Final Thoughts & Who Should Use It
Sometimes it’s nice to have a distribution that deliberately avoids the eye-candy overload of Gnome or KDE and that takes a different path when it comes to usability and functionality. Frankly, after using CrunchBang, it makes me wonder if we really need to have so much glitz in our desktop environments. It’s not just Gnome or KDE that suffer from desktop overload, it’s also Windows and Mac OS X. Operating systems have gotten so fancy and so…pretty…that it all seems quite unnecessary after using a distribution like CrunchBang for a while.
I recommend CrunchBang Linux for anybody who decides that they want a distribution that isn’t weighed down with desktop bloatware. Those who are running older, slower computers might find CrunchBang Linux a particularly good alternative. Newbies to Linux can also play with it if they want to get some experience with a simpler and faster desktop environment.
I like CrunchBang Linux a lot and I think it’s well worth a download. Even if you don’t use it as your main desktop distro you’ll still enjoy what it has to offer if you just want to experience Ubuntu in a more minimalistic way.
Summary Table:
| Product: | CrunchBang Linux 9.04.01 |
| Web Site: | http://crunchbanglinux.org/ |
| Price: | Free |
| Pros: | Uses the lightweight Openbox window manager |
| Cons: | Doesn’t come with OpenOffice.org included by default. |
| Summary: | Provides the power of Ubuntu but without all of the Gnome or KDE desktop bloat. |
| Rating: | 4/5 |
(16 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
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Hey Jim! I guess “great minds do think alike after all”! Wow, the first thing I read this morning is about a fresh review of Crunchbang (#!) Linux, only hours after I suggested it! Terrific!
Only one minor comment: I found a typo, mentioning Linux Minut” (a new, cutting edge French distribution, perhaps) instead of Linux Mint? :-) Morning humor, perhaps, oh ho! :-)
Glad to hear that 9.04.01 does indeed benefit from the recent Ubuntu speed improvements; I suspected that may be the case. Now I have to go out and grab a copy and try it out myself.
Thanks for the quick review! Based on what you’ve said, and based on my tests of the previous release, this release justifies another fresh look at this distro – maybe in my Virtualbox setup.
Glad you liked the review, Brian. I’d definitely stick it in VirtualBox and have fun with it.
Hmmm…I see no typo. I believe you are mistaken there. Look again.
I never do typos. Noooooo, not me.
Here in Virtualbox on Debian Lenny, running TWO Virtualbox instances, one with antiX in one window, another (this one) with Crunchbang Linux, and a Seamonkey nightly instance running on another desktop in Lenny.
It took less than ten minutes to download Crunchbang, and less than that to start it up. I cleaned out my cup, poured a cup of green tea, then Crunchbang was up and running, and in the meantime, Lynch even decided that he had not scooped the world with Linux Minut – it really WAS Mint after all!
Nice fast distro here, worth running and giving it a look!
Thank you for a great review!
Welcome to DLR, Phillip. Nice job on CrunchBang.
I dont believe OpenOffice should be installed by default on any distro. It takes 10 seconds to install it from synaptic if its needed. Use the space on the CD for something more important that more people actually use.
Minimalistic distros like CrunchBang are where its at. If I wasn’t so happy with my Debian with Fluxbox, I’d switch to CrunchBang. Overall they are very similar. CrunchBang would be an easier way to go.
Don’t obsess over how you desktop looks just get to work! Go with a minimalistic desktop!
You guys might want to check out this thread in the forum:
http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/forum/index.php?webtag=DLRFORUM&msg=77.1
It’s about the issue of minimalism versus bloat on the desktop.
CrunchBang deserves the praises you sang. The review, however, could have been more balanced if you had discussed the downside. Not least is that CrunchBang’s minimalist approach, achieved mainly through the use of Openbox, sacrifices functionality and ease of use for simplicity and speed. To cite two examples, one cannot display programmes or launchers on the desktop and configuring the menu isn’t exactly a cinch. Let’s face it. There are other distros (e.g.,Puppy Linux and Antix) that are leaner and faster than CrunchBang but offer the eye-candy that many are not ready to give up.
Thanks for the comment, windmonger. I’ll add Puppy and Antix to my list for later review.
windmonger wrote:
Soory, I have to disagree here. Being a windows-user mostly, my first attempts to Linux were KDE-based, because the ease of configuring things. Now Crunchbang is the first lightweight distro , which I think is really uncomplicated, because you 1.) have quick access to config-files via the right-click menus and even a Gui-Menueditor. 2.)First releases (8.04/8.10)had LXPanel installed, which is now replaced by tint2 (i think…). I still use LXPanel with 9.04, because of the self-updating menu. To add this affords just a few clicks.
Having used CBang for some months now, i miss the right-click menu as well in windows as in other Linuxes…
PS: I like unclutterd desktops – so its fine for me to have no launchers there, but start programs with 2 keystrokes!
Jim Lynch wrote:
That would be most welcome, Jim. I just wanted to add that CrunchBang’s minimalist design is quite refreshing and it is more user-friendly than my foregoing comments tended to suggest. In fact I have installed it as my second platform after Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04, replacing Mandriva 2009 Spring KDE.
As for Puppy Linux, I have installed it at various times in the past, only to wipe it off my hard drive each time. Although it offers booth speed and good looks, Puppy Linux was less than a joy to use because there’s no way to uninstall the bundled applications (the files are read-only) and saving wifi settings became a major irritant. With CrunchBang at least, one has a great deal more control over the system.
Hi Jim.
Just wanted to say “Kudos” for a great review of #!. I’m using the 64bit version of 9.04.01 on a laptop, and it flies. I think what swings it for me is just what the previous poster said, all the advantages of Ubuntu (or most of them anyway) without the bloat!
Also, been using antiX for a while now, on several machines. Great little distro and i’d love to see you review sometime if you get the chance? It’s quite a bit snappier than #! and has a great community.
Now i’m off to read a few more of your reviews.
Cheers…. DJiNN
Crunchbang is also great for netbooks because of two main factors:-
1. A fast boot time (27s on my eee901)
2. The use of hotkeys to launch programs. This is much easier than fiddling with a mouse cursor on a small screen.
Martin
Your reviews are among the best. Well-written.
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Puppy is a popular distro, but runs as root. Please, if you do review Puppy from the standpoint of a typical desktop user, describe why typical web surfers should be running as root.
There is a safety factor associated with running from CD or from a poor-man’s install (assuming the system is rebooted often). However, saving user configuration would seem to defeat the extra safety factor. And saving config, especially with the FF3 bookmark system and for web surfers using addons such as noscript or nosquint or cookiesafe, is a huge convenience that many would not want to forgo. Or maybe not… I’ll be interested in your opinion.
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When someone says “Bloat”, he is often talking about features that I want, whether OO, KDE, Gnome, or FF. The “Members Choice” voters on Linuxquestions.org would seem to agree.