Puppy's distinctive features

[Waldo2]

This is my first post on a Linux forum. I've browsed several live Linux distributions in the past, but Puppy is the first one which actually looks like a keeper - at least for for my prospective interests. In fact it looks so promising that I am even hoping to set up a couple of Puppys for non-technical friends. So this note is by way of thanks and encouragement to you, Barry, and the fine Puppy contributors. I particularly appreciate some of the DotPup additions.

Puppy's distinctive features, in my view, are its speed and its approachability. Puppy scampers on an old Dell notebook (128K Inspiron 3500), for instance, where Knoppix swaps itself to a crawl. I was also smitten by the retro Win95 - Win2000 interface, and the fact that the look carried through to other apps such as Abiword. I am still tinkering - the Inspiron sound is not working, but this is apparently a known Linux bugaboo, and the numeric keypad stopped working when I tried IceWM on a desktop machine. But this shows the other facet of Puppy's approachablility: that it encourages tinkering. Take this as an endorsement from a previously Win-centric user.

By the way, I've seen some tendency in the Puppy writeups on Distrowatch, Wikipedia and elsewhere to typecast Puppy as a savior of old hardware. This is certainly true, but there are many potential roles for a good RAM-based distribution on even the newest machines. I'm looking forward to SATA support, for instance, so I can use Puppy on a particular machine at the office.

Thanks, again. I'll post some of my tinkering questions elsewhere in the forum.

[Guest]

Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, I do need to learn about Sata -- I don't even know what it does.

[GuestToo]

i don't know why icewm would affect your numeric keyboard at all. it does use some shortcut keys

[Ian]

You can get all the specs on Serial ATA here:
http://www.sata-io.org/specifications.asp

[Lobster]

By the way, I've seen some tendency in the Puppy writeups on Distrowatch, Wikipedia and elsewhere to typecast Puppy as a savior of old hardware. This is certainly true, but there are many potential roles for a good RAM-based distribution on even the newest machines. I'm looking forward to SATA support, for instance, so I can use Puppy on a particular machine at the office.

This is a good point. When I started the wikipedia Puppy entry I promoted this idea because I though that is what Puppy was about. To my bewilderment I found I preferred Puppy to Ubuntu, Red hat, Knoppix (or Debian on HD) and so on. A BIG part of that is because it looks familiar and it does not ask for passwords. After getting using to the speed, any other OS feels klunky. When I first used Puppy the page scrolling was very slow (there was a simple solution but I was unaware of that and anyway it has been sorted in later Pups.

I always get the impression that Puppy is going somewhere. Nobody (including Barry) has a full idea of how it will turn out but it is already sufficient to grow into.

[EarlSmith]

I always get the impression that Puppy is going somewhere. Nobody (including Barry) has a full idea of how it will turn out but it is already sufficient to grow into.

Sometimes you guys really surprise me!
Puppy is going somewhere because the users and the developers are talking to each outer. We all have a part. Your impression is correct in many ways. Every person in this forum has an idea of what a perfect Linux would be. Only here - Puppy Linux - can most people have most of what they want. And if they put a little effort into it, they can come very close to what they want.
One of the reasons most of us dislikes Windows is because we have no control of how it works. Puppy is wide open to any one who wants to work on it and change it.
Everytime - I know this sound silly - I open Puppy and use it, I smile with pleasure. Its small, fast, easy to use, does not WASTE my time. I hate waiting for computers, the computer should wait for me!!!
And like you said Lobster, it spoils you. Other versions of Linux seem too slow, complex, and too controlling.
I could go on and on, but I will stop here. Thanks EVERYONE for Puppy!!!