#! Linux

I'm a huge open source & Linux guy from way back and I'm always using/testing different distros. There are so many Linux distros available and new versions crop up everyday but I've been using a gem for over a year now called #! (CrunchBang) and it is just great!!!

#! is a Debian GNU/Linux based distribution offering a great blend of speed, style and substance. Using the nimble Openbox window manager, it is highly customizable and provides a modern, full-featured GNU/Linux system without sacrificing performance. Put simply; CrunchBang could be thought of as a layer built on top of Debian, specifically to provide a great Openbox experience.

I noticed #! on distrowatch.com a few years ago but didn't give it a try until 12 months ago. I was drawn to it because like most people in the tech industry, I have some older functioning laptops & desktops that are serviceable and need a performant modern OS.  Over time the major operating systems such as Windows & OSX become bogged down and performance tanks.  Occasionally I've  become somewhat attached to particular machines such as the netbook I'm using to write this blog because it's a very small & light device I use for travel.  What ever the reasons we may have for using older devices there should always be available OS options for community users.

#! has brought life back to my beloved netbook. In the past, I've installed many “light” weight versions of Fedora & Ubuntu but they were all still too bloated & slow.  Finally I decided to try #! and eureka I struck gold!!!  #! is great because it offers an upto date Debian platform that is very performant on older hardware.

Below are some of my opinions on #! :

Positives

• easy to install
• offers a snappy OS revival to older laptops & computers
• uses the Debian apt-get package system
• provides easy to use package install scripts to install the latest browsers, storage providers & other cloudy software
• well maintained
• has a great user community & knowledge base

Cons

• OpenBox can have a bit of a learning curve for non-linux users
• video card driver support limited for some of the older nvidia cards
• wouldn't use this distro as production servers

I have installed #! on most of my favorite older machines and I'm very satisfied with the overall experience & performance.  So download the a #! install package, format a 2GB USB drive & install #! today.  I'll post random tips as encounter helpful information to share so keep an eye on this blog for things to come. 

Share some your favorite aspects of #!

-a