Newbies - Puppy needs YOUR help too!

Booting, installing, newbie
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dogle
Posts: 409
Joined: Thu 11 Oct 2007, 12:41

#916 Post by dogle »

serdal 22, thanks, and I hope you get to read this, because Moose On The Loose has mentioned something - with which I ardently agree! - which could make a little more feedback from you (and from others in the same situation) especially valuable.
The solution may be something as simple as a bit of wording in one of the dialog boxes that has led you astray.
This thread had revealed that installation issues are the second biggest bugbear for newcomers to Puppy - this was evident pretty early on, and it is quite disturbing that the Puppy community still hasn't quite managed to plug this big hole in acceptability to newcomers.

There is, however, a problem ... although I have vague memories of tearing my hair out, as a Puppy newbie years ago, when foxed by ambiguous dialog box wording, I couldn't remember just what is was that upset me to save my life. It seems (to me at least) that once you are over that nasty initial comprehension hurdle and progressing, the memory of what caused you so much grief evaporates in a trice.

It is therefore particularly valuable if newcomers can point to specific causes of confusion in dialog boxes, urgently - whilst that memory is fresh, before it swiftly fades - because, as Moose had indicated, just a minor change in wording can make a huge difference to a whole lot of people.

(Don't be shy, folks - do jump in on this one!).

canyoureallysmellme from
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat 01 Feb 2014, 19:10

new today

#917 Post by canyoureallysmellme from »

Hi ya all!
Just got online first time here. Been interested in Linux for about 2 years, as my computer was old and somehow I found out about Ubuntu, and then found Xubuntu and thence Puppy. I was, and still am, getting put off my the tone of Microsoft, it seems over-managed and as if they are taking control of your every move. No doubt the USA government have a hand or two in the way it is developing...what a tool for mass control and gathering of people's data! So I prefer Puppy. However it is initially harder to use, and the graphics are totally different in feel to Windows, Windows is a good looking beast. Anyway what I REALLY like about Puppy is that it can run off a CD, with no hard drive in the computer and a low spec cheap, the sort "no one wants anymore" type of computer. Being paranoid, or just security conscious, Puppy is a great plus for online banking and to feel hack proof. No need for this constant fidgitting about virus protection you get with Windows, no sales pitches for this,- that,- and the other, software, no enforced up grades of hardware due to software demands. Great! And it costs nothing! But think of all the people who spent hours on this project. Thank you for your sweat and tears.

But it has not been without my sweat and tears to get the thing going. For the none-technical users, like me, a very simple disk with less on it would be good. But as I got bolder I have just explored how to remove pup packages and then remastered, in a fashion, my own Puppy. Being paranoid I have tried to remove all Wifi, Transmission, mail, remote access, chat and Shh telnet such programmes, as I fear these could be used to access the computer by clever people who shall always find a way to remain nameless. I managed to put in the fire wall tray thing, so I can see firewall is definitely working (I use Wary 5.2.2 due to the age of my machine). So now feel a bit more secure coming online. Shame you cannot set up the printer and change the keyboard without making a save file. And the sound wont play, ...well it did once or twice, but seemed to go on the blink after I used Xorg instead of Xvesa...is that possibly, a bug? I think the warysave file must represent a security risk, as a save-file has to be put on re-writable media, and so while online I suppose a person could get access and change things? I now deliberately use a laptop that is not equipped with wifi or an inbuilt camera for this reason, as I think these can be used in reverse as spy aides into one's room. Of course the internet is full of evesdroppers anyway! Recently I used a wifi enabled laptop, but think it logged on automatically to someone's private wifi, due to my using a new android phone (when wifi is used for the very first time on the phone, I read, it fetches passwords down from Cloud storage, and if the other person has "backed up their data" (ie: the unencrypted password was sent up to the Android Cloud storage) on thier android you get their password sent to you! :P It is a security flaw, but if you like doing things like that, then to do it again, so I read, just reset the phone so it acts like a new one....so I read...yikes! Reading that did not help me feel secure. Anyway, it was a genuine accident, but they were not happy so see me logged in. I was not happy they had access to my computer contents. How pleased I was to be using a Puppy CD with no harddrive...they could not send me any resident spyware via the connection if they wanted to. So my aim is to make a secure puppy just for accessing the Internet. And put the hard drive in (with a pup save file on it), when working off line. OR have another computer perhaps for offline work. But I may try to sell the other one now. So a Puppy, super simple, for beginners...no jargon or tangles, only of use for getting online in a super secure way.

