week after the initial batch, and went through the motions of installing some software, and did not receive any CAP messages, apparently indicating that the direct update "permanently" fixed the CAP-problem. So, if you have a slow internet connection at home, you could probably create an installation and use it to obtain the packages required to install APT-offline from the Debian Packages site (MX-L21-FB is based on Debian 11/Bullseye), along with the reference checksums for the packages, calculate their checksums (right-click on each file, select Properties, then Digests, and then Hash), compare them to the references, and assuming that they match, install them by clicking on them and following the instructions. Then you could use APT-offline to perform an update (perform a set-op to generate a signature file, then a get-op, using some device which can readily obtain a 4G or better internet connection, to download and screen the package-index files, and then an install-op, which in the case of package-index files, installs them completely). Then you could perform a direct update, which based on my experience would require downloading only about 1MB due to the update via APT-offline (although I assume that you'd have to perform the two updates on the same day, or at least within a couple of days).

If you want to add any PPAs to your installation's sources-list, this would be the time to do it - there have apparently been improvements to the process of adding PPAs, because when I added the one for version 1.1 of the LXQT desktop to my Lubuntu 22.04 installation (https://launchpad.net/~severusseptimius/+archive/ubuntu/lxqt, which by the way didn't seem to do anything), the PPA's package-index files were added too, without having to perform an update (perhaps because I had just performed an update). After adding the PPA, I got an error message which indicated that there was no InRelease file (which was wrong), and that as a result the index or the PPA couldn't be used. Still, I had no problems generating a signature file for the upgraded desktop-components (a 100MB download, although Thunderbird is 57MB of that).

But if you don't even have a slow internet connection at home, you could power your PC with an inverter or an uninterruptible power supply so that you could take it to some place where you could establish a high-speed wireless internet connection, in which case you would perform an update and install APT-offline-gui (which would install APT-offline as well), and any software you might need in the foreseeable future. You might want a cardboard hood on your monitor to block sunlight, and something like a clipboard to use as a flat surface for your mouse. But once you've performed a direct update, it appears that you could use APT-offline from then to make any kind of change to the installation.

I also  had a problem when trying to perform a get-op on a signature file for GIMP, because the gimp.deb and gimp-data.deb files weren't available from the server, at least by the name listed in the signature file. But when I installed GIMP via a direct connection, everything went well, even though it requested precisely the same files. Two different versions of gimp and gimp-data were available, so perhaps by using a direct connection APT was able to find the secondary (older) versions when it couldn't find the newer versions, and download them, although the newer versions were the ones that were installed. Perhaps the older versions were actually pointers to the newer versions.

After installing GIMP, I tried to find the downloaded packages in /var/cache/apt/archives (where APT places downloaded packages for installation), so that I could use them on another installation of the same type, but they had apparently been deleted automatically after installation. I had installed a tiny app (gpw, a nifty password-generator) to determine whether it would be retained after installation by default, and it was, so I assumed that this would apply in all cases. I also "installed" a lot of apps via APT-offline (referring to the APT-offline "install"-op, which just copies downloaded app-packages to the "archives" directory, after which they must be actually installed normally, such as by entering "sudo apt install <app>"), and they were retained after actual installation. So, to retain all downloaded packages after installing them, it's apparently necessary to enter "echo 'Binary::apt::APT::Keep-Downloaded-Packages "1";' | sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10apt-keep-downloads" (to execute the command, copy it, without the beginning and ending quotes, as you would normally copy text, and paste it into the command-line with Ctrl-Shift-V).

After using my MXL21-FB installation for about a week, I generated an ISO from it, using the Snapshot MX-Tool (which works only on MX-Linux installations). Instead of having Snapshot store the ISO on the original installation, which is on a Kingston USB3 DataTraveler (which has a slow write-speed but runs cool, indicating low power consumption), I had it store it on an SD card which I formatted with an EXT4 format, using the Disks program, since Linux writes to EXT4-formatted drives faster than it does to FAT-formatted drives. Snapshot couldn't find the SD card until I realized that I had the file manager set up to require me to click on the drive-name to mount it. Then I used the Snapshot-created ISO to create a nonpersistent live installation (which in the case of live installations made from ISOs made with Snapshot, boot very quickly, unlike regular live installations) on a cheap, cool-running USB2 drive.

