New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

Alefa · 2013-03-29 20:47:23

Hi everyone,

after being a (mostly happy) Ubuntu user for five years, I wiped my disk and installed Crunchbang today. There's a lot that I like about it, but I've encountered a few problems which might make me switch back to (K/X)Ubuntu if I don't manage to fix them. I've wanted to try Debian for a long time, especially since Canonical has started to introduce all these new features to Ubuntu, but making the transition has somehow been difficult for me.
The other reason why I'm not sure whether or not I will continue to use Crunchbang is that it's such a spartan system. During the last six months or so I used Kubuntu (which I know many of you consider to be extremely bloated), and I think I've been spoiled by KDE.
Although the Crunchbang desktop is configured very nicely, tweaking things to my liking requires a lot more effort than I was accustomed to, and certain things are just not possible. I'm an ecologist and use this Linux laptop for my everyday work (research and teaching). Although I like to tinker with my system and learn new things about Linux, I have to be efficient and get my work done.
Anyway, for now I'm using Crunchbang and very happy to find such a friendly community here. I've started to read all the good documentation that's available here, and will probably have many questions soon. Hopefully, if I continue to stick to Crunchbang, I will be able to help other people in the future.

Cheers,
Alefa

lenin-bot · 2013-03-29 20:50:37

If you have any questions or problems with tweaking something, feel free to ask. Somebody will know what to do.

hsp70 · 2013-03-29 22:12:37

Give it a bit of time. I came to crunchbang from windows having never used linux at all. It's only been about 3 weeks but i am growing to love it more and more as I spend time learning how things work on crunchbang. It felt spartan to me too at first but once I embraced keyboard shortcuts I realised just how much quicker and better the user experience is with the way crunchbang does things. I've found it's not spartan for aesthetics sake but simply the extra desktop clutter is not required when a lot of things are a keybind away. IMO it's perfect for laptops and i am finding i prefer to work on the laptop using the trackpad +keybindings rather than on my far more powerful PC running windows using a mouse and keyboard. It's a very intuitive and functional system.

Last edited by hsp70 (2013-03-29 22:15:53)

authentic8 · 2013-03-30 04:44:38

Welcome to CrunchBang! I'm a newbie myself. Currently, I'm knee deep in problems, but isn't each problem an opportunity to learn? big_smile I am sooo glad I made the jump from an ageing Vista 3 months ago. Stick with CrunchBang. and again, welcome!

lcafiero · 2013-03-30 05:53:25

Welcome to the forum. If you use CrunchBang, great. If you find it doesn't suit your needs, then by all means use what works for you.

fatmac · 2013-03-30 08:46:44

Welcome aboard Alefa.

A good general beginners book for Linux :-
http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz

A good Debian read :-
http://debian-handbook.info/get/now/

Alefa · 2013-03-30 09:42:54

Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone.

@hsp70: Actually, I'm very used to using keyboard shortcuts for moving and resizing windows, starting applications, searching for files etc. I've always used some kind of launcher (gnome-do, kupfer, synapse, krunner). Crunchbang doesn't seem to have such an all-inclusive launcher (dmenu is only for starting application, as far as I can see), so I've installed synapse for now.

@authentic8: All the best for solving your problems. I wouldn't say I'm knee-deep in problems, just small bugs and annoyances here and there.

@fatmac: Thanks for the links. I've just downloaded the Debian handbook. At the moment I'm reading the Linux commandline book by W. Shotts. It's a very nice read and I'm learning a lot by trying out the things he describes on the console.

VastOne · 2013-03-30 16:48:17

Welcome to CrunchBang and the Community Alefa, we are glad to have you!

Alefa · 2013-03-31 13:40:23

Hi everybody,

just wanted to tell you that I switched back to Kubuntu, after having trouble with a usb mouse which I couldn't resolve, even with the help of very friendly and knowledgable forum members. I also realised that the Crunchbang interface is just too spartan for my liking. I installed KDE, but there were some problems with applications randomly changing to a different colour scheme, so in the end I decided that maybe I'm not destined to be a Debian user. It's strange that I always encounter some showstopper bugs whenever I try Debian and have less problems with Ubuntu, even though Debian is supposed to be the more stable of the two. Anyway, I don't regret my little expedition into Debian-land. It's been interesting to see how openbox works, and it has increased my motivation to use the command line more often.
Wish you all the best and thanks for all the help.

Alefa

orionthehunter · 2013-03-31 21:54:00

Well, if you ever decide to make a return, you'll be welcome when you do :-)

We'd be happy to have you as a community member even while you use Kubuntu, lots of people share the forums without sharing the distro itself.

VastOne · 2013-03-31 21:56:21

Alefa wrote:

so in the end I decided that maybe I'm not destined to be a Debian user

Isn't Kubuntu still a Debian derivative with Canonical code?

Alefa · 2013-04-01 07:42:29

@orionthehunter:
I'll sure hang around the forums, and I think I will put Crunchbang on my private computer. For work, I've come to rely on KDE very much, but for a less powerful home machine Crunchbang seems a good choice to me.

@VastOne:
You're right, of course. I recently came across this video of a talk by Stefano Zacchiroli (here), where he says that 78% of Ubuntu are vanilla Debian packages, 12% are patched Debian packages, and only the remaining 10% are added by Ubuntu. So you could say that I'm using Debian with a few additions.

uname · 2013-04-01 16:12:24

With Ubuntu all works out off the box, Ubuntu is not Debian. Crunchbang is Debian with a little help for configuration and installation. Pure Debian could be a problem because of the Debian policy (only free Software). I think for all versions the usb-mouse-problem could resolved. Using Ubuntu or Debian is more a political question.

Last edited by uname (2013-04-01 16:14:03)

VastOne · 2013-04-01 16:23:42

^ With 90% of the code in Ubuntu being Debian or patched Debian packages, how is it not Debian?

For all that Canonical wants it to be, it is still just Debian with a different skirt on

snowpine · 2013-04-01 16:32:49

More similarities than differences. We should be celebrating the things they have in common than nitpicking slight differences. It's a slight preference, but I personally have found Mint to be the most stable out of Ubuntu/DebianWheezy/Mint; YMMV. I would use any of the three gladly.

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#1 2013-03-29 20:47:23

New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#2 2013-03-29 20:50:37

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#3 2013-03-29 22:12:37

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#4 2013-03-30 04:44:38

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#5 2013-03-30 05:53:25

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#6 2013-03-30 08:46:44

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#7 2013-03-30 09:42:54

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#8 2013-03-30 16:48:17

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#9 2013-03-31 13:40:23

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#10 2013-03-31 21:54:00

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#11 2013-03-31 21:56:21

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#12 2013-04-01 07:42:29

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#13 2013-04-01 16:12:24

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#14 2013-04-01 16:23:42

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

#15 2013-04-01 16:32:49

Re: New Crunchbang user? Not sure yet

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