I have been using Linux since 1993. Slackware, Redhat, Mandrake, Knoppix, DSL, ClarkConnect, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Kubuntu (my current desktop). I am not a "distro of the week" type of guy; I choose whatever is best for the job at hand and stick with it for some years. Found Puppy about a month ago. Right now I do believe Puppy reads my mind: I have been able to setup most of the stuff that gives you headaches in most of the main distros in minutes: Cups printing, ndiswrapper wireless, winmodem, refresh rates. I have done my own knoppix remasters but they are a nightmare compared to making own puppy derivative. I have used some of the other knoppix derivatives (no names so not to make someone ashamed) that promise to make customization easy but they take ages to boot and they are not easy (see, I have a university degree in computer science and 20 years field experience). Anything I have thought of trying with Puppy (with the nasty intent of making it break) has been successful: compiling my own apps, customizing what is included.
May I make a recommendation here: there is a PIM suite based on the KDE PIM apps, it is called kdepimpi. It is very compact, closely resembles its KDE bigger sibling and it does not need KDE. I use it on my Zaurus PDA and I got to know about it at oesf.org/forums, which in many ways resembles the Puppy community: not much noise, very smart and helpful community, a very nice platform.
