MX Moksha 25: A Fresh, Lightweight Spin on Creative Computing

MX Moksha 25: A Fresh, Lightweight Spin on Creative Computing

Table of contents:-

A new fusion of MX and Moksha

Under the hood: kernel, base and performance

Desktop experience, workflow and tools

File actions, audio helpers and creative utilities

Live usage, installation notes and support

Concluding word

A new fusion of MX and Moksha

MX Moksha-25, codenamed “Out of Bodhi”, is a specialist GNU/Linux distribution that combines the solid, Debian-based foundations of MX Linux 25 with the elegant Moksha desktop environment to create a nimble, visually distinctive and highly customisable system. Designed and maintained as a spare-time passion project, it aims to give users an “out of Bodhi” experience while remaining practical, performant and grounded in familiar MX tooling.

At its core, MX Moksha-25 builds on Debian Trixie with the MX Linux 25 base and Advanced Hardware Support (AHS) enabled, which means newer kernels, drivers and firmware are readily available for modern hardware without sacrificing the stability MX is known for. The distribution ships only as a 64-bit system and focuses on providing a clean, reasonably minimal starting environment, encouraging users to compose their ideal desktop and workflow using the extensive MX repositories.

The project is offered free of charge and fully functional, but its maintainer gently encourages regular users to consider supporting either MX Moksha itself or the MX Linux project, recognising that serious content creators often invest in plugins and tools while overlooking the operating system hosting their work. MX Moksha is distributed from the developer’s own VPS with MD5, SHA256 and signature files for each ISO, reflecting a strong emphasis on integrity and user security.

Under the hood: kernel, base and performance

MX Moksha-25 is built “with love” on MX Linux 25 and Debian Trixie, giving it access to a mature ecosystem, tested packaging and a strong heritage of user-friendly tools. The MX base ensures that the system benefits from MX’s well-regarded snapshot, live and configuration utilities, while Debian Trixie provides the upstream base of libraries and applications that many users and developers already know.

One of the key technical decisions in MX Moksha is the use of a low-latency, pre-emptive Liquorix kernel with threaded IRQs, a choice that can yield snappier desktop responsiveness and better handling of realtime-ish workloads such as audio, video and interactive creative work. Liquorix is a community-maintained kernel flavour tuned for desktop and multimedia performance, and combining it with the MX AHS repository means newer graphics stacks and drivers are easily within reach for users with recent GPUs and hardware.

Despite being visually rich, MX Moksha aims for efficiently low RAM consumption, making it suitable for both older machines and more modest setups that nonetheless need modern features. The Moksha desktop is derived from Enlightenment’s E17 codebase, and in this distribution it is presented in version 0.4.1 with a curated selection of Moksha applications and modules that strike a balance between functionality and lightness.

MX Moksha’s default appearance leans into a retro skeuomorphic aesthetic, paired with a vibrant “Moksha Green” theme that gives the desktop an immediately recognisable identity. The design aims to be both nostalgic and modern, with theme elements complemented by GTK4 theme linking via libadwaita so that contemporary GTK applications visualise consistently within the environment.

Desktop experience, workflow and tools

The user experience in MX Moksha-25 is shaped by a mix of Moksha’s own interaction patterns and usability choices inherited from MX Linux traditions. Keyboard-driven users are given a couple of immediately useful hints: pressing the Super key opens a searchable application menu, and Super plus “t” opens a terminal, offering quick access to both application discovery and command-line workflows.

The desktop also features a right-click menu on the background, reminiscent of Openbox-style menus, which can be particularly efficient for users who prefer context-driven interfaces over traditional top or bottom panels. Moksha itself is modular, and MX Moksha includes optional Moksha apps and modules to extend functionality, allowing users to fine-tune their desktop without overwhelming the default configuration.

One of the standout aspects of MX Moksha is its emphasis on MX tools, notably MX Snapshot, which allows users to transform a configured system into a reusable respin ISO. This means that once a user has dialled in their preferred selection of packages, theming, settings and workflows, they can create their own personalised MX Moksha variant to deploy elsewhere or to keep as a reproducible system image.

Hardware support is enhanced via the MX Linux AHS repository, whose role is to provide more modern kernels, Mesa stacks and drivers than those typically available in the standard Debian-based channels at release time. For users working with newer laptops, GPUs or cutting-edge audio interfaces, this combination of Liquorix kernel and AHS packages can be decisive in delivering a smooth, trouble-free experience.

