wish list for next puppy release

[Max Uglee]

I wish for a less confusing file system. Just giving the folders names that actually give you a clue as to what is inside of them would be a HUGE improvement. As it is, when I open My Computer (not sure what else to call it) I get thoroughly lost very fast.

To change the filesystem the way you are talking would mean to change the kernel and the entire structure of linux, I think, am I right? Seriously, I am not sure, somebody please coorect me if I am wrong.

I would recommend making your own folders to put stuff in inside of root (it is kind of the equivalent of "Documents and Settings" if you're used to window$) or put stuff on a separate linux partion. If you don't understand why a folder is named something, it is probably best to leave it alone (trust me, I have broken plenty of linuxes , but i have learned a lot too). "/" is kind of like the "Windows" folder (I know this analogy is not exactly accurate but i am trying to keep this simple), system stuff. If you want to play around to learn stuff, make a separate pupsave to play with (not the one you use day to day).

If you want things to be more window$/Mac-like, use a distribution with gnome, I recommend Linux Mint if you want the most windows/mac-like and easiest to use distro out there. Although the filesystem is similar to puppy's (or any other linux) it doesn't put all of that up front. It starts you off at "Computer" which is just like "My Computer". It uses nautilus which integrates stuff like Documents, Music, Videos, and Pictures similar to explorer or finder. It also gives you a very user friendly menu with different ways to organize programs and stuff.

Puppy is awesome in it's own way though so don't give up on it.

[technosaurus]

Not really, gobolinux does it that way. All you really need is a folder or folders containing symlinks with the user friendly names

[Max Uglee]

Thank you techno. I stand corrected. It is really cool what hey have done. It does not look like it is done yet though, even when it is it doesn't look like it will be very noob friendly. It will be interesting to see where they go with it though. I will probably play with it in virtualbox someday. I think that package manager is pretty cool the way it compiles everything.

It is kind of funny because there are about 3 or 4 linuxes that I feel have done certain things the best way. Puppy, for example, I think has the major advantage of being lightweight and loaded into ram at boot (not to mention saving old hardware). It does that much better than any other distro. I love all the Debian based linuxes for Synaptic and hardware compatibility, not to say that Puppy's is bad, I have just personally had better luck with ubuntu and such. Now, I think that Gobo has the right idea with the new file structure.

I think that Dpup is going to be compatible with synaptic so maybe my dream OS will come true .

Anyway, I still recommend Mint for a user like karate.

[technosaurus]

I almost forgot about choicepup - each program is its own sfs.
If I ever decide to build a puplet it will likely be based on a barebones choicepup.
Slax is set up similarly - they use sqlzma and you can build your own custom iso on their website.

[8-bit]

Ok, for a suggestion, how is this?
Say you have an ext2 partition with a number of puppy versions on it in their own subdirectories.
How about a change to BootManager that would allow placing the SFS files for a version in the subdirectory for that version and allowing BootManager to see them?
That way, if you have an SFS that has to be ext4 format, you can have one in the subdirectory and the one you had in /mnt/home will still be usable by your other versions.
Also, you should not have to add the version number to an sfs for BootManager to see it.

That was my two cents worth.

[RandSec]

Wikipedia tells us that about 93 percent of browsing occurs on Windows, 1 percent on Linux, and I guess perhaps 0.01 percent is on Puppy. Just at this time, things are coming together so there is a possibility of moving those figures a little toward Puppy. If that is desirable, Puppy needs a quick response.

The Windows malware situation has progressed to the point of actually becoming dangerous for on-line banking. Even with an SSL connection and long, random passwords, resident bots can find the passwords, use the established connection, or just change the bank orders in real time to loot an account. This is actually happening. Most malware scanners do not find these bots.

Many Windows people are looking for security. My evaluation is that there can be no real security in the current Windows environment. The main problem is a lack of hardware protection for the hard drive, which is easily infected, and the source of malware returning on each boot. Once malware has subverted the OS, software restrictions like read-only bits become irrelevant. Microsoft could create a "live" DVD to check and repair their own files in their own installed system, but I do not see that happening any time soon, and it would not be a full solution anyway.

For some fraction of Windows users, the answer for banking security could be Puppy Linux, but it would have to be stable. Everything which is not needed for secure banking may be nice to have but is really irrelevant to making this sale and can be added or updated later, perhaps in .PET files. The main application we need is Firefox, including various already-installed security add-ons for passwords and SSL, and other friendly add-ons as well. It has to be reliable.

General malware attacks are 93 times more likely to find Windows than Linux, which is why a switch to any Linux would help a Windows user, but that does not necessarily help Puppy. However, Linux is not fundamentally immune to malware. Better Linux security requires a DVD boot, so that a re-boot gets rid of any malware, which makes Puppy more interesting. Unfortunately, in a modern browsing environment, security upgrades may occur weekly, which would mean either making a new DVD or living with an unpatched security flaw in a system specifically intended to be secure. Only Puppy Linux has a facility for updating the boot DVD in added sessions. Only Puppy Linux is set up to offer a true security solution for online banking. Naturally, that situation will not last. If we want to jump into this, now is the time, or we can just watch the opportunity go by.

The main Puppy problem is that optical writes are unreliable and so always need validation, and it is normal for some validations to fail. Currently, Puppy is not set up to handle DVD update write failure. The issue is probably not so much burn code as it is control logic to allow re-trys (if possible), starting with a new disc, saving on a USB flash, or perhaps even by email attachment (which also means the ability to reload from an attachment). Losing user information is not an option. And I have never been able to migrate to a new disc.

