#! Crunchbang Linux

After hearing about Crunchbang Linux a few times on The Ubuntu UK Podcast I decided to give it a try. Crunchbang is a derivative of Ubuntu which is what I have been running on my main laptop now for a few months.  Crunchbang itself has been created to “a great blend of speed, style and substance” which is accomplished in part by using the Openbox window manager. I didn’t think that Openbox would make much of a difference aside from the lack of the top and bottom panels and getting used to the new dropdown menu. Much to my surprise I’ve been extremely impressed by the convenience of the right click style drop down main menu. It’s great to be able to call up the menu from wherever you are on the screen, the collective time saved moving your mouse to the upper right hand corner really adds up.

The main menu is also incredibility easy to customize. The config file is a simple XML document that, even if you aren’t familiar with XML, is  easy to sort out and add your own items. There is also a GUI that can be used to edit the menu.  As a matter of fact, to say this OS is “highly customizable” is an understatement. I’ve yet to find any part of the interface that isn’t more a couple clicks away, and that’s only if you don’t know the location of the particular config file. While any Linux distro is highly customizable this is one of the easiest I’ve come across.

There’s plenty of things that I’m not covering here, mostly becuase I’m new to this whole writing/content creation stuff. I plan on posting more info on the distro including some of the modifications to my scripts to get them working in Openbox. If you have any questions about my Crunchbang experience feel free to ask in the comments. As a lightweight, snappy and convenient Linux distribution Crunchbang Linux looks like it’s going to be hard to beat.