AntiX – A distro for those old computers

One of the great things about GNU / Linux is that it can be modified and adapted for many purposes, including reviving an old PC or with few resources. That is precisely what antiX does Antix Linux is a Debian-based distribution, therefore it uses the APT package system. It is ideal for booting in live mode or on older computers with few resources.

His desktop system is Fluxbox which is very light but difficult to understand at first. It is overwhelming to want to look for something and not find it. Its file system is minimalist and works very well. Although I miss more details like a sidebar. Still, it does its job.

AntiX, apart from supporting 32 and 64 bits, makes available images that provide different content. The heaviest image is antiX-full, which occupies 1.1GB and includes four window managers (IceWM, fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm) and the LibreOffice office suite.

The second image is antiX-base, occupies about 700 megabytes and includes by default the four window managers: IceWM, fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm. For its part, antiX-core, which occupies about 350 megabytes, does not offer any graphical interface support, but it does for Wi-Fi, while antiX-net, with its 200 megabytes, is a kind of “minimal image” that requires Internet connection via cable to be used correctly.

When it comes to installing software, you have it easy since being based on Debian you can use the terminal with the apt command to install programs. Gdebi is pre-installed to install the .deb files and Synaptic also comes with a popular package installer that is very interesting to install priority programs.

If you have a modest or old computer, it can be a very good option, even so I would recommend Linux Lite or Lubuntu first.

See also:
MX Linux – a lightweight Debian-based Distro
Bodhi Linux, the distro for lighter computers

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