New Distro Releases

A lot has been going on in the Linux community while I was busy with school and other things. On Wednesday, the latest version of a distro called Absolute Linux came out. I'd like to try this one out, even though the last time I tried a Slackware-based distro, an error installing GRUB forced me to reformat my desktop's hard drive. However, I wouldn't mind trying out IceWM, Absolute Linux's default GUI. Messing around with OpenBox on Crunchbang has introduced me to the wonderful world of stand-alone window managers.

Meanwhile, the biggest Linux news of the week is the release of Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal). The new Ubuntu uses Unity (the Ubuntu Netbook interface) as its default GUI; and Unity seems to be no lighter than the standard GNOME desktop, based on my experiments with a beta version a few months back. However, a new Ubuntu release means new versions of a couple of lightweight Ubuntu derivatives:

• Xubuntu, the official Xfce-based spin. While Xubuntu has been criticized as a not-really-lightweight distro -- to the point where some reviewers have condemned Xfce as a faux-lightweight desktop because of it -- I'm eager to run the new Xubuntu on my laptop. The most notable new feature in 11.04 is the new Xfce 4.8 desktop, which I will now be able to try for the first time.
• Lubuntu, the not-yet-official LXDE-based spin. I'm looking forward to trying this one out on my desktop.

It looks like I've got a lot of reviews to do in the near future, and I still have a backlog of WattOS and CTKArch to catch up on.

Distro Review: Crunchbang 10 (Statler)

At long last, I finally found the time to review a Linux distribution. I'll start my online reviewing career with Crunchbang, one of my current favorites.


Purpose

At first glance, Crunchbang seems to be targeted at people who want a lightweight distribution and don't mind occasionally using the terminal or editing text files. While the Crunchbang website's download page still contains the following disclaimer--

CrunchBang Linux is not recommended for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. CrunchBang Linux could possibly make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG! Therefore CrunchBang Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

--this warning seems to be a leftover from previous, Ubuntu-based versions. With version 10 (codenamed Statler after the Muppet Show character), Crunchbang has switched to Debian stable as its default code base. This move makes Crunchbang a plausible option for users who do value stability.

However, all I can do is speculate about who might find Crunchbang useful, since the distro's developer has insisted in a blog post that "CrunchBang does not have a target audience."


Installation

Crunchbang 10 uses a fairly simple installer that goes through all the standard setup questions (time zone, keyboard layout, etc.) quickly. The only possible snag is that, unlike Ubuntu's installer, this one doesn't automatically detect other OS's on the machine. This omission may cause problems for users who aren't familiar with the nuances of GParted. Another minor issue is the inability to install from the LiveCD session. You have to reboot and select the install option from the LiveCD's menu to start the installation. This last point is only a slight inconvenience, though.


Pros

Welcome Script. The first time you boot Crunchbang up after installation, the terminal opens and offers you the chance to upgrade the package list and install several optional packages, such as CUPS, Java support, and Open Office. This is a convenient tool for users who always make these changes right after installing a new distro.

Chromium Out of the Box. Crunchbang comes with Chromium pre-installed. This is a huge convenience for people like me, who use Chromium as their default browser and always have to download it for every new distro.

Speed. Crunchbang comes in two versions: Openbox and Xfce (more on that later). Both are incredibly fast. In fact, I was surprised at how much faster than Xubuntu Crunchbang Xfce was.

Choice of Interfaces. Many lightweight distros come with only one GUI. Crunchbang allows you to download either an Openbox or Xfce version. Furthermore, the welcome script allows you to install support for multiple sessions, so you can choose to have the other interface available when you log in. Unlike some other distros, when you run the non-default interface, you get the full experience of that environment. You aren't left staring at a blank screen when you open up an OpenBox session in Crunchbang Xfce. This is a boon for users who want to experiment with an unfamiliar interface.


Cons

Unusual Default Layout. Crunchbang's default desktop configuration doesn't include a menu button, even in the Xfce version. I found this only a minor annoyance (and easily fixed in Xfce). However, someone less experienced with Xfce might not know how to fix it. Such a person also might not think to right-click on the desktop, which brings up the full Xfce menu.

Software Updates. Since Crunchbang is based on Debian stable, new versions of software will be slow to come. Right now, this problem isn't too noticeable, since Crunchbang 10 just released with Chromium 9 and fairly recent versions of other programs. However, many of these programs won't be updated to new versions until the next Debian stable is released in 1.5 to 2 years. This problem can be solved by switching to either the testing or unstable Debian channel.

Hardware Compatibility. Like any non-Ubuntu-based distro, Crunchbang 10 may have compatibility problems with a lot of hardware out of the box. For example, I had to give up on using Crunchbang with my laptop because I couldn't make it work with the wireless chip. To be fair, this particular chip seems to have massive problems with a lot of Linux distros, and Crunchbang works with every other piece of hardware on both my desktop and laptop. I've also heard that Crunchbang (and Debian Squeeze) support a lot of otherwise troublesome hardware, like Broadcom wireless chips. Really, this is just a general warning for anyone who has been spoiled by Ubuntu's incredibly broad hardware support and expects every Linux distro to plug and play with every bit of hardware.