Dewbie

#918 Post by Dewbie »

canyoureallysmellme from wrote:
Being paranoid I have tried to remove all Wifi, Transmission, mail, remote access, chat and Shh telnet such programmes, as I fear these could be used to access the computer by clever people who shall always find a way to remain nameless.
You could also do that this way.

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rufwoof
Posts: 3690
Joined: Mon 24 Feb 2014, 17:47

Re: new today

#919 Post by rufwoof »

canyoureallysmellme from wrote:But it has not been without my sweat and tears to get the thing going. For the none-technical users, like me, a very simple disk with less on it would be good.
+1.

Harware detection didn't pick up my graphics card/monitor. Network detection didn't detect my wi-fi adapter. After a lot of effort I finally got it working and had to learn how to remaster another boot CD etc.

I'd rather see a slim CD that was extremely good at detecting hardware and establishing a internet connection- where thereafter whatever programs you wanted could then be added (PET's/SFS files), than the current arrangement of having to jump through hoops just to get a clean boot up and internet connection.

Tried Knoppix and it detected everything ok - but comes with everything (bloated) and no (easy) savefile option like puppy has.

Bottom line I want a read only pristine (virus/trogan free) version to boot to when doing more sensitive actions (paying for things, online banking etc.) and accepting of a potentially infiltrated/more exposed version for just doing general stuff. Puppy appears great for that, but many wouldn't pass the entrance exam/test.
But as I got bolder I have just explored how to remove pup packages and then remastered, in a fashion, my own Puppy. Being paranoid I have tried to remove all Wifi, Transmission, mail, remote access, chat and Shh telnet such programmes, as I fear these could be used to access the computer by clever people who shall always find a way to remain nameless.
Just boot to CD only (pfix=ram) when doing online banking and such-like. Otherwise just boot as normal (load savefile), dont worry about security so much as if that gets breached the hacker only gets to see uninteresting stuff.

My overall preference would be for a Knoppix like hardware detection and ease of getting on line, plus browser i.e. slimmed right down version. With puppy like savefile and PET's/SFS's

kayuz
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed 26 Feb 2014, 15:02

#920 Post by kayuz »

Hi to all!!! I've found Puppy Linux while was searching for a Linux distro for my girlfriend's old pc and found it surprisingly good!!!

It's very fast but I've something to tell:

I will suggest you to enamble an update center for all,will let things easier...
then also when inserting usb drives like phones like Galaxy Note 2... mounting should be easier and faster...

Homewer for its size is incredible! Good work and... of course keep it up!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D

TechNot
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun 09 Feb 2014, 20:06
Location: not too far from Waco,Tx
Contact:

#921 Post by TechNot »

Hello All

Being an admitted MS Zombie and really only looking at Linux because XP is due to be dropped from support

The first and foremost question on my mind is ... which Linux works best on MY machine

I happened to get here by way of an old disc given to me with puppy 525 on it... which btw installed pretty much hassle free ...it was suggested in the forums I try the new slako56 which I am on now ...again installed pretty much hassle free and seems to be working fine ( I wont know for sure till I try to do something and it wont)

I'm tempted to go get Ubuntu but somehow I get the impression that I would just be switching to a new Zombie clan

It was also suggested I try puppy 528 but there again ... it seems there are various versions of that OS as well

so my lil peek behind the curtain to see what Linux is all about has left me with the temptation to just close the curtain and forget it ... the choices and questions are somewhat overwhelming

From a "Zombie" point of view I dont wish to spend my time finding the right one ...or how to make it work ...

and the words "open a command line and edit this line" .... oh hell no ! I'm outta here lol




[/quote]
IBM Thinkpad R51 2888HU1 .. pent M 1.5 .. 2gig ram .. intel graphics

(This is the smaller 14 inch version) detailed specs in WWW link

jjreid87
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue 04 Mar 2014, 17:58

