My experience of installing Artix Linux

02 July 2018, 20:20:37

Over the past 6 months or so I was using MX Linux on my system. For anyone who doesn't know MX Linux is based on Debian and is partnered with Antix Linux, it has Systemd installed but is not used as an init system, SysV is still the init system for MX Linux, systemd is just there for compatibility reasons. I had no issues with MX Linux, just like with Debian and other Debian based distro's it is a rock solid OS. After working with it for 6 months (maybe longer, I became bored with it as there was nothing to do with regards to maintenance of the OS.

This was when I decided to go back to Artix Linux because I wanted a rolling release distro and wanted to be able to maintain the OS. I had lost my original download of the disk so I downloaded the "latest" snapshot of Artix with LXQT, this was dated January 2018. Once downloaded the new disk image and had burned it to a disk, I then began to install this disto on my desktop PC. I encountered no issues with the installation of Artix Linux with LXQT, the problems I was having came when I wanted to update the packages.

After the installation was complete one of the first packages I installed was a Firefox. This was so that I can view the Artix home page and follow the instructions to update OpenRC. However, due to an issue with one of the installed packages I could not get Firefox to run. So in order to get at the information from the home page, I had to re-boot the PC to log in to Windows 7. Once I had got the information I required then rbooting back in to Artix Linux to carry out the commands.

Due to the time period since the iso was created I decided it would be a good idea to update the keys which worked fine, then decided to perform a full system update. This was when I discovered another issue, it appeared that the maintainer of LXQT had his key expired only a few weeks ago and as a result LXQT would not update, in fact due to that one expired key pacman would not allow any of the downloaded packages to update.

I thought that my only option was to replace LXQT with another XFCE as it's a desktop that I really love using. Once this was installed I then removed LXQT and began updating the entire system. Once the system was updated I then started to install other packages (apps) I wanted.

It took me longer than I had expected but I now have a fully updated Artix Linux OS running smoothly.

I am also happy to be rid of systemd.

Thank you for reading

Re: My experience of installing Artix Linux

Reply #1 – 02 July 2018, 23:20:23

Glad you got everything to your liking I'm not a lover of LXQT never fathomed out what it was trying to achieve its just a unfinished project QT is best left with KDE desktop wise plus LXDE is now a complete GTK3 in Arch Linux.

Re: My experience of installing Artix Linux

Reply #2 – 03 July 2018, 21:01:24

Me too, although I've installed systems with LXQT because "users like it" the more I encounter it the more I dislike it. LXDE seems solid as a rock compared to a marshmellow (lxqt).

Are you saying GTK3's problems have been solved now? I remember a year ago with Manjaro having a choice between GTK2 and 3 and all 3 parts sucked .... violently! Manjaro-openrc that was, don't be fooled by that other system

Welcome aboard @NickStone