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Trouble with MX Linux


raymac46

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You may remember my ugly old 2008 desktop that I use in my workroom to play music. That machine has been running MX Linux but I haven't updated it in some time. When I tried I ran into broken packages and dependency problems that I could not fix, even though the system claimed to be up to date. Upon reboot I just got a black screen. I think the issue had something to do with Fluxbox.

I tried a reinstall with a MX-19 DVD (this desktop is too old to boot from a thumbdrive.) Then I got the GRUB rescue prompt - no video.

I had previously had trouble with MX Linux when I tried to switch to the Nvidia driver from nouveau.

Well to make a long story short I have now installed Linux Mint Xfce and the Nvidia driver 450 with no problems. Updates went fine as well.

I have had no problems so far with MX Linux on an old laptop but I'll keep an eye on it. All I want to do on the old machine is stream a bit of Spotify or play some MP3s. I hope Linux Mint will allow that. So far so good.

It is disappointing as MX Linux had been quite stable and useful up to now.

Edited by raymac46
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V.T. Eric Layton

This probably wasn't an MX Linux issue. Recent upgrades to proprietary drivers have lagged shamefully by Nvidia. Your currently built Nvidia on that MX system is probably crashing your system. Unfortunately, I don't know if Nvidia has caught up with the recent MX-19 kernel upgrade yet. 

 

I had this problem with two of the last three Slackware kernel upgrades. Eventually, Nvidia catches up.

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Well I had the upgrade issues while still running nouveau so I think it was more than just Nvidia. But I never rule a graphics card out when you can't get a GUI.

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I am posting this note from my old laptop that runs MX-Linux and I have had no issues. Mind you it uses AMD graphics and I do keep it updated more frequently. So probably the Nvidia hardware has something to do with the problem regardless of what driver you use.

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MX Linux was great for a long time and I used it for over a year as my main system a few years ago. As it increasingly customises and drifts from pure Debian it seems to pick up a number of weird glitches along the way. I've had problems with installation where GRUB takes over when it shouldn't, graphics glitches including failure to launch desktop, live system and persistence issues, and glacial slow boots at different times. The MX tools are great for newbies who don't know how to do the same things in CLI but also become confusing as there a quite a lot of them and some do only slightly different things from others. I find the forums rather annoying too especially the mods, and the amount of times wild guesses are offered as solutions to issues. The devs do a great job for a small team but I think they have become too ambitious.

I've switched back to using pure Debian Buster or siduction and have a smoother experience now.

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I have MX running on my Tough Book, started with MX-17 and am now on MX-19. Had no problems with it at all until yesterday. On booting I got a grub rescue prompt and the message

" error: symbol `grub_calloc' not found."

Tried to repair through the grub rescue method but it did not work so fired up a live mx and used the "repair grub" tool. Now am back to normal. I really like MX as it has been bomb proof for me until this one of glitch.

Their Live version with persistence is a very useful backup tool.

 

😎

 

With all these problems with MX lately it makes me wonder if there is a covid virus circulating for computers. After all covid has transferred to mink so who is to say that covid has not transferred to some AI  and then on to all networked pc's. Just a thought. 🤔

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MX Linux now works nicely with UEFI and has a default install for dual booting with Windows. That means it sets up EFI partitions as part of the install. However I am sure this gives problems with old school MBR legacy hardware like my 2008 desktop. Since I use Linux primarily on older stuff this concerns me.

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I have now done a further update on my Lenovo laptop that runs MX Linux. There was no problem and it continues to be stable. Again this is a more modern machine with AMD graphics and UEFI support. I also update it every few days rather than waiting for weeks as I did with the old desktop.

Maybe this was a one off glitch but I feel safer just leaving Linux Mint on the desktop.

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On 11/9/2020 at 8:31 PM, sunrat said:

 

I've switched back to using pure Debian Buster or siduction and have a smoother experience now.

I am still using siduction cinnamon version as my secondary OS and Mint as my Primary OS. Have not had a problem with either one.

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