BunsenLabs Linux
Carbon
Released on February 11th, 2026.
BunsenLabs Linux Carbon is a distribution offering a light-weight and<br>easily customizable Openbox desktop. The project is a community<br>continuation of CrunchBang Linux.
The current release is derived from Debian 13 "Trixie".
Installation<br>Getting started<br>Release notes
Screenshots
Features
The distribution consists of configuration and resource packages<br>installed on top of Debian. There are no changes to the way the<br>Debian base system is administrated.
Pre-configured Openbox window manager<br>with tint2 panel, conky system monitor and jgmenu, a<br>feature-rich desktop menu.
Assortment of harmonising GTK2/3 themes, wallpapers and conky<br>configurations
Various configuration and application utilities to maintain this<br>system
Additional desktop-, multimedia- and hardware-related packages<br>come pre-installed to offer a better “out-of-the-box”<br>experience.
There is no limit to customization: You can review desktop<br>configurations in our forums’ Artwork<br>& Screenshots section, and we also host several<br>active threads on conky configuration. As an example, here’s an<br>user-contributed walkthrough<br>video showing what kind and style of desktop experience you may<br>end up with.
Architectures
We offer combined live-CD and<br>installation media for the Debian amd64<br>(x86-64) architectures and i386 (i686)<br>architectures. NOTE: i386 media are no longer available from<br>BunsenLabs Carbon.
Our main repository currently offers support for the amd64 Debian<br>ports. Most of our packages, are in fact architecture independent,<br>but note that BL is tested thoroughly only on amd64, so your mileage<br>may vary on other architectures.<br>NOTE: Boron and Beryllium arm<br>ports are not available for some packages, and no Carbon arm ports<br>are built at the moment.
Community support
In general, we recommend new users to visit and sign up for our<br>forums: It provides plenty of resources and assistance in<br>dealing with every configuration aspect of the BL distribution, and<br>is the main platform for user-to-user support as well as the place<br>to voice suggestions and report bugs.
We have quite a few specialty threads, like the Conky<br>weather+moon scripts thread.
Remember that BunsenLabs is a hobby Linux distro released under<br>the GNU<br>GPLv3+ license. This means there is no liability, warranty, or<br>support, or guaranteed updates. If you need those things, choose<br>another distro instead.
Reviews and press
Please see this forum<br>thread for more reviews. The list below is pretty much just a<br>random selection.
2025-12-25: Our<br>5 Favorite ‘Distro of the Week’ Picks
2024-12-09: This<br>Linux distribution surprised me
2024-01-28: bunsenlabs<br>Linux “Boron”: A Debian Experience Like Never Before
2023-11-06: Best<br>lightweight Linux distro of 2024 (for Debian)
2021-05-26: BunsenLabs Is The<br>Continuation of the Legendary CrunchBang Linux
2020-06-09: The<br>Little Distro That Could
2020-02-13: リリース間近な<br>BunsenLabs Lithium<br>テスト版をインストールしてみました。
2018-12-22: BunsenLabs<br>Linux | Review from an openSUSE User
2018-09-29: c’t 21/2018, page 122 and online: Revival<br>- Alte Hardware mit Linux wiederbeleben
2018-06-25: DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 769: Review:<br>BunsenLabs Helium
2018-04-26: Report Hot Café, 無料OS『BunsenLabs<br>Linux』軽い…256MBでオフィスソフトも可！
2017-07-25: PC-Welt, Openbox/Bunsenlabs<br>vorgestellt: Desktop für Puristen
2017-04-28: ghacks.net, A<br>look at Desktop Environments: Openbox Window Manager
2017-03-28: Video review in Portuguese: BunsenLabs Linux<br>- Apresentação e Configurações iniciais