14 DAY TRIAL // GNU/Linux developer Arne Exton is kicking off the month of May 2017 with a new release of his Ubuntu/Debian-based MeX distro, which ships with the latest Cinnamon desktop environment and a recent Linux kernel.
MeX Linux was previously based on Linux Mint, but it's now borrowing packages only from the stable repositories of the Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS (Xenial Xerus) and Debian GNU/Linux 8.7 "Jessie" operating systems. The latest release, MeX build 170501, is shipping with a custom compiled kernel based on Linux kernel 4.10.8.
The default desktop environment of MeX Linux is now powered by Cinnamon 3.2.8, the latest stable release of the popular DE developed by the Linux Mint project. As expected, all the packages included in the new MeX Linux build have been updated to their latest versions at the moment of the release.
"I have replaced the original kernel with 'my' special kernel 4.10.0-19-exton (4.10.8)," said Arne Exton in the release announcement. "All packages in MeX Linux have been upgraded to the latest version by 170501. This version of MeX uses Cinnamon 3.2.8. Linux Mint 18.1 also uses Cinnamon 3.2.8 as desktop environment."
MeX Linux includes Refracta tools so you can create your own Live ISO
Probably the best feature of the MeX Linux build 170501 release is the inclusion of Refracta tools, which let users create their own Ubuntu-based Live and installable ISO images. According to Arne Exton, remastering your own Ubuntu Live DVD is a child's play and it won't take more than a few minutes to complete.
The best part is you don't even have to install MeX on your PC to use Refracta tools for building a fully customized Ubuntu Live ISO snapshots. The developer also replaced the Google Chrome web browser with Mozilla Firefox since the latter is now capable of playing Netflix movies and TV shows out of the box.
You can download MeX Linux build 170501 64-bit Live ISO image right now from our website if you want to give the distro a try or create a custom Ubuntu-based ISO, study the full list of pre-installed packages, and check out the gallery below to see the GNU/Linux distribution in action.
