(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Been doing some work at a daycare center for handicapped people that has one old desktop PC running an old and malware infested installation of Windows XP, which is probably unlicensed as well.

They asked me to take a look at it and while it is entirely possible for me to just slap XP on there again, I know it's just gonna start misbehaving in a while anyway.

The machine is an Intel Celeron 900 with 512 megs of ram, not sure about the graphics chip but it's definitely a cheapo built-in VIA or Intel. Heaviest thing they need it for is to be able to watch videos on Youtube. Some accessibility options, namely a zoom feature, would be nice but not entirely necessary.

I'm also thinking it would be nice to have the save file set up so that it doesn't save automatically every time the PC shuts down, so that if someone breaks something or puts a dirty picture as a background etc, the staff would only have to restart the PC to get everything back to normal.

I've had good experience with Wary in the past and that was my first thought but I'm guessing you guys might have a better suggestion? Is there a good Puppy variant for them or should I go down a different path?

Wary seems a good option or maybe Legacy
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/LegacyOS

I agree that messing with XP is liable to take up lots of time.

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you could set Puppy how you want it and then remaster it and run without a save file. Might be more hassle than you want though. . .

If it's only for web use, look into BrowserLinux (Puppy Derivative) or Kiosk Puppy.

Kiosk Puppy How-To --> http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=64632

BrowserLinux (FF 501, a little out of date) --> http://www.browserlinux.com/
BrowserLinux (lower-end systems page) --> http://www.browserlinux.com/version3.html

I vote for the Chrome version on the 2nd BrowserLinux page. Firefox is really slow and has memory problems.

Er, slightly technical explanation of "memory problems" -- it has memory leaks (click the link for Wikipedia's technobabble on the subject) where it doesn't give RAM back to the system after it's done using that RAM. The RAM just sits there, unused and unreclaimed. Very big known problem that has never been solved (and probably won't be, at this point).

Another strategy for locking down a Puppy machine is discussed here.

Hit a bit of a snag with this little Puppy venture of mine. Burned both Wary and BrowserLinux to CD's and verified they worked on my PC. However, when I tried them on the PC I wanted them to work on it gave me this

Searching for Puppy files . . . . . . *.sfs not found. Dropping out to initial-ramdisk console . . .

"*" being a wildcard as is gave me this error on both CD's. Any thoughts?

I usually only get that when I'm trying to boot something really old on hardware that's far too new... like SimplePup (one of the REALLY early Puplets) on my ASUS netbook.

...you're sure of those hardware specs?

starhawk wrote:...you're sure of those hardware specs?

Yep. Thing's got a Windows 2000 stamp on it too. Perhaps this machine is too old and I need a release with an older kernel?

If the computer can boot from CD or DVD, then whichever Puppy you choose, I'd recommend running it from a multisession CD or DVD. You'd boot the disk, then remove it from the drive and keep it in a safe place. 512 MB of RAM is plenty for multisession Puppy. If the RAM gets full due to watching many videos, simply put the multisession Puppy disk back in the drive and reboot without saving.

Do you have another CD-ROM drive that you can swap in? That may fix the problem.

gertrud, if you don't have access to a spare optical drive that can replace the current one, I do -- and I'll gladly donate it if you're in the States. Nothing personal -- just, international shipping is a real pain. I can also make up some instructions for installing it; I'm something of an artist on top of everything else

starhawk wrote:gertrud, if you don't have access to a spare optical drive that can replace the current one, I do -- and I'll gladly donate it if you're in the States. Nothing personal -- just, international shipping is a real pain. I can also make up some instructions for installing it; I'm something of an artist on top of everything else

It may be advisable for you to let us know where you are.
I have a couple spare ( I do up old ones for donation via Church)
I am sure others may have them too, I'm in OZ
JB

I'm in North Carolina, USA -- hence the line about "in the States". International shipping is not for the faint of heart here!

FWIW...

The geographic center of NC is the NC Zoo, just outside of Asheboro. (There's also an Asheville in NC, but that's four hours of driving in the exactly opposite direction. Sorry for the confusion!) I am roughly a 45-minute drive due west of Asheboro, about 2 miles outside of a tiny town (pop. ~8000 according to the phone book) that almost nobody has ever heard of (even in NC) called Siler City. Siler City is the next-door neighbor to even tinier Silk Hope, where Aunt Bea retired from Mayberry. (Aunt Bea went to her home in the sky some time before I got here, though -- I wasn't born till '86. IIRC Bea died in like '77 or so.)

Thanks for the offers, I've always heard the Puppy community was great, guess I have my proof now

I am currently located in Iceland though so I'm guessing shipping will be a pain

Yeah, that would be a bit of a mess for me to go through. It wouldn't exactly be cheap, either The US does not take good care of those who cannot find work -- as well as those who cannot work at all.

Well, It's not Puppy linux. But it uses a i486 kernel. It just might be worth a shot trying. Iso fit's on cd.

http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

If me. I would go for the full Iso (more tools and stuff) It runs OK on my low spec boxes.

I also used to run Puppy Dingo pretty well on low spec gear also. Maybe 4.31 will work ok for you instead. My experience with .sfs not found was the newer puppy kernel versions did not play well on my older IBM gear.

There are lot's to pick from on the below link I guess.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/