Greetings

#922 Post by jjreid87 »

Got sick of everything crashing on a windows 7 craptop and found my way to puppy. A year ago I tried loading ubuntu on a frankenstien computer, I got it working a couple of times but then the videocard would go tits up and I'd have to reload it. This was much less painless. However, after learning how to stumble around in the console, I found myself scratching my head while learning that basically everything I was trying to install needed a c compiler. Then I tried to install gcc a couple of times before learning about the sfs manager. It seems like a lot of newbs start here. Why not offer a beefier puppy to them that doesn't leave them scrambling around to get simple programs to work?
I guess you have to learn somehow

431user
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat 01 Feb 2014, 22:42

A familiar experience

#923 Post by 431user »

I have also had problems installing programs in Linux. The requirement for the gcc compiler was not obvious and took me awhile to figure out. I am currently struggling with dealing with dependencies which is very time consuming. If you can find a package for a particular program it is easier but this is not always possible.

A really good user manual would be really helpful but that may be too much to ask. Posting questions in the Beginner section can be helpful if that one knowledgable person who has the answer responds. Searching the forum is also useful as long has you have a specific term to search for.

Unfortunately you're right, you have to learn somehow, and that is often the hard way.

J_D_
Posts: 519
Joined: Sat 12 Apr 2014, 03:10
Location: Indiana

#924 Post by J_D_ »

Just decided to try Linux 2 weeks ago. Put Mint on one laptop but needed a non PAE ISO for my HP nc6000 because of the pentium M processor. Had to do some searching to find Puppy. Then I had to find a way to put it on a USB. LInuxLive USB made it all easy for me, once I found it. Finally got it done and I like it better than Mint. The one thing that is lacking seems to be getting started. I have no idea how, but thats the only thing I see that needs improvement. Make it easy to find and easy to download and put MS out of business. Just kidding about the MS part.
Came to this forum looking for a place to say thanks so that is the reason for this post. THANKS. Slacko Puppy rocks.

rokytnji
Posts: 2262
Joined: Tue 20 Jan 2009, 15:54

#925 Post by rokytnji »

so my lil peek behind the curtain to see what Linux is all about has left me with the temptation to just close the curtain and forget it ... the choices and questions are somewhat overwhelming
I hear this alot in forums.

My outlook on this.

Does it overwhelm you when there are choices on the shelves when you buy groceries?

Does it overwhem you when there are choices on buying a car?

Does it overwhem you when you walk into a topless bar and have choices on what table dance you can have?

Does it overwhem you when you go to a party and see all the different choices that you have when choosing to talk to a single person?

Usually when I peek behind the curtain and see a lot of choices.

It makes me want to walk through the curtain and see all the choices available.

But, I guess some are not as adventurous as I am.
Because, we are all not the same.

For all the beginning compiler posts. Remember to look for the devx.sfs that goes for your install. Like I did.
Anybody have a devx.sfs link for the Puppy?
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 141#729141

Don't give up.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 962#739962

Just like I have fun playing with my 5 dogs.

I have fun playing with Puppy Linux.

You have fun too. :wink:

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RetroTechGuy
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Location: USA

#926 Post by RetroTechGuy »

rokytnji wrote:
Anybody have a devx.sfs link for the Puppy?
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 141#729141
The devx should be in the folder with the .iso for the version you selected:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615]Add swapfile[/url]
[url=http://wellminded.net63.net/]WellMinded Search[/url]
[url=http://puppylinux.us/psearch.html]PuppyLinux.US Search[/url]

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MrAccident
Posts: 361
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#927 Post by MrAccident »

rokytnji - just a little side note - when you pick one of the cars; it's not to mess around with it for two weeks - learning it; only to find out it cannot go in reverse; which makes it useless for you. But the good news is - you can learn to become a mechanic; and fix the problem. Though nobody ensures you that a week after - you won't find another problem like this.
But to make it clear - I think it applies the least to Puppy; more generally to the Linux world.

