(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I have a pentium 3, celeron laptop with 256 memory. What would be the best puppy linux version for me? I've tried macpup and all I get is a blank screen with no x-probe dialogue. So the basic question might be, which version is happiest on a minimal system. Thanks.

Richard

The most conservative choices for that machine would be either Wary or Classic Pup 2.14x.

However, it might also be able to run Lucid Puppy without any problems.
(That would be here--the ones marked puppy-5.0 and later.)

Also, with 256MB RAM, you will need to add a 256MB Linux swap partition.
Swap is virtual memory, like pagefile.sys in Windows.
The idea is to have 512MB total memory, either RAM only or RAM+swap.
For this, go to Menu / System / GParted partition manager.

Hello,
In Puppy land that is not "very old" at all..
214x or Wary should run great on it....

@ I have Puppy "barebones 3.01" on a Pentium1 75 mhz with 64mb ram and 64mb swap.. Not blazing fast, but more nimble than Win98 on the same machine, and it does wireless.. Basically it is a zsnes machine, but runs Firefox and Mplayer fairly well.. Puppy can resurrect dinosaurs...

I've tried macpup and all I get is a blank screen with no x-probe dialogue.

I don't use macpup, but on most puppies you can hit ctrl + alt+ backspace to exit everything to a console prompt.
then type
xorgwizard

this will let you set up your screen.
on an older computer, you might have to set things manually, rather than letting it probe
also xvesa might be a better choice than xorg

Which Puppy is right for you?
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/WhatPuppyLinuxIsBestForYou

I run ttuuxx's 4.32 on a creaky Sony Vaio Picturebook with 114mb RAM *and* no swap file. On the other hand, I keep the apps to a basic: Softmaker SFS, Links browser, sylpheed email, xhippo mp3 player.

I wouldn't suggest burning DVDs on my setup, but it gets me around quickly, since I found a swap file on the Vaio to slow things down.

With your setup, you can run a lot of different puppies.

Jake

Hi, I am running Wary 5.2.2 in a laptop of 2001 vintage and it runs very well (see my sig for specs)
It detected my old pcmia card out of the box and has no hiccups at all.
Hope this helped.

The recent Slaco got me to the video probe screen but nothing seems to work. I even selected "vesa" and I get a blank screen and a lock-up. The test screen also freezes the system. My computer is a Toshiba Satellite PS181C-OOCET. I wouldn't mind a few suggestions. Thanks in advance.

Richard

Why not start with the other suggestions? Wary for example.

rkonrad wrote:So the basic question might be, which version is happiest on a minimal system

Hi Richard, I just googled your machine and it has reasonable specs that should allow it to run nicely with quite a few versions of Puppy.

The real issue is "which Puppy is happiest with the particular video hardware in this machine", as that seems to be the roadblock you are experiencing. Toshiba have used lots of different video boards in their various machines and it is often trial and error selecting the best mode to run the graphics board in. If you use it in a basic mode without acceleration you may find that Vesa is the best starting choice (Note that Xvesa is a different thing from Vesa).

(Different versions of puppy use slightly different formats of the video selection procedure at setup time, so explore the "probe / choose / test" options fully - sometimes the best option is accessed in a different order than you might first expect)

If you want it to run in accelerated mode (which is very useful if you can get it to work...) then you will need a special driver and need to get it correctly configured which can be a mission. Maybe leave that till later.

Google suggests that your graphics card is a "Integrated Trident® CyberBlade Ai1". I seem to remember seeing many forum entries about the Trident cyberblade while I was trying to get my Trident cyber9525 working (it is a different graphics board so my specific info won't help you...). I would recommend that you confirm the spec of the graphics board in your machine and then google other peoples experience with it. However - I don't recommend that you spend time on the accelerated driver yet.

I have found that different puppies will have different default video setups depending on what hardware the original creator of that version was using. For that reason it is worth trying a variety of versions to see if any get you a little closer.

I would encourage you to try Akita fairly early on as it is developed by forum member Scottman, who does a lot of work porting video games onto puppy and I have found that his video setup parameters have been better than most in my various Toshiba laptops. Akita is available here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67811

Another good one to try is Puppy 4.3.1
Although it is an older, more basic version of Puppy, it is renowned for being pretty rock solid and the key at this stage is to identify what will work with your video hardware, rather than finding the best overall Puppy at the moment.

One last suggestion: forum member ttuuxxx has vast experience with setting up puppy versions in special ways - I have had good success on Toshiba laptops with his special media version of Wary. You can find it here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67137

Lastly - don't give up! And be aware that some strange problems can occur if you have a bad CD burn - choose a low speed for the burn. Good luck!

I have to second 4.3.1.

Although I am currently running Lucid 5.0 and it is working beautifully on a newer (but still pretty old) desktop, I ran 4.3.1 on an ancient laptop and nearly-fossilized desktop for a few years without a hiccup.

Definitely recommended.

Wary, Classic Pup 2.14x, and Puppies 4.3.1 and older all have Xvesa video wizard, which works with a larger number of video cards.

I did try the Wary 5 and it probed for the correct video card and worked! It recognized the card as "trident" but I am not convinced that is totally correct. The fastest internet response to the simplest html page is about 7-8 seconds so perhaps it needs more work. I have a pretty fast internet connection. I will spend time on the latter suggestion on this post when I have time. Thanks for all the responses!

Richard

rkonrad wrote:

It recognized the card as "trident" but I am not convinced that is totally correct.

As long as everything works, it doesn't matter.
I have a PS/2 mouse on this box, yet Classic Pup 2.14x recognizes it as USB.
But it works...

The fastest internet response to the simplest html page is about 7-8 seconds so perhaps it needs more work.

If this persists, try Wary 5.1.4.1.
It's the latest one with the older, faster SeaMonkey 1.1.18 browser.

.
It is also possible that the Macpup you tried didn't copy to CD correctly. Might be worth trying to burn it again, or even trying other versions of Macpup.

Check out this collection of Macpups - they range from older ones through to the newest, and might be worth another go if the Macpup look appeals to you:

http://macpup.org/index.php
.

I've stuck with Wary 5 though I"ve tried all the alternatives given by a very friendly commuity! It seems the video card is still the problem. It works but scrolls slowly to render any new text/image. When and if I find the correct driver, how will I incorporate this into the system? To the user who looked up my computer - thanks. I will be looking for the driver as time permitts.

Cheers

richard

Hi rkonrad,

rkonrad wrote:It recognized the card as "trident" but I am not convinced that is totally correct.

If you want to identify your graphics hardware, run this command at the console: You should be able to confirm this in Hardinfo by selecting the "PCI Devices" category and scrolling through the list.

In addition, use this command: if you want to determine how much video ram you have, as well as complete specs on your monitor --including resolutions and refresh rates.

Monsie

see http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 8&start=15.

I seem to remember it ran 4.2 from CD as well.

It does have a swap partition defined and it does run better with 192Mb memory.

Thanks again for the commands to help identify my video card.. It is a Trident Cyberblade /i1 rev 5d. The journey now begins to find any an appropriate driver. I've settled with the Wary 5. None of the other versions recommended helped with my card. So I thought I would start with this community if they know of any sources I could investigate. Video RAM is 8 megs by the way. I like the look of wary as well so I'll dispense with the macpup though I use it with my desktop (as well as Vector Linux)

Cheers

Richard.

I can recommend Puppy Turbo (and Puppy Turbo Extreme), both of which are based on the 4.2 series of Pups and are optimised to run on old hardware.