CrunchBang Linux, its the #!

"CrunchBang is a Debian GNU/Linux based distribution offering a great blend of speed, style and substance. Using the nimble Openbox window manager, it is highly customisable and provides a modern, full-featured GNU/Linux system without sacrificing performance."   -http://crunchbanglinux.org/

I decided to give CrunchBang a try because Ubuntu was a tad bit slow on my netbook.

I have to admit, while I am a ardent Ubuntu fan, I found myself liking the much improved speeds I recieved using CrunchBang.

I am not a fan of Openbox anymore though, so I installed good old XFCE.

To my delight, CrunchBang didn't loose any speed using XFCE instead.

I always like to add some pics, so here are some screenshots from http://crunchbanglinux.org/wiki/about

After reading the boards, CrunchBang seems to have 3 groups of users. The old hardware group, the minimalistic operating group, and the "it's easier debian" group.

I feel I fit into all 3 groups.

If CrunchBang would fill the needs of my customer base, I would be very tempted to switch.

If you feel like giving it a try via usb key or cdrom, remember the default language setting for the keyboard is german. To switch it to the US in the live session, find the keyboard options program running on the top left section of the screen.

To end this article, I would like to let the CrunchBang people speak for themselves.
This is an excerpt from the about page at http://crunchbanglinux.org/wiki/about

"Features:

Speed

CrunchBang Linux uses the Openbox window manager. Openbox is lightweight and speedy, and as a result, CrunchBang Linux is fast. Also, while CrunchBang Linux is not primarily designed for old systems, it has been reported to operate very well where system resources are limited. Once installed, CrunchBang Linux should boot-up and operate faster than a regular Debian GNOME/KDE installation.

Compatibility with Debian

With the exception of a few packages, CrunchBang Linux is built entirely from packages available from the Debian repositories. CrunchBang Linux uses the same APT package management tools and update manager. If you are already familiar with Debian or Ubuntu, you should have no trouble working with CrunchBang Linux.

Ease of use

CrunchBang Linux comes with the ability to play most popular media formats, including but not limited to MP3, DVD playback & Adobe Flash. CrunchBang Linux also comes with many popular applications installed by default, including but not limited to Iceweasel browser , VLC media player and Transmission BitTorrent Client.

Highly configurable

 CrunchBang Linux is infinitely hackable, this is mainly due to the standards compliant light-weight extensible window manager that is Openbox. CrunchBang Linux also comes installed with Conky, the customisable lightweight system monitor, and Thunar, a very popular and highly configurable file manager."

If you would like to give CrunchBang a try, here is the link: http://crunchbanglinux.org/