File actions, audio helpers and creative utilities

MX Moksha-25 ships with a notable collection of custom AV Linux utilities and file actions designed to unlock powerful workflows from within the file manager. These “Open With” actions are file-manager-agnostic and are designed to work across most common file managers, giving users additional capabilities with only a right-click.

For multimedia enthusiasts and professionals, the system integrates several helpers aimed at audio, video and content-creation tasks. There is a Wine4VST utility that can provide an optional working environment for Windows VST audio plugins, giving users an avenue to bring certain Windows audio tools into their Linux production pipeline where legally and technically feasible.

The file actions include the ability to convert audio formats using PACPL, making it straightforward to batch-convert source audio into different target formats directly from the file manager. Users can also join MP4 and MKV video files via ffmpeg, facilitating quick concatenation of clips without manually invoking complex command-line options.

For sound designers, an integrated action to create SFZ sound libraries using the makesfz tool helps convert audio samples into a widely used open SFZ instrument format, paving the way for efficient use in compatible samplers. On the visual side, users can easily resize photos with ImageMagick via a right-click action, allowing quick optimisation of graphics for web, documentation or sharing.

MX Moksha-25 also caters to tinkerers and testers by making it easy to explore other systems safely: you can download or run local virtual machines using the included Quickemu resources, with a handy PDF guide bundled to walk you through creating and managing VMs on your hardware. In the same spirit of practical convenience, the integrated YT-DLP Helper file action lets you quickly download online videos for legitimate offline use straight from the file manager, streamlining tasks such as keeping reference tutorials, talks or creative resources available when you are away from a network connection.

To help manage storage, MX Moksha includes a file action that finds large files likely to be consuming significant disk space, a useful helper when maintaining systems with limited SSD space or on multi-project production machines. These tools collectively reflect the project’s heritage in the AV Linux ecosystem, where workflow and practical efficiency are emphasised over flashy extras.

MX Moksha also introduces an enhanced PipeWire experience with a new “Cable” frontend and additional PipeWire tools, which aim to give users more granular control over audio routing without abandoning the lightweight philosophy of the system. PipeWire’s integration is particularly relevant for users in audio and video production, as it can unify and simplify the handling of multiple audio backends and devices.

Live usage, installation notes and support

MX Moksha-25 is distributed as a live ISO, and users can boot it directly from USB for evaluation or operation without installation. During both Live USB sessions and the first boot after installation, users are advised that startup may take several seconds, which is described as normal behaviour rather than a symptom of poor performance, and patience is encouraged.

The distribution uses a “demo” username and password for the live media when needed, a detail that helps new users authenticate quickly in session or when prompted for administrative operations. However, changes made during a live session are not preserved into an installed system, so anyone planning a permanent setup should focus configuration efforts after installing to disk.

For non-English speakers, it is crucial to choose the desired locale and keyboard layout during the installation process because those settings will not be automatically retrofitted post-installation. At present, the AV Linux utilities and file actions bundled into MX Moksha are only available in English, so users relying heavily on localised tools should plan accordingly.

MX Moksha includes some customised applications and packaging not currently available in any standard repository, and to support users who may need to reinstall or retrieve those customised bits, an archived web FTP folder is made available. This structure ensures that even if packages are not hosted in a conventional repository, users still have an official reference point for recovery or reinstall scenarios.

Support for MX Moksha is explicitly described as limited because the project is maintained in spare time, without a formal dedicated user forum. Most common questions are addressed in a “Getting Started with MX Moksha” video produced by the maintainer, and when time permits, help can be found in the MX Linux Respins sub-forum, where experienced users are encouraged to assist others.

Despite the modest support model, the ethos of the project leans on community participation and peer assistance, echoing the broader open-source culture. Users who become proficient with MX Moksha are invited, implicitly and explicitly, to contribute back by helping others in available community channels.

Concluding word

MX Moksha-25 positions itself as a creative, flexible and efficient fusion of MX Linux and the Moksha desktop, blending modern hardware support and multimedia-friendly tweaks with a distinctive retro aesthetic and a clean base system ready to be customised. It rewards users who appreciate performance-conscious design, modularity and a curated set of thoughtful file actions that streamline everyday creative and production workflows.

All product names, logos and brands mentioned in this article are property of their respective owners; every effort has been made to ensure that the information presented is accurate and fair, and readers are encouraged to verify details against official project resources. The Distrowrite Project advocates the responsible and legal use of open-source software, including respect for licences, trademarks and the intellectual property of developers and contributors.

References:

• Official MX Moksha page – https://www.bandshed.net/mx-moksha/
  
  

• Bandshed main site / AV Linux MX Edition – https://www.bandshed.net/

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