Since this is such a great distribution for newbies like me I'm wondering what percent of Puppy adoptors are using linux for the first time.
Fitzhugh
Poll: Is Puppy your first Linux?
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Lobster
- Official Crustacean
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My first attempt was Slack - yuk I say - yuk - However that was a long time ago and newer Slacks are very good - SLAX I like.
I liked Red Hat Fedora. Thought it efficient and fast. I thought Knoppix was brilliant when I started using it and installed it to Hard Drive to give me a Debian system. Mepis I could never get to work.
I am a desktop Linux user, so I like PCLinuxOS (that was on my hard drive for a while) but am I using it? Nah I am in Puppy.
Here is my complete migration story
http://tmxxine.com/Wikka/wikka.php?wakka=BetterVista
PS. Viz has the Fizz
I liked Red Hat Fedora. Thought it efficient and fast. I thought Knoppix was brilliant when I started using it and installed it to Hard Drive to give me a Debian system. Mepis I could never get to work.
I am a desktop Linux user, so I like PCLinuxOS (that was on my hard drive for a while) but am I using it? Nah I am in Puppy.
Here is my complete migration story
http://tmxxine.com/Wikka/wikka.php?wakka=BetterVista
PS. Viz has the Fizz
Last edited by Lobster on Wed 18 Apr 2007, 07:37, edited 1 time in total.
Many years ago, I ran Coherent, an old un*xish system.
Quite a few years ago, I tried Red Hat and didn't like it.
A couple of years ago QNX 4&6, and Debian. I liked the 'base' Debian install, but found it a bit large for my taste.
Last year I tried out a Knoppix livecd. The hardware compatibility was lacking and it felt a bit bloated.
A couple of month ago, I downloaded ISOs for Puppy and DSL. I never could get printing to work from the DSL livecd. Puppy was great! Good performance(even on old P2s.) It has a nice and workable selection of apps and utilities. In most cases the automatic hardware detection works well.
Puppy is my main OS since I first booted it earlier this year.
--Lee
Ah yes, and the community is brilliant. 
Quite a few years ago, I tried Red Hat and didn't like it.
A couple of years ago QNX 4&6, and Debian. I liked the 'base' Debian install, but found it a bit large for my taste.
Last year I tried out a Knoppix livecd. The hardware compatibility was lacking and it felt a bit bloated.
A couple of month ago, I downloaded ISOs for Puppy and DSL. I never could get printing to work from the DSL livecd. Puppy was great! Good performance(even on old P2s.) It has a nice and workable selection of apps and utilities. In most cases the automatic hardware detection works well.
Puppy is my main OS since I first booted it earlier this year.
--Lee
Ah yes, and the community is brilliant.
Last edited by fluxit on Sat 24 Jun 2006, 05:24, edited 1 time in total.
I had Coherent dual booted with win for workgroups on my old 286 laptop - but had problems with printers and ethernet cards - it remained an interesting but unproductive educational experience (Loved that moonshot!!!)
I tried several Live distros before puppy but most didn't run on my AMD k6 PC for some reason - many stalled at bootup. Beatrix was the first to work for me and give an ethernet internet connection straight off but printing and wireless networking remained problematic.
Puppy 108r1 just worked straight off, gave me an immediate ethernet internet connection & let me connect to windows shares. The information infrastructure was superb with the forums, pupgets and dotpups. I had wifi networking on 4 computers before I knew it.
Roll on Puppy Power
I tried several Live distros before puppy but most didn't run on my AMD k6 PC for some reason - many stalled at bootup. Beatrix was the first to work for me and give an ethernet internet connection straight off but printing and wireless networking remained problematic.
Puppy 108r1 just worked straight off, gave me an immediate ethernet internet connection & let me connect to windows shares. The information infrastructure was superb with the forums, pupgets and dotpups. I had wifi networking on 4 computers before I knew it.
