I have been using CrunchBang Linux (#!) now little over a month. And though #! wiki warns that it “could possibly make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG!”, the experience has so far been very stable and pleasant. Only big problem was with my printer but I found the solution from #! forums. In this point I have to mention that the #! community is fabulous. :)

#! is developed by Philip Newborough and it bases on Ubuntu and in many ways it is basically Ubuntu with Openbox window manger.

CrunchBang Linux is an Ubuntu based distribution featuring the lightweight Openbox window manager and GTK+ applications. The distribution has been built and customised from a minimal Ubuntu install. The distribution has been designed to offer a good balance of speed and functionality. CrunchBang Linux is currently available as a LiveCD; however, best performance is achieved by installing CrunchBang Linux to your hard disk.
~CrunchBangLinux Wiki

I became intrested of #! because it is lightweight distro (installing and booting both take less time than with Ubuntu) and uses my favourite window manager Openbox (I have later installed also PekWM, but I haven’t been using it much). I was using Openbox in Ubuntu too so jump wasn’t big.

#!‘s default applications differ from Ubuntu’s and in a way it is more out of the box as it comes for example gstreamer codecs and Skype installed. Obviously I removed some apps and replaced them with my favourites. For example:

  • Thunar -> PCMANFM (I read about PCMANFM from #! forums and decided to try it. It has for example tabs.)
  • Claws Mail -> Evolution
  • gedit -> Leafpad / medit
  • Rhythmbox -> Exaile
  • Liferea -> Newsbeuter (I have been using Liferea long time but I wanted to have CLI feed reader and Newsbeuter is fabulous.)
  • X-Chat -> Irssi
  • Gwibber – > Mitter (I like Mitter’s UI more)
  • gFTP -> Filezilla
  • VLC -> MPlayer (I’m old fan od VLC but I don’t like its new UI and after testing MPlayer I realised that I don’t need more than that.)
  • LXPanel -> Tint+Trayer

On default desktop you will see LXPanel and Conky, deault theme is dark (not brown :P). If you are not happy with it you can use Obconf, gtk-chtheme and Nitrogen (manages the wallpapers) to make it more to your taste. And here you will see what’s going on on my current desktop:

screenshot screenshot
In the screenshot: Conky, Tint2, Exaile, Trayer, PCMANFM
Icons: Paper, GTK theme: Macchiato. (More #! screenshots, users’ and officials.)

As said I like #! a lot and I haven’t felt need to change distro (good sign, usually I start feeling anxious after 10 minutes if I’m not happy). To who I would recommend this distro. I guess to anyone who is intrested :). There is also “Lite” Edition (if you are looking for something even lighter) and CrunchEEE (edition specially for Asus EEE PC).