OpenBox vs. Xfce

As I've mentioned, Crunchbang comes with either Openbox or Xfce as the default GUI. Each of these environments has its own advantages and disadvantages. Here are screenshots of both desktops' default configurations:

Crunchbang Openbox

Crunchbang Xfce

Both environments come with a system information panel in the upper right corner (courtesy of lightweight system monitor Conky) and a panel at the bottom with two workspaces. The Xfce version also features a second, auto-hiding panel that functions as a dock-like task launcher. I found this feature convenient and started adding it to other Xfce-based OS's I ran. Other people consider it an annoyance. To each his or her own.

Neither version has a menu button when first installed. This problem is easily fixed in the Configure Panel dialog in Xfce. There seems to be no easy way to  get a menu button in Openbox, but the lack of one doesn't cause as many problems in Openbox either. Right-clicking anywhere on the desktop or on the panel brings up the full menu, so you can always access the menu, even with a maximized window on screen. This is not true in Xfce.

The major difference between the two environments is how to customize the desktop. In Xfce, there are GUI dialog boxes for most common customization tasks. In Openbox, on the other hand, most configuration is done through text files. Fortunately, Crunchbang lists the major configuration files in the menu, saving you from having to know the exact name of each file to open it in gedit. Unfortunately, the text files  are often long and can be confusing to people who can't figure out the format or what the terms mean. Whether you are comfortable working with these text files should be the most important factor when choosing Openbox or Xfce as the default session.

Personally, I've found Crunchbang to be a good tool for exploring OpenBox. I downloaded the Xfce version because I'm more familiar with that environment, but I enabled multi-session support so I could play around with OpenBox when I felt like it.


Overall Impression

I wouldn't recommend Crunchbang to a novice. It's most fit for users who have some experience with either Linux or programming. However, it's a great distro for experienced users who want a light and fast OS, who want to learn more about the inner workings of Linux, or who want to experiment with unusual user interfaces.

Linux Mint Xfce Update

After downloading the new Debian-based Linux Mint Xfce and installing it on my laptop, I found out that this distro suffers from my laptop wireless bug. My 64-bit laptop has a Realtek wireless chip that refuses to work out of the box for any non-Ubuntu-based Linux distro. After much tinkering and searching online, I found that I can't fix this bug even with ndiswrapper. Because of this handicap, I didn't get a chance to test Linux Mint Xfce under real-world, constant-web-surfing conditions.

I will note that this version of mint comes with some unusual pre-installed software. For example, it ships with LibreOffice instead of the usual light-weight office choice of AbiWord + Gnumeric. I may have to download the 32-bit version for my desktop to see how choices like this affect performance.

DistroWatch Weekly's Crunchbang Review

The feature story in the latest DistroWatch Weely is a review of Crunchbang 10 by Jesse Smith (no relation). All in all, it wasn't a bad review, considering that the author only did surface-level research on the distro.

The most glaring error in the review is the Smith's puzzlement at the download page's declaration that "CrunchBang Linux could possibly make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG!" He correctly notes that it seems odd for a distro based on Debian stable to say such a thing about itself. Of course, it makes more sense if you know that previous editions were based on the less rock-solid Ubuntu. It's true that it's negligent to have that copy up on the download page, but Crunchbang is a one-man project, so a few slip-ups are understandable. To be fair, you can't expect a reviewer just coming to a product to know things like this off the bat, but would it have killed Smith to check the Crunchbang Wikipedia entry?

Smith does go on to list some of Crunchbang's best features, including the welcome script that gives new users the option to install several common software packages. He also (though possibly inadvertently) makes the point that the switch to a Debian stable base may confuse people about the distro's target audience. It appears to have been conceived as a distro for hardcore geeks who weren't afraid to risk wiping out all their data. Now it's just as usable to an average user who wants a stable, fast OS.

I like the fact that Smith tried to figure out what audience would like Crunchbang, rather than treating his own preferences as the gold standard. However, a little research in places like Wikipedia and the Crunchbang forums would have yielded a lot of useful information on that topic.

New Distribution: Linux Mint Xfce

A short while ago, The Linux Mint Blog announced the release of Linux Mint Xfce. "But wait," you might say, "there's already a Linux Mint Xfce. And wasn't the next version supposed to be Version 10?" It turns out that this new Mint Xfce is a rolling release based on Debian Testing, like Linux Mint Debian Edition. Thus it gets a six-digit version number based on the year and month of its release. The Linux Mint devs explain the nuances of the version numbers in an FAQ:

1. Which editions are based on Ubuntu and which editions are based on Debian?

Frozen releases are based on Ubuntu. They carry a version number. For instance, Linux Mint 10 is based on Ubuntu 10.10. The next frozen release will be Linux Mint 11, based on Ubuntu 11.04.