Anyway I came here to give an advice as this thread asks, from my point of view.
What made me look for another distro, was mostly the lack of flexibility in the choice of software. Mostly not having the option to uninstall software.
Now after a lot of research, and trying out a few other distros - I reached the conclusion that I will probably stick with Puppy; because even with the extra software - it's still much smaller and more complete than the smallest distros; I mean the combination of the two.
It's great to start off from a very small system; but ,I don't know about other people, but I want to change all the applications, other than the ones for the most basic needs (PBurn, GParted etc), system ones, and FireFox. So as a newbie - I start to think about the fact that I'm gonna be stack with them for ever! So I think there should be an option to uninstall them with the same ease as with those I manually installed. And maybe there should be bare-bones versions together with the default ones.
BTW, for me - the program that really broke the camel's back, was ROX-filler.
Another thing is how easy Puppy gets broken with incorrect power-off of the computer; with full install. It happened in two computers from maybe the first time something like that happened. I don't know if in the frugal installation it does not occur. If so - you should warn people about it. And I don't mean just to tell them that it's not "the right way" to install; I mean to tell them it's dangerous! :-)
OK, that's enough ranting. Hopefully it won't fall on deaf ears.

Pelo

Could you say it in french, please ?

#928 Post by Pelo »

Commonwealth citizens, if you want really export the famous australian Puppy, now it would be time to translate it. for barbarians .
Ils peuvent le faire eux-mêmes ? Bien dit.
Your feedback is important (but don't post technical queries here - use a new thread).
Ne postez pas de demandes techniques ici. :D Well. First we translate. Second we shall try to understand 'what you say' dear linuxians geeks.
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dogle
Posts: 409
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#929 Post by dogle »

Pelo, merci.

Qu'est-ce que c'est tu fume, mon ami?

Woofer
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon 16 Jun 2014, 15:14

#930 Post by Woofer »

"How NOT to install Puppy Linux"

At the beginning, as French understanding half of some sentences, I thought it meant "The bad way to install Linux"


http://puppylinux.org/main/How%20NOT%20 ... 0Puppy.htm

Also it took time for me and lot of videos to watch on Youtube before I find this sentence :

"Impatient? Jump to frugal install to hard disk
Or get Windows installer"

Which is written in little font.

I would appreciate something like :

"Windows installer"

in big letters as part of the main menu of the website...

SickXXenD
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun 22 Jun 2014, 05:09

Puppy better???

#931 Post by SickXXenD »

Well I think the only way puppy will be better is if anyone can PLEASE help me figure out how to install it on on my droid RAZR Maxx HD and or dual boot it with the current droid jellybean OS then make an app to help other people do it and throw it on the app market for free to increase puppy's user base!!! The more of us out here using puppy the better! : ) Puppy on my droid with network capability would make my millennia! [/img]
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starhawk
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Location: Everybody knows this is nowhere...

#932 Post by starhawk »

Sorry, Puppy on phones is a long way away. There seems to be a lot of demand, but the effort to implement such a thing is astronomical at best.

Every make/model of phone has at least slightly different hardware. Each piece of hardware needs a driver for Puppy to use it, like any other OS. Puppy is built primarily for older-but-not-yet-truly-antique computers. It doesn't have phone drivers built in.

Further, phones are kind of a closed ecosystem AFAIK, which means that drivers don't really exist outside of what's provided on the phone when you buy it, unless and until the manufacturer releases an upgrade. On top of that, those drivers are useless to Puppy because IIRC Android drivers don't work in more ordinary Linuces. (Saying "Linuxes" is somewhat grammatically incorrect, because Latin, BTW. Not that I'm being anything but a Grammar Nazi by saying that!)

Remember that Android is Linux-by-technicality. It's a Linux kernel and a Java interpreter, at its core, and absolutely everything else is built (in Java) on top of that. Yeah, it has the kernel, but that's really the only actual Linux in it. It's really a whole different creature at that point, which is why Android drivers and Linux drivers are incompatible.