Naturally, turning an installation into an ISO is done only when you are fairly certain that you won't be making any significant changes to the installation in the near future, but I mentioned it above in order to explain some of the following changes.

Xfce4-notes, an excellent desktop-notes program, can be installed on MXL21-FB with a download of about 200K, which is nothing compared to some note-programs. I use xfce4-notes as a nonpersistent scratchpad, since it stores data in the installation, which in the case of the aforementioned nonpersistent live installation doesn't retain data after shut-down. FeatherNotes is also excellent, and quite a small download. I use FeatherNotes as a persistent scratchpad, with the notes stored on an encrypted flash drive (since FN allows the user to select the storage location), and backed-up on additional encrypted drives (I use two levels of backup - one drive to keep a running backup, which is transferred to other back-ups each week). Another approach would be to just use a separate small unsaved text-editor window as a nonpersistent desktop-note, and a text file as a persistent note, in cases where installing notes-programs would require large downloads.

MXL-FB's Dockmaker app (which can be launched by right-clicking on the screen, then selecting Appearance, then Docks, then Dockmaker) is quite straightforward, although if you want to add an app to a dock using a command and an icon, and you want to use the icon from the main menu, go to the menu-entry, right-click on it, and select Edit. Then click on the icon, and wait for quite a while (30 seconds on my $200 Brix, which I use as an air-gap PC), and a window with a bunch of menu-icons, including the one of interest, will appear. (I learned this by accident, by clicking on the icon, getting no immediate response, and then moving onto something else without closing the launcher-edit window. After a while, the aforementioned window of icons appeared, and I realized that it was the response to clicking on the icon.) Then use the name on the icon of interest, and a search program such as Catfish (also included in MX-L21-FB by default) to search the /usr/share/icons directory to find the location of the icon's file, and then go to Dockmaker, and click on the icon-window, and navigate to the icon-file of interest (Dockmaker's default icon-size is apparently 48x48). A few icons are in usr/local/share/icons.

If as a result of using Dockmaker you end up with multiple listings for a single dock in the menu accessed by right-clicking on the screen, you can go to the home directory, press Ctrl-h to show hidden files, then go to .fluxbox, then submenus, then appearance, and remove the redundant entries (superuser privileges aren't required). It's probably a good idea to make a backup copy before you start editing, in case you make a mistake and need a reference to correct it.

The file manager (Thunar) wasn't set up to my liking, so I changed the settings by going to Settings in the main menu, then selecting File Manager. Settings which control Thunar's response to plugging in flash drives can be accessed by going to the main menu, selecting Settings, and then selecting Removable Drives and Media. I set it up so that I can plug in a bunch of flash drives without having windows popping up all over the screen. This caused some confusion later, when I couldn't find the SD card with Snapshot, until I realized that I hadn't clicked on the SD card's name in the file manager to mount it.

In conclusion, MX-Linux 21 Fluxbox is a gem, although it's not very slick and it doesn't have frills such as multiple workspaces, the ability to zoom the entire screen, or the ability to change window-manager settings. It's one of the fastest types of Linux I've used, and includes MX-Tools, including the aforementioned Snapshot tool (which is apparently unique to MX-Linux and antiX) and includes a good selection of generally-useful apps, including FeatherPad, an excellent text editor, and GKrellm (Gnu Krell Monitors system-monitor, which includes configurable disk I/O monitors), which I've never seen included by default on any other distro. It doesn't include Libre Office (which for me is like using a nuclear weapon to kill a fly), so I installed Abiword. I considered adding KDE Partition Manager until I realized how much data would be required, so I installed Disks (gnome-disk-utility) which combined with GParted (included on MX-F by default) can do anything you could want to do to a drive. I also installed Marble, which I like because it does a lot of what I need from a virtual globe without being connected to the internet. Google Earth does everything and has incredible resolution, but requires a fast, data-unlimited internet connection.

Notes

Rev 6/23/22 - Changed title and added Note 1.