Roll on Puppy Power
Last edited by r__hughes on Wed 28 Jun 2006, 23:42, edited 1 time in total.
> 1/2 new to linux. Shows how easy it is to adopt...
That says a lot about the qualities of Puppy, doesn't it? I'd say that initial experience is key when hoping to convert others. People don't often get a linux box and have to go through the pain of installing windows [yeah, how often does that happen?? Only in Bill's wet dreams], and most who try linux have already passed through the gates filtering out all who are unwilling to *attempt* to set up a new OS they know nothing, or little, about. Already adventurous, I'd say. Still, I wonder how many try and give up when they encounter a truly overwhelming list of distribution choices, only to have the first n fail before they even get going... on install, on printer setup, hardware detection, internet, etc.
I'd love to see how I can help make it as accessable to beginners, of which I am essentially one in spite of years with Solaris and other Unix before that. That was 6+ years ago, so I remember the feel but not all the commands - and I rarely ever left the command line. However, I never did learn a great deal about unix since I was not an official admin... would install servers and such but under the watchful eye of a multi-decade pro, and the rest of the time was burried in code via vi editor (now that I know... um, or I did at one time. Still have a habit of typing esc : wq when I close any text editors). For know I suspect I'll have to focus on adding to the documentation since that is always key for new people.
I'd love to see how I can help make it as accessable to beginners, of which I am essentially one in spite of years with Solaris and other Unix before that. That was 6+ years ago, so I remember the feel but not all the commands - and I rarely ever left the command line. However, I never did learn a great deal about unix since I was not an official admin... would install servers and such but under the watchful eye of a multi-decade pro, and the rest of the time was burried in code via vi editor (now that I know... um, or I did at one time. Still have a habit of typing esc : wq when I close any text editors). For know I suspect I'll have to focus on adding to the documentation since that is always key for new people.
I've been trying lots of mini distros over the last two weeks, I tried edubuntu first for my little boy (he's 5) so he could use a pc without crashing it! He's now more interested in the llgp games distro. I tried dsl and others but puppy is the best!
I had a broken laptop - hard drive was broken, cd drive was dodgy and only 96mb ram, but with wake2pup and a usb key it booted up faster than winxppro on my pentium3.6! (and I still don't believe how fast puppy boots on that with a live cd). Its extremely user friendly esp for someone whos never used another operating system (unless you count bbc basic back in the mid '80's
)
Thank you all.
I had a broken laptop - hard drive was broken, cd drive was dodgy and only 96mb ram, but with wake2pup and a usb key it booted up faster than winxppro on my pentium3.6! (and I still don't believe how fast puppy boots on that with a live cd). Its extremely user friendly esp for someone whos never used another operating system (unless you count bbc basic back in the mid '80's
)Thank you all.
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pythoncoder
- Posts: 59
- Joined: Thu 09 Mar 2006, 17:53
- Location: UK
I'm seriously impressed by Puppy on a minimum system I've built. This uses a mini-ITX motherboard with 600MHz Via processor and a Compact Flash card installed in an IDE adaptor. Puppy seems ideal for systems like this, and for reviving old PC's.
As for its use as a main desktop OS, I'm still not sure if it's for me. It certainly boots incredibly quickly on my 3 year old P4 2.6 system. But I'm looking at Ubuntu too: for systems with plenty of hard disk space this seems like a very nice distro.
Pete
As for its use as a main desktop OS, I'm still not sure if it's for me. It certainly boots incredibly quickly on my 3 year old P4 2.6 system. But I'm looking at Ubuntu too: for systems with plenty of hard disk space this seems like a very nice distro.
Pete
Paid good money for Mandrake when it first appeared many years ago and it kinda worked for me, although I knew nothin' about Linux (and still don't).
Then tried Corel with WP (because I like WP) - didn't work.
RH - didn't work.
Rekindled interest when Knoppix appeared - it works. Then Kanotix - even better.
