How does plain Debian compare to the new Crunch Bang 10?
 

Your opinions, if you please!

Never saw the point of using distros based on Debian, although I did have sidux installed for a couple of years.

I had a look at Crunchbang 10, in my opininion a good configuration of Openbox, gave me some inspiration, so I took a real Debian, installed Openbox and configured it to my needs. No need for Crunchbang.

Same here: I can't see much the point in running a Debian based one. Debian itself does what needs to be done, and usually better.
I too had a look at Crunchbang, and it is good (though i am not a lxde/openbox user, so i had the usual problems in unknown territory).

CrunchBang is an easy shortcut to having a nice Debian Squeeze Openbox (or Xfce) configuration. If you like Debian and Openbox/Xfce and want to save a few hours of setting things up just right, it could be right for you! It is also a good choice if you used previous Ubuntu-based versions of CrunchBang and are looking for an easy introduction to the wonderful stability of Debian.

Personally I am a big fan of "derivative" distros (like CrunchBang, Mint, AntiX, Sidux, etc.) and have never subscribed to the "everyone should use the parent distro or else what's the point?" mentality. First impressions count for a lot in this world, and the better derivatives provide nice artwork, scripts, and config tools that change the default user experience (for better or worse is a matter of opinion). CrunchBang for example has a stark, minimalist, black-and-white look that I happen to prefer to the default Debian blue, and the 'cb-welcome' script is a winner!

Keep in mind however CrunchBang 10 is still in the Alpha testing phase; it is not a final stable release (and won't be until Squeeze itself is stable). That is the most important comparison in my opinion: CrunchBang 10 is a one-man alpha-quality project, whereas Debian is a Linux giant entering its 3rd decade with a long track record of stable releases.

(Full disclosure: I am a moderator at the CrunchBang forums and user since 2008.)

If you never configure your environment on your own, but use derivates where it it done for you, it might take hours.
If you do it yourself you can set it up in a few minutes. Sooner or later.

The problem i got with the based-on-debian distros is that i need to figure out how to remove all the stuff i don't want (usually it is called user-comfort, but that is misleading, cause a stock Debian is not un-comfortable by any means)

There's my thoughts exactly.

Thank you all for your input! It has been very helpful.

I've been using Debian for a while now and have meandered about to Fedora, Ubuntu, Arch, Slackware, and derivatives thereof, but I've found that Debian wins for package management brilliance and for lack of cruft. With a relatively pre-automated system like Debian I can add complexity where I want it (e.g. LaTeX) without wishing the computer would do the dirty work on a bunch of uninteresting things. Didn't we conscript computers to have them do the work for us, and then install Linux to allow us freedom to customize certain parts? But to each their own...

I've run the Openbox LiveCD and the interface of #!10 is extremely elegant... it's what I humbly think Enlightenment wishes and tries very earnestly to be, and very nearly succeeds. As above, I'd like to have Openbox working well and then go in and configure parts I'm interested in. So I'm going to try out #!10 instead of reinstalling plain Debian.

I've also read that what makes #!10 different from Debian/Openbox is those 'special #! scripts'. I don't know quite what they are referring to, but is there a #!er in the house to testify about the usefulness of these special #!-specific scripts?

There is a script called 'cb-welcome' that runs on your first boot after install. It asks you some basic questions like "do you want to install printer support? OpenOffice? LAMP stack? etc." and if you say yes, it also adds them to the (non-auto-updating) Openbox menu. Not really a big deal, but it can save some time.

Also you'll find that the OpenBox configs like menu, autostart.sh, etc. are thoughtful defaults; it would take more than a few minutes to come up with something better on your own. Futhermore, a bunch of "non free" multimedia codecs, hardware drivers, and so forth are pre-installed, something that I know a lot of new Debian users complain about.

And make sure you say Hi over on the CrunchBang forums. :)

Thanks for your input. I decided to install #!Statler today, and I must say I am happier with it than I've been with any OS before, having gone through about 9 linux distros over the past five years, including vanilla Debian.

I find that it doesn't necessarily have more potential than Debian plain, but OpenBox and things are indeed already neatly setup-- and because more things work beautifully out-of-the-box one can spend a bit more time customizing and less getting the bare minimum to work. Maybe I'm so enthused because OpenBox has impressed me over above all other desktop environments including E17.

I've put another comment on the #! forum here which basically says how #!Statler is great, if you want a bit more about this.

I love the Linux hive-mind!