*ahem*

So in order to get your phone running Puppy, someone would have to write drivers for absolutely every piece of hardware on that phone. Puppy has limited support for ARM-type CPUs (technically SoC's, or "Systems on Chip, but I'm not getting into that here), one of which is in your phone (specifically it's a Qualcomm SnapDragon S4 @ 1.5GHz -- thank you, Mr Google) via FatDogARM which has just recently entered Beta stage. I can tell you offhand that your processor is not supported at this time.

However, Puppy is a sort of a Do-ocracy. This can potentially work out quite well for you. If you are a software engineer with lots and lots of experience doing programming for PCs and smartphones both, and you know how to write drivers (which is, I'm told, highly challenging), then you have a chance here. For the record, nobody on this forum AFAIK has the knowledge and experience to do this for you.

There are three ways to accomplish this...

(1) Get the Android drivers (probably in "binary blob" form) and decompile them back to some form of human-readable code. (You almost certainly will not get open source drivers, even for Android.) Then develop your own Linux drivers that function identically (or nearly so), having picked a kernel to build against, so that they are compatible with Puppy (I will recommend building against FatDogARM so that you're not totally reinventing the wheel). Once you have drivers, you'll have to write interface programs so that Puppy can use the drivers. Once you have working drivers and working interface programs, you have the ability to properly Puppify your phone.

(2) The other DIY option, if you don't want to mess with porting drivers, or if the binary blob decompiling doesn't work out so well, is to get another Droid RAZR Maxx HD and take it apart. Get datasheets for each and every bit of hardware, and reverse-engineer how it all works. *Then* write your drivers. Speaking from a legal perspective, this is probably actually the better way of the two so far -- code can be (and rarely /isn't/) copyrighted, and if the license agreement given with the drivers indicates no reverse-engineering, then Option #1 just flew the coop.

(3) There is a truly infinitesimal chance that you can convince the company making your phone to develop and release drivers for real Linux. If they will listen to you at all, they'll probably ask you to fund it. This will not be cheap, so I hope you're quite well off if you want to do this.

...good luck...

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Deimos
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Re: Newbies - Puppy needs YOUR help too!

#933 Post by Deimos »

Hello Everybody,

Thought it was about time to actually post something. I really like puppy linux. At the current time 'm using precise 5.7.1. I have dabbled around linux since the days of Red Hat 6 and Mandrake 7. And while I'm no power user I get around pretty good.

I really liked the website it was helpful on getting puppy installed. I learned a long time ago what rtfm is and why it is important. I've been running puppy now for about a year and have tried a number of different pups.

I really don't have anything bad to say about puppy linux. It's one of the best if not THE best linux distro's that I have used. Guess that's about all I have to say except, Keep up the great work Puppy is an AWESOME linux distro.
As Above, So Below

Puppy Precise 5.7.1, Toshiba Satellite T135D, 2x AMD Turion Neo X2 Dual Core 4 Gig Ram AMD RS780 Video

Pelo

The main problem is english.

#934 Post by Pelo »

Lot of people will not try Puppy (or Linux) because everything is english written or spoken. newbie means from outside Linux, in my opinion and outside development.
That is the reason why non native English spoken people don't try or stay in Linux.
One way to improve would be that people talk their native language on the forum,
I know that American and British are so eased by the English rule, that they will never admit my proposal.
I am quite sure there are so many non-English users as English ones. A spanish talks to a spanish in english.
Be aware of that, even with Google translation, our thoughts are far from what we say, because lack of vocabulary.
It would be exactly the same when you choose where to go on holidays.
Just to underline this huge problem. Not for you, but for my family. I used to speak English when working (aircraft) but i am an exception.

dogle
Posts: 409
Joined: Thu 11 Oct 2007, 12:41

#935 Post by dogle »

.... catching up ...

... starhawk, star post! ... quite brilliant, and so helpful to me and I think a great many others.

... pelo, you make a very important point on the language issue (I think?) but, heck, you've been around here long enough to know that worldwide there exist several Puppy communities using languages not represented on this forum, and even here we have had French and German speaking sections for many years. As starhawk has reminded us, Puppy is a do-ocracy ... so if you feel so strongly, why not go for it and kick off a Spanish section on this forum? Spanish is surely becoming a very important language computer-wise in terms of population numbers and increasing uptake of the technology.

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