Then long list of distro diarrhea, of which Flonix impressed. SuSE seemed to do things that others couldn't but they were greedy and wanted real money.
Only got serious when DSL came along and still use it, along with Austrumi and Puppy, which I prefer and it suits my fiddling with small and older HW.
Otherwise, for full distros, presently have Mandriva 2006, SuSE 10.1 and FC5 loaded, of which the latter two work well. Constantly review Ubuntu and its derivatives; although it's getting a lot better, hate Gnome and it seems too bloated. Mepis was the dark horse, along with PCLinux - easy and they work. Zenwalk might be more appealing if it used a rational installer: suspect it's a product of unbending academics?! Gento? = apoplexy! Others seem to have faded into dim memories.
Sticking with LinEx for gaming.
What next?
Then tried Corel with WP (because I like WP) - didn't work.
RH - didn't work.
Rekindled interest when Knoppix appeared - it works. Then Kanotix - even better.
Then long list of distro diarrhea, of which Flonix impressed. SuSE seemed to do things that others couldn't but they were greedy and wanted real money.
Only got serious when DSL came along and still use it, along with Austrumi and Puppy, which I prefer and it suits my fiddling with small and older HW.
Otherwise, for full distros, presently have Mandriva 2006, SuSE 10.1 and FC5 loaded, of which the latter two work well. Constantly review Ubuntu and its derivatives; although it's getting a lot better, hate Gnome and it seems too bloated. Mepis was the dark horse, along with PCLinux - easy and they work. Zenwalk might be more appealing if it used a rational installer: suspect it's a product of unbending academics?! Gento? = apoplexy! Others seem to have faded into dim memories.
Sticking with LinEx for gaming.
What next?
You missed two Options:
- Yes, but Now I'm also using something else
- No, but I regularly use more than 1 distro anyway.
In my case I am the later one so I had to settle for "No but I'm happy to addopt"
- Yes, but Now I'm also using something else
- No, but I regularly use more than 1 distro anyway.
In my case I am the later one so I had to settle for "No but I'm happy to addopt"
[url]http://rarsa.blogspot.com[/url] Covering my eclectic thoughts
[url]http://www.kwlug.org/blog/48[/url] Covering my Linux How-to
[url]http://www.kwlug.org/blog/48[/url] Covering my Linux How-to
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Nathan F
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I had Mepis installed for about six months, and that was my first Linux. This was back when Mepis was pretty much brand new. After a while with my constant tinkering I managed to break a few too many things, and it was really a bit slower than the Windos install I had at the time too, so I went in search of something else. I've since tried everything under the sun but for a Linux distro Puppy came the closest to satisfying me, and still does. That's why I stick with it and base all my experiments on it.
I also had FreeBSD installed for quite a while and loved it. I might go back to it some day, I think there's a lot of potential in a BSD system. It can be as small or as big as you want and frankly the default installation is way more bug free than anything in the Linux world. They manage that by just using stable programs instead of always having the latest and greatest, so there is a trade off.
But I will probably always stick with Puppy for as long as it remains viable.
Nathan
I also had FreeBSD installed for quite a while and loved it. I might go back to it some day, I think there's a lot of potential in a BSD system. It can be as small or as big as you want and frankly the default installation is way more bug free than anything in the Linux world. They manage that by just using stable programs instead of always having the latest and greatest, so there is a trade off.
But I will probably always stick with Puppy for as long as it remains viable.
Nathan
Bring on the locusts ...