Rolling editions do not carry version numbers. They follow the Debian Testing branch. Because of their rolling nature, they’re receiving continuous updates and their version number never changes (technically it’s always “1″ though we do not mention it since it’s not relevant). Note the absence of version number in “Linux Mint Xfce” for instance, indicating its rolling nature.

An important thing to notice is the fact that rolling editions are in constant evolution but that a particular ISO image is a snapshot of this edition at a particular time. So, though rolling editions do not get outdated, ISO images do. For this reason we use a timestamp for our ISO images, such as “Linux Mint Xfce (201104)”.

I'm downloading the 64-bit .iso now for my laptop. The biggest obstacle on this machine will be the stubborn Realtek wireless chip that refuses to work with any non-Ubuntu-based distro. I may end up having to download a Windows driver and try to use ndiswrapper. I'll also download the 32-bit version for my distro-hopping, dual-Linux-booting desktop. My experience with Crunchbang has shown me that Xfce is much faster and more responsive in Debian-based distros than in Ubuntu (though Xubuntu runs pretty well on my high-spec laptop).

A Couple of Links

Reading over the current DistroWatch Weekly, I came across a couple of interesting on-topic articles:

First up is an interview with Jeff Hoogland, the lead developer of Bodhi Linux, at TechRepublic.com. Bodhi, despite a few little kinks, is neck and neck with CrunchBang as my favorite lightweight distro of the moment. That's pretty impressive for an OS that just saw its first stable release within the last couple of weeks. The interview is a nice intro to the idea of Bodhi Linux for people who aren't familiar with it.

Second, Jos Poortvliet writes a review of the new Xfce 4.8 desktop for the official OpenSuse website. It looks like not much is new in 4.8 (except possibly the visual appearance of panels). The most noteworthy thing about the article was Poortvliet's observation about Xfce's performance, which matches up with my assessment:

XFCE saves you a little bit, although it won’t really save you in the face of modern, memory hungry applications like Chromium and LibreOffice. More noticeable are start up time and responsiveness of applications. XFCE apps start up instantaneously and feel very fast while you are using them.

Bodhi Linux's Special April 1 Announcement

I thought my first post to this blog would be a review of a distro, but this was too interesting to pass up.

Visitors to the Bodhi Linux homepage today were greeted with a new color scheme (blue instead of orange) and a stunning announcement:

Since I can't display the screenshot in its original size without messing up my blog layout, here's the text of the announcement for those who can't read tiny print:

News
Bodhi Linux 1.1.0 PRE RELEASE NEWS 1.1.0 JEFFS BIG PLAN REVEALED - Bodhi Goes Blue

We would like to take a moment to thank everyone that has helped Bodhi 1.0.0 become the success that it is today. With our dedicated development team and our ever growing community we would not be where we are today. Looking to the future, a Bodhi 1.1.0 release is on the horizon. This release will have two prominent features – first we will start shipping the 2.6.38 kernel with this release. Second, while we at Bodhi think Enlightenment makes a great desktop – after much discussion in closed door meetings – the Bodhi team and I have decided to make the move to using the KDE desktop with Enlightenment acting as strictly the Window manager for this next release. We feel this should improve Bodhi usability over all and give Bodhi a “fuller desktop feeling” as it will now require at least 1gig of RAM to fully utilizes it's KDE desktop.
proposed release date MAY 22 2011
Bodhi Linux 1.0.0 Stable released 26 March 2011.Find out more here Bodhi News Page.

They had me going for a little while. I was prepared to go to the forums and ask what the heck the developers were thinking, giving up the entire lightweight philosophy of their young distro in favor of one of the standard, bloated Linux desktop environments. Then I got to the bit about how 1.1.0 would have a "fuller desktop feeling" because it would use more resources, and I remembered what day it was. My hunch was confirmed by clicking on the link to the Bodhi news page. It turns out that this item was only on the main page and not on the news page (though the blue color scheme is site-wide). I must admit that I like the combined KDE-Enlightenment logo for some strange reason.

Intro

Lately, I've been trying out some lightweight Linux distros on my four-year-old desktop at home. The last couple of months, I've been trying out various distros with the Xfce and LXDE desktops. I also used the Openbox window manager for five minutes before becoming annoyed that I couldn't figure out how to customize it (apparently, it involves lots of text files). I've also noticed that, even on my higher-spec laptop, certain things (most notably Flash content) run much better on a lightweight desktop. This even applies to Xfce, which is often accused of not being truly lightweight.

I figured that my love of Linux and increasing aversion to feature-heavy desktops like GNOME formed a niche that was specific enough to be unusual, but also rich enough to generate a decent amount of blog content. Therefore, I decided to start a focused blog after a couple of years of blogging sporadically on various subjects in a rambling personal blog.

A word of caution: This blog only represents the experiences of one person, a person who is not the most hardcore Linux geek in the world. I don't know all the ins and outs of Linux, and my experiences reflect only the viewpoint of a modestly Linux-educated end user. Furthermore, I can only blog about what I experience on my computer. I have no idea how any software will run on your computer, or whether your particular hardware is compatible with a given distro. Like everything else on somebody's blog, everything written here is subjective.