Artix Linux

Artix initially offered two installation environments, a base command-line ISO image and the graphical Calamares installer based on LXQt desktop, with an i3 version following later. Those early versions featured the OpenRC init system. The latest installation media are also available in a variety of desktop environments like LXDE, LXQt, XFCE, MATE, Cinnamon and KDE Plasma. Additionally, two unofficial community editions featuring GTK (XFCE and MATE) and Qt (KDE Plasma) desktops and a larger software base are offered, aiming at too-busy-to-customise or less experienced, novice users. All current installation media come in OpenRC, runit, s6, and dinit versions, with the exception of the community ISOs that offer OpenRC only. In July of 2025 the distro released a community live distro based on XLibre, a fork of X Server X.org. On April 3rd, 2026, Artix Linux 2026.04 was published as the first official ISO release for 2026, which comes with Linux kernel 6.19.10, XLibre as the default display server, replacing X.org Server, and PipeWire as the default audio server, replacing PulseAudio. == Artix and GNOME ==

Artix dropped support for the popular GNOME Desktop Management environment because of its dependency on systemd in a fashion that can not be easily worked around. == Reception ==

An early review published on DistroWatch on 27 November 2017 found a few bugs, but overall ''"Artix is working with a good idea [...] It's minimal, it is rolling and it offers a little-used init system. All of these I think make the project worthwhile." More critical, another review at the time from linux-community.de concluded "the results so far are not exactly motivating."'' Much more favourable reviews were later featured in both sites. A review from Softpedia gave Artix a 5 out of 5 stars rating, noting its "beautiful and pleasant graphical environments." Distrowatch readers' reviews on Distrowatch are mostly very favourable, with an average rating of 9.3 out of 10. == Notes ==