I decided to take a look at a new Ubuntu 8.10 derivative with the unlikely name "#! CrunchBang" Linux. CrunchBang can use all the GTK+ (GNOME) applications but replaces the GNOME Desktop/Windows Manager with the lightweight high performance Openbox WM.

After booting up the CrunchBang Linux Live CD and then installing to my hard drive, my answer to my "is CrunchBang the next hot Linux distro?" question turned out to be a regrettable "not yet".

Unlike another lightweight distribution, TinyXS-max, I could not recommend #! CrunchBang to a Linux newbie. Despite being loaded with useful applications (many more than TinyXS), there are just too many extra steps to get it to be truly "user friendly", some of which are just silly.

First, I would ask, why, if you want a Linux distribution to be more popular, would you set as default, an unfriendly black desktop background?

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