[1] The only problem I found with Lubuntu 22.04 in my brief trial run was that plugging-in flash  drives caused it to freeze, so that all I could do was to log off, etc., although I was able to eliminate this problem by conf  iguring the file manager so that it didn't mount removable drives when they're plugged in. My previous complaint about using the file manager in administrative mode to move .deb-files into /var/cache/apt/archives was apparently due to some error on my part, because I had no difficulty with it in subsequent attempts. So, PCmanFM-QT,the LXQT file manager, is among the best I've used, although it lacks Thunar's ability to add custom actions.

I added a PPA run by "Serverus Septimius" to install LXQT 1.1.0 on Lubuntu 22.04 by entering "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:severusseptimius/lxqt," which in my case also added the PPA's package index to my installation's package index, although I had performed an update immediately before adding the PPA to see what effect it would have on the process of adding the PPA. Then I used APT-offline to install LXQT 1.1.0, which required a 100MB download (57MB of which was Thunderbird). I didn't notice any effects, unless the improvement in my experience with PCmanFM-QT was due to the upgrade. However, PCmanFM-QT was not included in the upgrade.

Both Lubuntu 22.04 and MXL21-FB have very functional software selections without a lot of niche apps, but only MX-Linux, and apparently antiX, have a tool known as Snapshot, which can turn installations of these types of Linux, with  all of their settings and added software, into ISOs which can then be used for creating various types of copies of the original installations. I use a nonpersistent live MXL21-FB installation on a cheap, cool-running (energy-efficient) USB2 flash drive for my air-gap PC, and when it's shut down, it does't retain any session-data, so it's as secure as possible. So, hopefully, there will soon be an official MX-Linux LXQT which can be purchased in the form of DVDs.There already is an MX-Linux LXQT created by an MX-Linux/LXQT enthusiast and made available for download, but it's available only as a download.

Lubuntu 22.04: Almost perfect

 Keywords: "Lubuntu 22.04 review"
Other than sluggish responses to password-inputs during booting, a bug (probably already fixed by some upgrade) which hinders the opening of encrypted flash-drives which are plugged in after the system is booted, and a slow first Firefox Snap launch during each session (although after loading, it's amazing), Lubuntu 22.04 quickly became one of my favorites, along with MX-Linux XFCE (and KDE), Ubuntu Mate, and Kubuntu (I'm partial to Debian/APT-based distros, due to APT-offline). (MX-Linux with the LXQT desktop would be a great combination.) Lubuntu 22.10, which will have a more mature version of the LXQT desktop environment, will undoubtedly be fantastic. You can install LXQT 1.1 (the latest as of this writing), but it's from a PPA, not the Ubuntu repository. I've read that it's excellent, however.

Lubuntu 22.04's selection of software is probably the most functional I've seen, without a lot of niche apps. For example, I almost always install Disks (gnome-disk-utility) when I create an installation, but Lubuntu includes the KDE Partition Manager, which does everything that Disks does. It also includes the Muon package manager, which is a lot like Synaptic, and a software-sources-management app like Software & Updates (i.e. software-properties-gtk) in addition to the Discover app-store.

The file manager, PCManFM-Qt is a sort of combination of Thunar and Dolphin, and is powerful and easy to use. It can be configured to open files and folders with one click, and has a button to open a tab as a root instance, although the administrative password is still required.

Lubuntu 22.04 includes Noble Notes, which is very functional although somewhat cumbersome compared to desktop-notes apps and widgets. I believe I read that an LXQT notes-widget is in the works - hopefully it will be like XFCE's notes-widget.

To add an app to a panel, you would just drag its icon from the main menu to a "Quick Launch" widget/area in the panel.

I had a "package cannot be authenticated" problem when trying to install software after performing an update via APT-offline, but I performed it again (60MB download each time using APT-offline, and 30MB when using a direct connection, which is small for a package-index update compared to most I've seen lately), and the problem went away. I'm not sure exactly what caused the problem, but I suspect that the first time, I didn't give the APT-offline get-op (a specialized download/screening process) sufficient time to write the package-index files from DRAM (apparently used as a transit point to maximize the download-rate) to the flash-drive installation which I had designated as the storage-location, because for one thing after installing those package index files, there was no InRelease file among the resulting packages lists, although there was an InRelease file among the package lists after installing the 2nd batch of package-index files. (It didn't occur to me to compare the two sets of package-index files themselves until after I had deleted the first set.)

