Systemd-free antiX Linux 26: Debian 13, in bonsai form

Summary

AntiX Linux is a heavily cut-down version of Debian 13, with a choice of init systems and ultralightweight GUIs. This means it's able to run usefully on older and lower-end PCs – and, of course, to run faster on modern ones. AntiX 26 "Stephen Kapos" is the newly updated version of antiX, based on last year's Debian 13 "Trixie" release. There are a lot of Debian-based meta-distributions to choose from, but antiX is more unlike its upstream than almost any other Debian-based distro. The 2026 release offers a choice of two kernels: the old but still supported 5.10, or the slightly newer kernel 6.6. Unlike Debian itself, it still offers a 32-bit edition, which uses the older kernel version. We looked at the previous release, the Debian 12-based antiX 23, all the way back in September 2023, and we noted then that it had a confusing 16 different options available to download. In antiX 26, this has been simplified down to just four: the choice now is Full or Core, 32-bit or 64-bit, and that's it. Although BunsenLabs Carbon, which we looked at earlier this month, has a simpler, lighter-weight desktop, apart from that it's still Trixie, systemd and all. The Debian 13 codename comes from a cartoon Triceratops, and those were neither slim nor light. Bunsenlabs's use of Openbox means that it takes just over half a gigabyte of RAM, but antiX 26 needs less than half as much: about 200 MB. As we said when we looked at Devuan 6 last November, "This is essentially the same OS as Debian 13, but with Agent P's sprawling 'system and service manager' surgically removed." Devuan no longer offers GNOME – that desktop is explicitly introducing stronger dependencies on systemd – but Devuan still offers KDE Plasma, for instance. This is not the case in antiX. Some other distros remove systemd but add other packages to replace parts of systemd's functionality instead, such as the Elogind seat manager. Not antiX – which means you can't have GNOME, or KDE, or Flatpak, or Snap. However you insta...