(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

G'day,
First of all let me answer why? A sickeningly obvious answer is why not! Let me be more specific. Firstly, I am doing a Puplet for the local Linux Users Group to recondition old computers for families in crisis. I used Puppy 3.01 as I've had 100% hardware compatibility with Puppy 3 - this hasn't been the case with Puppy 4.

So I tasked myself with creating a nice little distro (actually rather big at 680mbs) for the local group. It's not quite finshed as the Help files are not completed. I works very nicely and will be posting PuppyTLC once it's completed.

As Puppy developers know - some details in creating a puplet are very tedious. So I started adding things to PuppyTLC to see what works and what doesn't - just in case these people need extras on their reconditioned computers (a convenient excuse!). In addition to this I wanted to make a DVD with all the programmes that I would use (I use Puppy 3 with KDE). Also, I wanted to test to see if programmes worked for a side project - a Customised Software Installer. Well it just grew from there - once it's completed it will be my distro of choice.

At this point I don't consider this a poignant Puppy Puplet so I expect it will become the target of much japery. I am a computer user - no programmer, no system's designer, no technical expertise - just a hack. All I know is what I want to have on a distro and stupid blunderings to make those programmes work.

To answer that other question - doesn't this fly in the face of Puppy's focus? Yes it is bloat to an extraordinary degree and yes it does fly in the face of Puppy's focus.

Actually this journey has opened my eye to what can actually work in Puppy 3 and that it is far from dead. Some notable inclusions...
Gimp 2.6.4
gnucash 2.22 + kmymoney
picasa
firepup/firedog frankenstein which turns into the fastest browser i have ever seen
Audio production suite including ardour 2.4.1 and rosegarden
Updated to gtk2+ and added Puppy 4 programme updates such as mtpaint and geany
koffice + oxygenoffice + sunbird
a working trash
75+ games
to name a very few
And it runs on less that 40mbs of RAM! Ubuntu Ultimate Edition idles at 280mbs!

Anyway the journey's far from over but I've sucessfully created a 1450mbs v0.09 iso that works very nicely. Disc boots around 2 minutes so it very workable.

For development notes check my development blog here...

http://toowoombalinux.wordpress.com/

I will be releasing an alpha version soon.

Cheers
Martin

Good luck to you, and let's hope that you can somehow split the files of the release for more manageable download.

G'day,
Already thought of that and discovered the split command. Will add a script to put the monstrosity back together.
Cheers
Martin

G'day toowoombalinux,

Good luck with your project - but I disagree with your comment:

I used Puppy 3.01 as I've had 100% hardware compatibility with Puppy 3 - this hasn't been the case with Puppy 4.

I've been getting old PCs running on Puppy (up to number 12 now) and giving them away to charities, recycling centres, church groups, etc. I have found that if Puppy 421 doesn't work, 421 Retro definitely will. I am not keen on all the Widgets and Trays in 421, so I deactivate most of that, but I've found the system itself to be very reliable and it supports things like Wireless Broadband dongles which the 3 series won't.

Best wishes,

Steve
Sydney