Any Of You Fans Of Lucid Puppy?

[schondie]

A couple of days ago I decided to replace my Ubuntu 9.10 Live USB (for emergencies should Win 7 fail) as I thought there may be better flavours of Linux to try out. I was sure that I'd keep 9.10 handy for my netbook but after trying out the usual suspects - Mint, Debian etc I thought I'd give Puppy a go. What a fantastic little release.

I'm so impressed with it that I've decided to wipe my Win 7 and go full time on Puppy. To make sure it was good enough I made a persistent USB and added a couple of programs through the package installer to see if it worked as smoothly as the one in Ubuntu, it did.

On the downside, I found the support forums a little lacking in support and the interface looks a little dated until you make some changes. On the whole though the Lucid Puppy is fantastic for its size (126MB). I can't fault it in any way like Ubuntu. That release has become to bloated and the Unity bar is a pain in the ar*e but the support is really good for a complete Linux novice.

What amazed me was that everything worked out of the box (or USB in this case) unlike Win 7 where I had to hunt around for the wifi , sound, graphics drivers. I even plugged the USB into my PC and once again everything worked. My PC USB wifi adaptor is extremely obscure but it worked with Puppy.

If you're tired of the bloat in Ubuntu I'd give this a spin as it can be installed on even the smallest USB (256MB) with plenty of room for documents and programs.

All I can add is "Puppy FTW"

Anyone else feel the same?

[TwentyBaht]

Yes, I have used Puppy for several years now. A very unique distro. Started by a brilliant reclusive programmer, Barry Kauler, living in Perth.

A loyal following on the forums. Although, the forums can appear a bit disorganized when looking for things. But, this can be forgiven. It's a work in progress.

The small 120 Meg footprint means it is lean and fast. And, live cd or USB is a favorite way to start using it.

My favorite story; Three years ago. A guesthouse in Thailand. With computer for internet. Hard drive failed! No Windows boot. Guests want email and surfing!

Pulled out my Puppy live cd. Unplugged the defective hard drive. Changed the computer's BIOS boot order. Booted Puppy. Five minutes to do this. Email and internet for everyone.

Some users were incredulous that Puppy would work without a hard drive. And, many surfed and emailed without knowing they were using Linux.

[schondie]

Yes, I agree TwentyBaht. The help forums can be a little intimidating and confusing but eventually I find the answers I'm looking for. When people in the office see the speed and features it has they look interested until they hear the dreaded word - "Linux".

The bundled DVD player was today's latest discovery. I was about to download VLC but thought I'd open a couple of files to see if the player was capable of playing .mkv files, once again I was amazed at the quality. Even with the latest graphic drivers in Win 7, VLC still had the playback quality of a half decent Youtube video.

If Barry Kauler came to Thailand I'd buy him a beer or ten for his work on Puppy.

Tomorrow's task is to find out how to make it work with a projector and then that's the end of my tinkering as I have it set up just the way I like it.

[mazd2]

yep i'm a loyal full-time user also, no viruses from linux either

[TwentyBaht]

Possibly, the first noticeable difference after the new user starts booting-up Linux is the amount of anti-virus effort required on Windows.

Puppy, yes. ....... I have a dream! ..... Puppy Linux on my $70 China Via 8650 tablet. Android 2.2 (build 1.5.5) "Uberoid" ROM on it now. And, as such, it is quite usable as a travel tablet. But, Puppy on it would be a quantum leap.

Cheers

[dharmabm]

Possibly, the first noticeable difference after the new user starts booting-up Linux is the amount of anti-virus effort required on Windows.

Puppy, yes. ....... I have a dream! ..... Puppy Linux on my $70 China Via 8650 tablet. Android 2.2 (build 1.5.5) "Uberoid" ROM on it now. And, as such, it is quite usable as a travel tablet. But, Puppy on it would be a quantum leap.

Cheers

where did you pick up that tablet, here in bangkok? looking for something like that for my son.

[TwentyBaht]

dharmabm,

Ordered it direct from China, via China Post. Used eBay. But, have used Aliexpress also. About, a week delivery.

As delivered, the tablet is less useful than with a custom ROM. And, I've installed several versions since acquiring it. And, I've been pleasantly surprised at what the tablet will do. Haven't taken my laptop on a trip since acquiring the tablet.

Googling "Uberoid" will bring up a TechKnow forum. A brilliant hacker, "HcH", puts out a new version about every month. A lot of information on this forum.

Don't know about Bangkok, but "O K Computer" in Chiang Mai sells a lot of these. I'm in the north.

Cheers

[JSixpack]

Looks quite interesting. Might give this a spin. But why Puppy over, say, LXDE Edition of Mint or Lubuntu?

[TwentyBaht]

JSixPack,

Puppy Linux as a live CD/USB of ~125MB will load into RAM. Very responsive. My testing as faster than LXDE or Xfce variations.

But, Puppy is not for everyone. Forum use is required to get the most from it. You'll find retro to bleeding edge puppy variations.

That said, a Puppy Linux live CD has been in constant use at the guesthouse for about four years now. Puppy as a live USB with persistent save file on all my computers. A bleeding edge version on my Atom netbook.

As this is an old thread, update is necessary. Via 8650 chip is obsolete.

For the ~100$US tablet market, the Chinese designed Allwinner A10 ARM chip seems to be a favorite now. Daily internet posts as to installing Ubuntu onto this architecture. And, videos on YouTube. A "BoxChip Netbook" for 85$US? Melee A1000/2000 media device for 70$US?

Cheers

[JSixpack]

I gotta agree that Puppy Linux is great. Runs fast and is easy to set up.

I've been looking for a good Linux distro for my flashdrive. Puppy automatically gives you the option to encrypt the persistent save file, so your privacy is protected in case of loss--perfect!

As the OP noted, the interface isn't anything to write home about, but it's OK. Had I known, I'd have gone for the macpup variation; nobody can complain about THAT eye candy:

http://www.dedoimedo...ers/macpup.html

http://macpup.org/

Evidently the Enlightenment E17 window manager can be retrofitted to one's current Puppy. However, might end up more trouble than it's worth.

I also tried Knoppix, another live distro w/ encryption, but liked Puppy much better.

Brilliant. Tnx, schondie, for mentioning this!

[JSixpack]

After extensively messing around w/ Puppy, changing the windows manager to icewm, I still love it and have it on a USB stick w/ persistence.

Then I thought about installing it on my netbook, dual boot w/ Win7.

After trying a number of other light distros, however, I found Lubuntu uses about the same RAM as Puppy, is quite fast enough, and seems just a lot more organized and easier to deal with, w/ access to the large Ubuntu repositories and other resources. I don't have time to do a lot of configuring, really, and don't find it particularly enjoyable to edit files and type commands and dig around in forums for answers. So I installed Lubuntu on my netbook. Everything went very smoothly, great out-of-the-box experience. Recognized the wireless immediately (which Puppy didn't w/o some fooling around). It optionally encrypts the /home dir and it's easy to encrypt the whole partition if wanted. Got virtualbox running w/ an installation of MicroXP in case I ever need it.

Right now I think I'll go w/ Lubuntu if I need to install a distro on an old machine for an average user.