Release Notes - CrunchBang Linux 10 Alpha 2

The second alpha builds of CrunchBang Linux 10 “Statler” are available now. The CrunchBang 10 alpha 2 builds were completed on the 24th June 2010 and contain all package updates available at the time from the Debian Squeeze repositories.

Much has changed since the initial alpha builds, in fact, too much has changed to be able to reasonably detail in full. So instead, here, in no particular order, is a short list of the main changes:

• Bash completion has been fixed. Doh!
• A unified set of configuration files for both the Openbox and Xfce versions of CrunchBang.
• Java plugin support added to Iceweasel with the 'icedtea6-plugin' package.
• Inclusion of '/usr/sbin' & '/sbin' to the system $PATH variable - an old Ubuntuism?
• Customisable (colour & position) notify-osd notifications.
• Support added for hostname resolution via Multicast DNS.
• The choice of either Cairo Composite Manager or xcompmgr for compositing in Openbox.
• A new Openbox pipemenu has been created for easy installation and set-up of the Dropbox service.
• A new optional post-installation script which provides:
  • Optional installation of printer support (also available via a new Openbox pipemenu)
  • Optional installation of OpenOffice.org (also available via a new Openbox pipemenu)
  • On Openbox installations, provides the option of having an additional Xfce session, and vice-versa with Xfce installations.
  • Optional, easy installation of LAMP stack.
  • Optional, easy installation of common development tools.
• Additional firmware for improved support of Broadcom wireless network cards.
• An improved installation experience:
  • The Debian Installer has been tweaked so that it no longer requires the user to configure their networking devices prior to performing an installation. CrunchBang images are self-contained and do not need a working network connection for the installation.
  • Patches have been applied so that installations can be performed with USB images created with the popular UNetbootin software.
• New default Openbox, Xfce and GTK+ themes based on Shiki-Colors, and a new complimentary icon theme created using the GNOME-Colors icon generator.
• Additional popular GTK+ themes and engines included.
• Conky with Lua scripting support.
• Fix for lockscreen bug/issue when running in a live session - now presents a dialog box, on first run, informing the user of the live session password.
• amd64 builds now include the 32bit Adobe Flash plugin - the 64bit plugin is currently not available due to security vulnerabilities.

The CrunchBang file servers are funded by donations to the project. The file servers are named, Captain Link Hogthrob, Dr. Julius Strangepork & First Mate Piggy. The file servers are all on the OVH network and are all Intel Atom based machines with a 100Mbps connection and a soft bandwidth cap of 2TB a month. A load-balancing download page has been created to accommodate these new servers, please see the CrunchBang Linux 10 "Statler" downloads page.

As always with CrunchBang, this release is not recommended for anyone who requires a stable system. Anyone who uses CrunchBang should be comfortable with occasional or even frequent breakage. Remember, CrunchBang Linux could make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG! :)