MX Linux 25.2 provides possible refuge from AI as well as systemd

Plus, Raspberry Pi edition finally catches up

MX Linux 25.2 is here, now with kernel 7.0 if you choose – although the Raspberry Pi edition still needs some work.MX Linux has been quietly turning into one of the Reg FOSS desk’s favorite distros for a few years now. It has a number of desirable attributes, and with version 25.2 released late last month, some of the slightly bumpier parts of the major upgrade to version 25 are getting smoothed out.We looked at MX Linux 25 in November last year, and reported that one of the niftiest features in previous versions had been lost. In MX 23 and before, you could choose which init system the OS used every time it booted up: so, for instance, you could normally run with the classic sysvinit, but if you needed to install something which demanded systemd, you could temporarily boot up with systemd as the init, install your app, and then switch back. In our testing, we’ve found that some things require Agent P’s Swiss Army Knife of a “System and Service Manager” to install, but once they’re in place on your computer, they will run quite happily without it. Alternatively, if it’s something you only occasionally run, you can start up with systemd only when you need it.