The installer (Calamares) apparently couldn't create an installation on a flash drive which already contained an installation (perhaps as a safety measure), so I had to format the drives which I decided to use for Lubuntu installations before I could perform an installation on them with this installer. I prefer Kingston USB3 Datatravelers (a 32GB is probably optimal) because the installation-process isn't glacial, the resulting installation is sufficiently responsive, and the KDT-USB3 drives which I've used run cool compared to most USB3 drives I've tried.

Lubuntu 22.04 is definitely a worthy member of the Ubuntu family, although you might want to wait for the next point-release if you don't want to perform an upgrade to get rid of some bugs, or if you want a more mature version of the desktop without installing it from a PPA. However, you might have to get 22.10 for the upgraded desktop.

My impressions of Ubuntu 22.04

Screenshot of my MX-Linux 21 XFCE installation

 

Based on the lavish praise heaped upon Ubuntu 22.04, I gave it a shot, and found that it's actually quite disappointing, starting with the 3.4GB displacement of the ISO. It doesn't even do a very good job of opening files in response to clicking on their icons, which is one of the most basic functions. I had to install quite a few apps to compensate for the poor functionality of of the ones included by default, and just installing APT-offline (not the GUI) required a download of something on the order of 10 MB, as I recall, whereas with MX-Linux XFCE, I just had to install a couple of small packages. The highly-touted workspace-overview struck me as a gimmick designed just to be different, rather than functional, because it's essentially as easy to use multiple workspaces in XFCE - there's a workspace-switcher widget which has an icon in the panel which provides a thumbnail of each workspace. It doesn't even have a desktop-notes app or widget, although Feather Notes is excellent and requires only a 750 kb download to install it. I previously used Ubuntu Mate, and I still use Kubuntu on my desktop-PC, and both of them are great, although I still prefer MX-Linux XFCE. The KDE version is also excellent, although each package-index update requires a download of approximately 120 MB, and the file manager, without add-ons, is a toy compared to Thunar.

So, I did a search for articles by others with a similar perspective on Gnome, the desktop used (with modifications) by Ubuntu, and eventually found one entitled GNOME Linux — A Complete Disaster?, based on versions up to 41, by someone who develops other Linux distributions. It supports the complaints of a former Ubuntu-developer, who claims that Canonical no longer cares about Ubuntu desktop.

My current favorite is MX-Linux 21 XFCE, partly because the file manager (Thunar) is powerful and easy to use, and MX-Linux includes MX Tools, including the apparently-unique Snapshot tool which allows installations to be turned into ISOs. This allowed me to turn my installation into a live installation, which I put on a cool-running 4GB USB2 drive and run on my air-gap PC (a $200 Gigabyte Brix, which consumes very little energy and has plenty of power for my purposes), and when I shut it down, the installation doesn't retain any session-data. Since I use the original installation for nothing but tweaking the installation and making new ISOs, I didn't have to worry about power consumption and put it on a Sandisk Ultra Luxe USB3 drive which has a fast write-speed but runs hot, indicating high power consumption. I can also connect it to the internet to make changes, with confidence that no hacker can access any data on it. With other Debian-types of Linux, I would have to use the original installation as my working-installation, and I would use APT-offline to make changes to it (including upgrading the OS itself) to avoid connecting it to the internet.

MX-Linux installer tries to put bootloader on live source-installation by default

When installing MX-Linux, pay close attention to the designation for the drive on which the installation is to be placed, so that when you get to the point in the installation-process where you're given a choice of drive on which to install the bootloader, you'll make the right choice. In my experience, the installer tries to put the bootloader on the live installation used for booting the PC, so if you don't change this setting, the installation process will fail, and near the end, after perhaps 70 minutes (on a slow but cool-running drive such as a Kingston USB3 Datatraveler).

I've experimented with the MX Snapshot (an MX Tool) in MX-Linux, by using it to create ISOs from encrypted "full" flash-drive installations, and live installations from the ISOs. Then I used one of the live installations to boot another PC, and to create another encrypted "full" flash drive installation. So, the MX Snapshot tool is extremely useful. Anyone who has spent a long time getting an installation tweaked to their liking can appreciate the ability to quickly and easily create back-up copies and re-create the original installation.

