wish list for next puppy release

[aragon]

@ river~~

- boot the live cd into cli instead of the gui

it's there: pfix=nox

here's the boot-option page (4.2) that you reach if you press <F2> on start of the live-cd (within the first seconds).

Code: Select all

Boot options:
If you need particular boot options, type puppy then a space,
then each boot option. Some boot options:

acpi=off      Default on for PCs >2001, may give boot/shutdown probs.
loglevel=<n>  Bootup verbosity. 7 is high verbosity for debugging.
pfix=ram      Run Puppy totally in RAM - ignore saved sessions.
pfix=nox      Commandline only, do not start X.
pfix=noram    Do not copy pup_xxx.sfs to RAM (Puppy may override).
pfix=copy     Copy pup_xxx.sfs to RAM (slower boot, faster running).
pfix=<n>      Blacklist last <n> sessions (multisession only).
pfix=fsck     Do filesystem check on pup_save (and host part. if ext2).
pfix=clean    File cleanup (simulate version upgrade).
pfix=purge    More radical file cleanup (to fix broken system).
pfix=rdsh     For developers only (initramfs shell).

Examples:
puppy pfix=nox,ram         Run in RAM, do not start X.
cpuppy acpi=off pfix=3      Disable ACPI and ignore last three sessions.

aragon

[jabol240]

Hello everyone:))
I love you all for this great distro!!!
...I know it may be a spam, what I write here, but I would like to add my wishes to this wish-list...

Multiuser, other desktop environments like xfce, lxde easy to install from pupget, rather than from the forum, and set as default, login screen to handle the above. Another file manager like Thunar or PCMan is minimum! Also Firefox 3, Opera, Wine and others easy to install via one click. Necessary: automounting partitions! In my opinion, these FEW changes would change Puppy into a very user-friendly and "I-am-new-to-linux-and-want-something-normal"-friendly distro, to win with Ubuntu! Why not exceed 100MB a little bit? Isn't this limit crazy? The computers run faster, the programs are bigger and bigger... Maybe some useful things could get in instead of counting every byte.

Lots of love

Jabol from Poland

[Pizzasgood]

Spam is stuff like offers to sell iphones and other pointless pieces of trash with antennas. Not suggestions for improvement!

You think Puppy has a small limit now? When I first started using it in 2005-ish, Puppy was about 46 MB, and the "limit" was 50. Over the years it has inched up to 60, 70, 80, 90, and now 100. So I wouldn't worry about that. Over time it will inch up higher, as the average "old" computer becomes more powerful.

[ttuuxxx]

Hello everyone:))
I love you all for this great distro!!!
...I know it may be a spam, what I write here, but I would like to add my wishes to this wish-list...

Multiuser, other desktop environments like xfce, lxde easy to install from pupget, rather than from the forum, and set as default, login screen to handle the above. Another file manager like Thunar or PCMan is minimum! Also Firefox 3, Opera, Wine and others easy to install via one click. Necessary: automounting partitions! In my opinion, these FEW changes would change Puppy into a very user-friendly and "I-am-new-to-linux-and-want-something-normal"-friendly distro, to win with Ubuntu! Why not exceed 100MB a little bit? Isn't this limit crazy? The computers run faster, the programs are bigger and bigger... Maybe some useful things could get in instead of counting every byte.

