About CrunchBang Linux
Development of CrunchBang has ended.
CrunchBang was a Debian GNU/Linux based distribution offering a great blend of speed,
style and substance. Using the nimble Openbox window manager, it was highly customisable
and provided a modern, full-featured GNU/Linux system without sacrificing performance.
The primary aim of the CrunchBang project was to produce a stable distribution offering the
best possible out-of-the-box Openbox experience. To achieve this goal, CrunchBang
pulled many base packages directly from Debian repositories, which were well-known
for providing stable and secure software. Packages from CrunchBang's own
repositories were then customised and pinned to the system to produce what was
known as the CrunchBang distro.
Put simply; CrunchBang could have been thought of as a layer built on top of Debian,
specifically to provide a great Openbox experience.
Features
Super nimble
CrunchBang used the Openbox window manager. Openbox is lightweight and
speedy, and as a result, CrunchBang was fast. Also, whilst CrunchBang
was not primarily designed for older systems, it had been reported to operate very
well where system resources were limited. Once installed, CrunchBang would
boot-up and operate faster than a regular Debian GNOME/KDE installation.
Infinitely hackable
From the Openbox website:
Openbox is a highly configurable window manager. It allows you to change almost
every aspect of how you interact with your desktop and invent completely new ways
to use and control it. It can be like a video game for controlling windows.
But Openbox can also be kept extremely simple, as it is in the default setup,
meaning that it can suit just about anybody. Openbox gives you control without
making you do everything.
CrunchBang also came with many applications chosen specifically for
their hackability attributes. These included Conky, the customisable system
monitor tool, and Thunar, the popular and highly configurable file manager.
Ease of use
CrunchBang came with the ability to play most popular media formats, including
but not limited to MP3, DVD playback and Adobe Flash. CrunchBang also came with
many popular applications installed by default, including but not limited to
Iceweasel (Firefox) browser , GNOME media player and Transmission BitTorrent
Client.
Compatibility with Debian
With the exception of a few packages, CrunchBang was built entirely from
packages available from the Debian repositories. CrunchBang used the same
APT package management tools and update manager. If you were already familiar
with Debian or Ubuntu, you should have had no trouble working with CrunchBang.
Why did people use CrunchBang?
A good question, here is what some of our community members said:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2014, Alex.Reiter wrote:
-It is ready for use after installation
-Looks good
-Fast on my SSD
-Nice people, who actually helps, if problems with linux- newbie like me.
On Sat, 15 Feb 2014, feralfae wrote:
I still feel like a novice with Linux, but after Ubuntu introduced the Unity desktop I realised it was time to start looking for a lighter and less cumbersome system; and as other people have already commented, Crunchbang just works. And there's something I quite like about the minimal desktop - I just don't feel like I need to customise it beyond tweaking the menu a bit.
Currently typing this on an old and worn-out laptop that's held together with gaffer tape to keep the screen casing in place, with Crunchbang running on it, and it simply does everything I need it to. What more could a cheapskate ask for? :lol:
On Tue, 04 Feb 2014, rmcellig wrote:
For me on all three of my computers, Crunchbang is the only distro I have come across that doesn't have the bloat or twists and turns needed to get something done. #!gets the job done quickly and unobtrusively!
On Tue, 04 Feb 2014, Sigma88 wrote:
I use #! because it is the perfect linux distro for my Dell D600. All the other distro's were either not prestigious (visually appealing) enough or slowed my PC down to much because of its crappy HW, but now I think it may be my all time favourite.
On Mon, 25 Nov 2013, phi7 wrote:
I've used Crunchbang for a couple of years now on an old desktop and for the past year or so on an equally old Dell laptop that was really struggling with windows XP. It's super quick; the laptop leaves my wife's one year old lenovo laptop with windows 7 standing. Unfortunately I daren't put Crunchbang on her laptop because she lacks patience with windows and I think she'd lose it if she had to learn the idiosyncrasies of linux. Having said that I find Crunchbang perfect for my needs and my children who are 5 and 8 seem to have no problems using it for web-browsing, iplayer, web games etc.
Hmmm, maybe I'll dual boot her machine for her while she's out one day...
On Thu, 21 Nov 2013, kbmonkey wrote:
I use Crunchbang because it allows me to use my PC with style and stability, listen to music, draw bananas in GIMP and give me all the other freedoms I so enjoy.
On Sun, 10 Feb 2013, System Nominal wrote:
Personally, I love the "weightlessness" of Crunchbang. A simple, efficient, speedy OS that can handle whatever I throw at it, it had me hooked. I had been a windows user for the longest time, but windows is just lacking a certain something that any linux distro contains, whether it's the freedom of customization, the packages, or the efficiency, I'm not sure, but it's more than just an os, it's an experience.
On Sun, 28 Oct 2012, intoCB wrote:
It was initially installed as a lightweight distro for a dying pc, following the recommendation of Puppy Linux World on Youtube - and I thought it was so great I adopted it as main OS. Especially as Ubuntu 12.10 was giving me gyp.
Debian is great but it's like some Communist country that after the revolution has purged itself of its artists as "bourgeois reactionaries" :
. And why the LXDE version comes with the whole LibreOffice including Base is anyone's guess.
But yes, #! combines looks, functionality and speed, as well as a great community. And echoing the thoughts of others here: many distributions come with too much bloat.
On Thu, 19 Jul 2012, jcgr11 wrote:
- Fast startup (fastest I have used so far).
- Doesnt use too much RAM. (I get ~70-80MB when idle).
- Fast. Perfect for my EeePC.
- Very simple and clean.
- Not too much applications pre-installed. I can add if I want.
- Forces me to use the terminal, which I like because I get to learn more.
- Forces me to configure using the configuration files, instead of a GUI, which is what I like, because I get to learn more.
- Cool name - #!.
- Great community, and very friendly too! I don't post much, but I visit a lot. Anytime I have a question in mind, it's a question that has been asked by someone before, and someone already solved.
On Thu, 28 Jun 2012, Digit wrote:
fastest cleanest way to get a sweetly working out-of-the-box system with just enough more than "just enough" to make pleasant. the perfect fully-working base system.
a lot of the "crunchbang inspired" distros are either too sparce (e.g. kwort) or overkill on the fickle stuff (archbang). phillip strikes the balance well every time. minimal where minimal is needed. features where features are needed.
crunchbang is still my "go to" distro
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