Crunchbang++ versus Bunsen Labs: Both turn it up to 12

For me, Crunchbang was a great introduction to the possibilities of customizing your Linux experience. No giant, monolithic desktop environment, just a handful of programs that you could (and were encouraged to) tweak or replace to your heart's content.

I still run a Crunchbang-inspired setup on my vanilla Debian install—openbox, tint2, conky, nitrogen, gmrun, Win+Letter hotkeys for frequently-used apps, etc. While I've outgrown the need for a preconfigured distro myself, I'm glad to see these projects still providing an on-ramp for users looking to dip their toes into the deeper end of the Linux pool.