Lots of love

Jabol from Poland

I hope we never change Rox, its a perfect file manager, it takes very few resources, provides a pin board for icons etc, most file managers don't provide environments, ROX is more than a file manager. You can find thunar in the software section, we had a hard time keeping puppy at 100MB during 4.2. Due to extras we added, it looks pretty good, compared to the rest of the 20-150MB Linux's its the best looking, distro you can get.
If anything I would like to see some sort of openbox, blackbox xfce with rox version in the next version, that would be ideal, xfce still has xdg .desktop issues but each release its getting better.
I'm more for resources over size, if a program is twice the size and takes 1/2 the resources, then we would be better off with a 130MB puppy that older pc's could really enjoy.
VLC is like that with gxine. VLC is about 4MB larger but takes something like 50% less resources when playing dvd's on older pc, basically it would allow older pc's that can't play DVD's be able to, But size does matter with puppy.
Pfind Vs Search Monkey, Search monkey is 118kb pet and is maybe 3 times larger but takes 1/2 the resources because it isn't using gtkdialog3.
I still think a cut down version of Gimp would be great also, I think I have one at 3.2Mb pet. How many people actually install that? tons, I would rather see Gnumeric and inkscapelite out the door and replaced by Gimp. Or BMP instead of Pmusic and alsaplayer. Plus Bur2iso should have 'Quick Format Disk', really if you have to open Pburn to format the disk then why not use PBurn to burn the iso? well unless its a new disk, but people using cdrw/dvdrw must find this pain, I know I do.lol
we don't use automounting partitions due to security reasons, if its unmounted its way more secure, I think in the forum theres a hack for that also.
ttuuxxx

[CavedOOde]

hallos,

1) SMP (enabled in the kernel)

2) Wine

3) Virtualbox (as a working pet)

4) NVidia /Ati drivers (although thats already there for every release)

end

It would be bigger and it will most likely shock alot of people but it would be worth it =P Ow well.... if nothing changes i will live to LOL

Greetz
Caved

[jamesjeffries2]

SMP i think would be great. gives the users with newer machines that extra little kick, but doesn't affect the users with older machines particularly.

[tunyawat]

I'm a non geek user but a big fan of Puppy, so my request for next Puppy will be a bit non-technical.

1. The success of Puppy relies on its light weight. Not only its size but its capabilities to run fast on an old computer. The next version of Puppy should be more careful on selecting what will be included. Anything that slow Puppy down should be revisited. Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed with Puppy 4.2 because of Pwidget and Ptray utilities bar. (I've just found the way to remove it.)

2. If possible, the next release should come along with a barebones version. User like me would be more than happy to utilise the uPup for any software he/she wants.

3. Better hardware support. Linux Format magazine in UK suggests that puppeee is one of alternative distro for eee pc. However, it did not get the verdict to be the best alternative distro because of puppeee H/W support is not perfect.

4. Customisable graphical booting screen . I feel like entering the matrix everytime with text booting, which is good. However, since Puppy allows user to remaster a CD. Graphical booting screen will encourage user to spread out there own version of Puppy. Easy marketing.

5. Be more user friendly. Puppy is already user friendly. More friendly is a plus. Mouse and Keyboard auto-detection...may be?

6. Internationalisation. This should be native, at least a non-english alphabet website should be readable. Precisely, international fonts should be made available.

Recently, Puppy is one of the top distro in distrowatch.com. Its position is getting higher every month. The first one is Ubuntu. It has been there and will be there forever. However, Puppy would take the top 5 position soon.

[trio]

I think we should put more lghtweight bling in the next puppy. 4.2 is still lightweight and fast with pwidgets and ptray built in! So we should have more of that "sex", like micko said "sex sells". And 4.2 is big hit, partly because of the new bling. And they actually can be turned off if you want to! So, we have to get more of those bling

Found these sites praising pwidgets useability and bligliness:

http://www.larrywinfield.com/sundownlounge.htm

http://riadyawan.wordpress.com/2009/03/ ... p-thought/

http://beginlinux.wordpress.com/2009/04 ... -addition/

http://www.bloggersbase.com/articles/te ... st-100-mb/

maybe more

PS: I will be answering things like this, as for the freedom of speech, everyone has the right to say they don't like blings and I also have the same right...anything (not only blings) will have 2 sides of the coins...

[Master_wrong]

Can we have V4L included in puppy... ?

i really want to see puppy as dvr recorder, media center and compact OS altogether...

[tuxfriend]

I'd like cpufreq working out-of-the-box. I got an Acer Extensa 5630Z and the fan is going 24/7.

[James C]

My wish list for Puppy:

1. Keep Puppy small and fast.

2.Support for as much hardware as possible,especially older machines.

3.If there is going to be a lot of "bling" have it easily turned off.

