How to install Debian, Slackware packages in unleashed?

[benner]

I am just about to take the leap into puppy-unleashed. i am looking for a few tips before i get started.

I have been working on a project to collect old and broken computers from around China, fix them up as best we can and install linux for distribution to schools for the children of migrant workers (read: really poor kids). Our first round was with edubuntu. it was a massive pain. Chinese language support was incomplete out of the box and there were a million other issues to make it unsuitable.

then i revisited my old friend puppy and was reminded of how snappy it is. i looked at one version called edupup. it is still beta i think and is a good start. could use more stuff for our purposes though. the machines we will be installing on have no internet.

i looked at e-pup because i need a chinese interface. it is currenlty based on puppy 2.17. not sure how much difference this makes except that i just downloaded the beta for 4.xx and i love it. the local linux group will help me translate if need be but i don't know when 4 will be stable or if 2 or 3 might be better for some reason.

packages that aren't yet available in chinese can be installed in english in any case.

and finally, debian and slackware packages. can i use then when putting together my own from puppy-unleashed? i have never installed anything other than the pupget manager. i am starting to work through the manual but any advice would help me get this sorted out would be appreciated. i don't really want to take this to the local LUG until i have at least something to show them.

or can i install on my machine, install the packages that i want from debian, slackware, etc..., remaster and burn, then install that when using puppy unleashed. would that work?

thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[bosley]

Don't know about puppy4 but in puppy3 you CAN use tgz2pet for slackware packages or even use gslapt.
Tgz2pet creates the necessary symlinks (and will tell you left dependencies after install). The install folder in the .tgz packages has a deps list, too.

Have a look at www.slacky.eu for fresh programs.

HTH

[benner]

Would it be easier to just install the stuff that I want, sing any of the above methods then use the remaster script? Would that work? Would it include any packages that I installed in an unconventional way? (i.e. Debian or Slackware packages, dotpups etc...)