Best Linux Distro: Linux Experts Rate Distros (Matt Hartley's picks)
http://www.datamation.com/open-source/b ... ros-1.html
5. Puppy Linux
When it comes to turning ancient PCs into something usable again, there is nothing better than a fresh installation of Puppy Linux. I've personally had Puppy Linux running on a Pentium II before. On something with a bit more in terms of resources (for the browser), Puppy Linux is screaming fast. If you have a computer with 1 GB of RAM, you'll never look back.
Puppy Linux is based on Slackware, but you can also install a version that relies on an Ubuntu base if you prefer. Both versions come with the JVM window manager, though OpenBox also runs great on Puppy if you prefer.
At a cool 200 MB or less, you can run Puppy on just about anything. Puppy Linux also runs very well from a USB flash drive or a CD. This means a full installation is left completely up to the end user. If however, you want to run with a CD/USB copy but need to store permanent configuration files, Puppy will allow you to pick a storage destination just for that purpose. Speaking for myself, I always opted to simply install Puppy Linux since I found that once it's installed, I had no need to take it with me anywhere else.
Like many modern distributions today, Puppy Linux allows its users to install software one of two ways. Either from its repositories or via "pet" packages. It's worth noting that Puppy also supports txz and sfs packages as well.
Now for the downside. While Puppy Linux does come with a great firewall application, it also lacks a root password. On top of that, it lacks an automated means of applying security updates. To be clear, they do release security updates for the distro – I've applied updates via their tools in the past. The problem is there isn't an automatic tool for doing so without thinking about it.
On the flip side, according to my research, there is still "some" security through obscurity provided. First, Puppy Linux uses a unionfs/aufs stacking file system. As a result, they've setup Puppy to keep all but the most recent files in a read only state. Again, not perfect...but not as bad as it could be, either. At the end of the day, Puppy Linux to my knowledge has never-ever been hacked by anyone in a malicious manner. That said, it's high time we see their website upgrade to a proper SSL certification since they are asking people to download an operating system from their website.