4.Remember, this is supposed to be FUN

[wkr]

2 official versions (not puplets) of puppy :

1- For old hardware : a light, minimalistic version for with rox and jwm (as current official puppy distros are)

2- For recent hardware : an official, XFCE-based and more complete version . Rox is incredibly fast but not user-friendly. XFCE and Thunar run indeed slower in old PC's but run very fast in recent and reasonably fast in semi-recent ones, and are, by far, most user-friendly than rox-JWM. Openbox is an good alternative to XFCE-Thunar. Puplets like NOP or Boxpup are good examples for what I mean.

[Colonel Panic]

This is a bit of a peeve on my part, but three of my Puppy hard drive installations have gone the same way and for the same reason, so;

The implementation of X Windows in Puppy needs to made more crash-resistant in my view; either it needs to be harder to break, or there ought to be an easy-to-follow procedure for restoring it which works reliably.

This is particularly important for hard drive installs, because you can't just swap a savefile over for a backup one when the distro is installed to hard drive; you've got to make the best of it as it is.

I think I've seen a fix for X Windows somewhere here which enables Puppy to boot straight back into X Windows after a crash rather than going to the console and relying on xorgwizard to get going again.

Maybe it could be implemented in Puppy 5 as standard.

[janeee]

I wish it were possible to change the settings in Puppy Control Panel for JWMConfig> Tray Management> Virtual Desktop to 0, this would solve my problem with involuntary changes on the desktop.

[sikpuppy]

I wish it were possible to change the settings in Puppy Control Panel for JWMConfig> Tray Management> Virtual Desktop to 0, this would solve my problem with involuntary changes on the desktop.

Try 1. 0 would be a very sparse screen.

[janeee]

I wish it were possible to change the settings in Puppy Control Panel for JWMConfig> Tray Management> Virtual Desktop to 0, this would solve my problem with involuntary changes on the desktop.

Try 1. 0 would be a very sparse screen.

I do not understand what you mean, can you explain better what you mean?.

[imnotrich]

Before we get on to subsequent versions, how about Supertux, Open Office, xmms/streamtuner (audacity and audacious just are not as good) for previous but still somewhat current versions of Puppy such as 4.1.1?
Or wireless support?
A version of Firefox that will actually install and work?
native flash, java, shockwave support? It's a real chore getting this to work.
native dvd player support?
support for pci ide/sata/scsi controller cards?
We're getting ahead of ourselves a bit.
I would also like to see the older versions of pmount again and if I'm really lucky some way to force puppy to use the 2g swap file on my hard drive.
Ugh!
Don't get me wrong, I love to tinker even though I'm a total noob and as the result of my tinkering I am often reinstalling the entire OS but there are some basic things a computer should be able to do out of the box especially if we hope to capture and retain disaffected windows vista users.

[Max Uglee]

Most distros and even other OS's recognize auto-DHCP by default so the network and internet just work out of the box. Could Puppy do this?

[sikpuppy]

Most distros and even other OS's recognize auto-DHCP by default so the network and internet just work out of the box. Could Puppy do this?

Windows doesn't unless you have fairly specific network hardware.

Since the amount of actual user input is minimal for wired networking I don't see why not.

DHCP discovery could be made automatic, but it sometimes takes a long while, which could slow down the initial boot of a computer and give the wrong impression.

However, the most fancy pants connection software this side of a full blown password cracking distro will still need the user to enter the WPA key when they set up their wireless networking. (Or WEP if they enjoy sharing their connection).

There is a massive icon called Connect. There is a DHCP discovery tool. The instructions seem fairly straighforward. It has a lot of automagic under the hood and works for most installs "out of the box".

[Pizzasgood]

I wish it were possible to change the settings in Puppy Control Panel for JWMConfig> Tray Management> Virtual Desktop to 0, this would solve my problem with involuntary changes on the desktop.

Try 1. 0 would be a very sparse screen.

I do not understand what you mean, can you explain better what you mean?.

The option sets the total number of virtual desktops - not the number of additional virtual desktops. There is no non-virtual-desktop either. So if you want any desktop, you need it set to 1 so that you can have 1 desktop. If you set it to 2, you'll have 2 desktops: the one that is initially selected plus one extra one.

0 would be no desktops at all.