There's a lot to like about MX-Linux XFCE

When I first started using MX-Linux, I was leaning toward the KDE version, until I got fed up with Dolphin, the KDE file manager, due to its lack of access to such things as system directories. I disliked some aspects of MX-Linux XFCE, until I realized that all I needed was to change some settings. For example, it has an optional panel which can be placed anywhere on the screen in a vertical or horizontal orientation (although it works better in horizontal mode), so that I was able to put all of the controls centered at the top of the screen, along with a "LCD" clock which is highly visible regardless of which wallpaper I select, whereas the default desktop-clock's minutes-digits blend in with dark backgrounds and can't be seen very well. There doesn't appear to be any way to change its color scheme.

MX-X is set up by default to mount flash drives and open a file-browser window for each partition, or to open a window for entering the password for encrypted partitions, which I don't like. Fortunately, it turns out that there are file-manager options which allow you to plug in a bunch of flash drives, and then open a file browser window and mount and view each partition at your convenience, without a lot of windows popping up all over the place at inconvenient times.

Another advantage is that it's easy to install APT-offline on MX-21 (all flavors) it without an internet connection, even though the package manager is locked on any new installation, including live installations, until the package index is updated. All it needs is APT-offline and python3-magic, based on the APT-offline page on the Debian Packages site, and on Distrowatch, which lists all packages installed by default on essentially every type of Linux. You would just go to the Debian Packages site, download APT-offline and python3-magic, calculate the checksums of your copies and compare them to the reference values on the Debian Packages site. (Besides checking the ISO's checksum before using it, these are the most important checksums to check, because if APT-offline is corrupted, it might allow malware to be installed on your system. So, I recommend using the SHA256 checksum, or the MD5 sum and the file size.) APT-offline can download the package-index files (75-80MB for the XFCE version, and 120MB for the KDE version) into a folder so that they can be installed on multiple installations (such as to start over from scratch while experimenting with it) without having to download them each time. To install the same software modules/packages on multiple systems over time, you need to install the package index which was originally used for installing the software. But I gather that at some point, the package index will become too outdated to install, so you'd need to download a fresh copy and perhaps some new software-module revisions specified by the new package index.

But the frosting on the cake is MX Snapshot, which allows you to make an ISO out of your full installation, with all of the added software and settings. I used Snapshot to make a few ISOs, and it works very well, and I used the MX Live USB Maker to create a nonpersistent live flash-drive installation which I run on my air-gap PC. It's secure because when it's shut down, it retains no session-data (I save everything on separate flash drives with EXT4 and LUKS partitions). If the full installation from which I made the ISO ever stops working, I can just create a new full installation from the ISO, so that I can tweak the installation and generate a new ISO if I like.

So anyone who's considering getting into Linux, or who's shopping around for a new type of Linux, should give MX-Linux a shot. It's one of the most popular types of Linux for good reason.

Sandisk Ultra Luxe USB-3 FD for Linux installations

Rev 2/26/22 (see Notes)

I finally got around to buying a small metal 64GB USB-3 flash drive from Sandisk (Ultra Luxe) to use for Linux installations, and found that it works very well. The installation-process went extremely quickly (I'd say less than 10 minutes, although I didn't time it), and the resulting installation runs without a hitch and has fast response.  Although I can't guarantee that every one is as fast, I'll buy a Sandisk Ultra Luxe the next time I need a flash drive for this purpose.

The Sandisk Ultra-FIT (stubby) is good if you plan on leaving the drive plugged in, because it has a plastic connector-shroud, which I've worn out as a result of plugging and unplugging it frequently. (The bottom of the shroud came off.) However, it still worked even with part of the shroud missing, although caps required tape to keep them in place. 

 

Notes

Rev 2/26/22 - Deleted reference to 64GB Verbatim Metal Executive because it died after using it for a couple of times. So, the disappointing performance which I obtained from it while it was working might not be typical.

A couple of decent desktop backgrounds

Although my sky-snapshots usually end up being disappointing, I couldn't resist taking these, and have found them to be excellent as desktop backgrounds. So, I decided to post the photos and my 16:9 cropped versions, in case anyone else wants to try them.

Click on the image of interest below for the high-res version.