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seldomseen
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Broke in with Red Hat 9 when my Windows 98SE went toes up. Stuck with that until Fedora 1 came out, then tried Fedora 2 (which was extremely slow). Mepis for about 6 months. Kanotix for about 6 months. Many experiments with Debian- and Slack-variations. Been experimenting with Puppy since 0.9.1, and REALLY started paying attention with 1.0. Now tag-teaming with Vector 5 SOHO and Puppy2, depending on which one I feel like running. My carry-around system (for using in random computers) is Puppy 108 multisession, with all the programs that I use (figuring the older 2.4 kernel will give me more flexibility with older borrowed gear).
ha ha me too except:bugman wrote:Tried Red Hat
Tried Debian
Tried Mandrake
Tried Damn Small Linux
Tried Puppy
DSL- umm just not me
linspire -SLOW slower than xp aaaahhh!
red hat - install cd was too scratched to use had to keep reinstalling (about 50 to 75 times) no joke i installed that thing atleast 50 times and still kept messing up on me i spent 3 days just reinstalling it and reinstalling it
byzantine - not enough stuff but good for just internet use
puppy - I LOVE PUPPY! woot woot! perfect except the start menu uugh...
Is Puppy first ~~~~~~~~
Well all I can say is that I have tried all sorts of operating systems and I have found Puppy the most comfortable.
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Sit Heel Speak
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My computing / Linux rezoomay
(EDITED man, I sure do run off at the mouth about me - me - me a lot, don't I. Autobiographical saga chopped.)
Tried Caldera Linux and Slackware in 1999 but couldn't quickly figure out how to tweak these for acceptable speed and so gave up. In 2000 I co-edited a book on the Linux 2.4 kernel but my role was purely grammatical, I never actually tried any distro.
Did not touch another Linux until last March, when Fred Langa made favorable mention of Puppy. Tried it. Like it very much. When I can get WINE to run my wife's USGS TOPO topographical maps on CD, and my mom's government grant application forms for her clothes bank, and my company's mortgage loan application generation software, then I will probably ditch Windows once and for all.
Tried Caldera Linux and Slackware in 1999 but couldn't quickly figure out how to tweak these for acceptable speed and so gave up. In 2000 I co-edited a book on the Linux 2.4 kernel but my role was purely grammatical, I never actually tried any distro.
Did not touch another Linux until last March, when Fred Langa made favorable mention of Puppy. Tried it. Like it very much. When I can get WINE to run my wife's USGS TOPO topographical maps on CD, and my mom's government grant application forms for her clothes bank, and my company's mortgage loan application generation software, then I will probably ditch Windows once and for all.
Re: Poll: Is Puppy your first Linux?
Puppy is the first distribution I have been able to access the internet with. I tried SuSe 7.3, loved the packages and set-up and changing window managers was very easy. I liked lighter ones, since KDE and Gnome seemed klunky to me at the time. I was not able to ever configure the broadband connection, so I finally wiped the partition off my hard drive. Their documentation, it was a boxed set, was the best. I finally gave up broadband because the cost was getting outrageous. The major distributions kept getting larger, and if you do not know dependencies it is hard to do a custom install. So I decided to check out floppy distributions, something to run on minimal hardware. Tried WebWolf, GreyCat and Basic. WebWolf and GreyCat were a little too minimal but worked okay. Basic I just did not get around to checking out, will probably need to if I want to use Linux on my laptop. It is a 486/DX4 75Mhz with math co-processor. I am able to access the internet with it using DOS. I saw Basic has AbiWord as an extension, and I use Abi on Win98 and Puppy.
When Knoppix and live CD's first came out, they just did not seem to be targeted for older hardware, then saw DSL and Puppy. Kept debating whether to try them or not. Did not have an external modem, yet, so put it off until I could find one reasonable. Finally found Trendnet 56K for $20, so ordered DSL and Puppy CD's. Put the DSL CD in, it loaded, this looks nice. Looked around a little. Popped out the CD, and put Puppy in. Wow, look at all the menu options and the desktop icons already configured. Found the set-up wizard and set-up everything in minutes. Shortly I was on the net and looking at the Puppy forum. I thought the documentation with Puppy, included on the CD, was great but the forum was amazing. Asked some dumb newbie questions and got courteous answers quickly. Only thing I have not been able to do in Puppy is print. Partly because, although I downloaded it, I have not run CUPS yet. I have not bothered because in Puppy accessing my files in Win is a snap, and I just copy, or open, Abi documents from Linux or Windows as needed. And with MUT I am able to access my USB thumbdrive and copy files there easily, also. I also like how easy it was to change, and move, icons. I like certain apps grouped together and it was very easy to move them where I wanted them. I also changed icons, very easy once you find the folders where they are located. I was, and still am, pleasantly surprised with this distribution and the selection of applications. I am glad the developer and supporters understood not all of us have Ghz Pentiums with GB's of RAM.