Other issues involve booting the same disc on different computers, especially with respect to having some functional display. Surely there must be some express path to handle the usual network broadband connection without having a completely silent solution which is customized for a particular computer.

To offer a Windows security alternative, we need a solid system that boots a particular DVD on various different systems, uses Firefox for passwords and bank access, updates as necessary and saves those updates on DVD for use next time. We almost have this system, but the DVD update is unreliable.

It is unfortunate but true that the particular optical discs used can make a big difference. Theoretically, DVD+R should be better for multisession use, but I have never had much luck with those. I have had good luck with 4x DVD+RW, and when things do not work out, they can be erased.

Terry

[Aitch]

Hi Terry

Good post, & this may be possible.....however the next CE version is underway, though it may be a base puppy + SFS add-ons

It may be possible to seed this notion now to enough Puppians for this to become the norm, as there are many calling for small/light/secure base Puppy + whatever else as add-ons

see

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... &start=105

Failing that, keep plugging, as I, for one, think it an excellent idea, as I use Puppy for just that reason, despite using sandboxIE in 'that other OS' to try to maintain a running virus free box

btw - I recommend removing/editing your email, as that IS a spam invite IMHO - unless YOU yourself are spamming....????

Aitch

[ttuuxxx]

Hi Aitch really 4.4CE if techno takes his time say 4 months plus Then I would say it would be a stable release, look at 2.14X but that is a whole different kettle of fish, lol but still after what I thought would take a month, has now blossomed into over 6 months and almost 150 pages, but that was release was like raising the dead, 4 series is way more newer than 2.14R was. The best way to make a OS release is not to push the final. Always needs lots of testing and a team that can work well together is the main key factor. That's what I have with 2.14X and hopefully 4.4CE will be so lucky also. I consider 2.14X as a CE edition also, because it has been a large community effort.
ttuuxxx

[Aitch]

Couldn't agree more, ttuuxxx, and I hope so, too, though whether Techno can dedicate that amount of time & patience is another matter..... you star!

You may well have raised the bar, but will it be a sustainable target, or drop back below that....?

2.14XX - Stirling effort, and one that will remain a firm favourite, I'm sure, and certainly elevates Puppy's usability/likability to many with both old & newer hardware

Aitch

[gcmartin]

see recent post in "Puppy with SeaMonkey are Ggggrrreat!!!!

[acerpup]

Please have someone maintain the wifi coding or at least seek help from the community to fix the WPA issues and lack of support to auto detect atheros wifi or other cards like other distros are able to.

[alex12]

An option in the keyboard/mouse wizard to disable tap-to-click on touchpads. I hate tap-to-click

[technosaurus]

Tap to click is not near as bad as the context sensitive scrolling using the bottom and right section that it also includes - short of blacklisting are there utilities to configure these (non)functions - maybe we could make one if we knew what config file was used. Does anyone know?

[Pizzasgood]

xorg.conf

Not only can you click by tapping, but (at least on my laptop) you can tap with two fingers to do a middle-click, and three fingers for a right-click (the fingers must be spaced out enough for it to detect them though). And being able to scroll with my fingers is also really nice, IMHO.

So yeah, definitely good to make it GUI-optional.

[RockstarPup]

I'd like to see a easier wifi config and better support for atheros 5000 series cards if it's possible.
I know there's a multiuser version but it'd be nice to have it in the main distro.

[jemimah]

Hey guys, check out flsynclient for your touchpad: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=48011

I'm also working on solving your networking woes! Check out wpa_gui:http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=47838 And, coming soon, Pwireless2.

And another utility that really should be in the next release: Zarfy, for changing your screen resolution. http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=47603

[Aitch]

Good work, jemimah

Though you may get some follow up support calls/requests......

Aitch

[jemimah]

That's the danger with working on networking. There's always going to be a bunch of people for whom it doesn't work.

It's like signing up to be tier 1 support at AOL.

[porte64]

It be nice to make a "dark theme" (uniformally black backgorunds)
and "big mouse cursors" available within the next PUPPY release.
Indeed, tiny cursors and light backgorunds are extremely aggressive
to some users with poor eyes, and PUPPY is such a wonderful distro
that i could not help complaining about it, hoping it will be embedded in the next distro.

Backgrounds :
It's not easy for the newcomer and even savvy users to tweak all window colors
as configuration covers different files like .Xdefaults, .jmwrc and possibly others.
It's rather hard to understand how attributes get controlled / overriden
by those different levels (X,JWM...).
For instance, i never succeeded to turn ROX windows into white text/black background.

Cursors:
Besides, even friends of mine who have perfect vision complain about the
tiny size of window cursors. Why not offering a big series of cursors, with
simple design ? I found an additionnal PET, but it's huge and provides
complex, animated cursors - what we need is simply designed, big
colored arrows-shaped cursors.

It seems that there is no tool allowing to replace cursors by custom bitmaps,
and the build process is not trivial.
Is there a way to alter cursor attributes (size, color) ?

(BTW sorry for previously posting into a wong topic)

[nubc]

Please add the command "Move to trash" or "Send to trash" to the ROX context menu when a file is right-clicked. Notice I suggest two possible ways to word the command. Because I would further request that the command stand alone, that is, that the target, trash, should not be hidden under an arrow for multiple destinations. So the exact wording of the command should be unique for the command to transfer the file to trash.

See this thread for discussion:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=50134