When Knoppix and live CD's first came out, they just did not seem to be targeted for older hardware, then saw DSL and Puppy. Kept debating whether to try them or not. Did not have an external modem, yet, so put it off until I could find one reasonable. Finally found Trendnet 56K for $20, so ordered DSL and Puppy CD's. Put the DSL CD in, it loaded, this looks nice. Looked around a little. Popped out the CD, and put Puppy in. Wow, look at all the menu options and the desktop icons already configured. Found the set-up wizard and set-up everything in minutes. Shortly I was on the net and looking at the Puppy forum. I thought the documentation with Puppy, included on the CD, was great but the forum was amazing. Asked some dumb newbie questions and got courteous answers quickly. Only thing I have not been able to do in Puppy is print. Partly because, although I downloaded it, I have not run CUPS yet. I have not bothered because in Puppy accessing my files in Win is a snap, and I just copy, or open, Abi documents from Linux or Windows as needed. And with MUT I am able to access my USB thumbdrive and copy files there easily, also. I also like how easy it was to change, and move, icons. I like certain apps grouped together and it was very easy to move them where I wanted them. I also changed icons, very easy once you find the folders where they are located. I was, and still am, pleasantly surprised with this distribution and the selection of applications. I am glad the developer and supporters understood not all of us have Ghz Pentiums with GB's of RAM.
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avatar-man
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Thu 15 Jun 2006, 15:30
SLAX Live CD was the first Linux distro that made me want to figure out Linux OS. I had gotten a dummies book with Red Hat install CD's several years ago but my NIC wasn't recognized and I wasn't able to figure out how to get on the internet.
SLAX worked pefectly first time I booted to it. Then I tried Slackware, Kubuntu, Suse, Zenwalk. I tried some others too, but never for any length of time. Probably used Suse the longest, but it just didn't feel like I was able to tweak and play around as much as with say Slackware or Zenwalk. Nice thing about Kubuntu (and Suse) was that it automatically configured my ATI Radeon graphics hardware.
With Puppy I get all of the above and can take the Live CD with me and use on almost any computer, so I can always have a familiar envirionment if I want to.
Puppy was great fun from when I first installed it, but it was John Murga's graphics hardware setup wizard (the 3D control panel) and the devx_201.sfs file to let me compile simple programs that have made me stay because with that I feel like I can do anything on Puppy that I could do with these other distros. Plus, there are easy to read "roadsigns" when I need to edit some config file. I could go on and on. Speed, good selection of base programs, putget, community.
Jim in Chicago
SLAX worked pefectly first time I booted to it. Then I tried Slackware, Kubuntu, Suse, Zenwalk. I tried some others too, but never for any length of time. Probably used Suse the longest, but it just didn't feel like I was able to tweak and play around as much as with say Slackware or Zenwalk. Nice thing about Kubuntu (and Suse) was that it automatically configured my ATI Radeon graphics hardware.
With Puppy I get all of the above and can take the Live CD with me and use on almost any computer, so I can always have a familiar envirionment if I want to.
Puppy was great fun from when I first installed it, but it was John Murga's graphics hardware setup wizard (the 3D control panel) and the devx_201.sfs file to let me compile simple programs that have made me stay because with that I feel like I can do anything on Puppy that I could do with these other distros. Plus, there are easy to read "roadsigns" when I need to edit some config file. I could go on and on. Speed, good selection of base programs, putget, community.
Jim in Chicago