favorite puppy features?

[mcewanw]

The setup I'm using is that I have a small FAT partition for grub4dos where menu.lst is based.

Is there some particular reason why you choose to use a FAT partition for grub4dos and menu.lst?

William

[rufwoof]

Its just the way it got set up originally and I've left it the same ever since. I used to run some old DOS programs and having a dedicated FAT partition was useful for those.

Many many years back I remember installing LILO and then when I came to change/uninstall it it trashed the system. I know little about MBR and ... all that sort of thing, so tend to use it from a end-user type approach. Tweak/change menu.lst is fine, anything else .... leave it alone (if it ain't broke don't fix it). IIRC it asked whether to install to the MBR or first track ... or something like that, and I can't remember which I chose.

[chilidog]

Frugal (with pfix=ram and easy experimenting) is my #1 too.
This includes also installation outside the pupsave for some programs (firefox-portable, QtWeb, java and .sfs), which keeps puppy light and fast.

The program I got to know with puppy and like best is probably Dillo.
Other favorites:
pmirrorget and youtube-dl
quickpet in Tahr
gnome mplayer

I also like that it is safe. Never had trouble with viruses, though at some occasions they popped up; just closed them and rebooted.

[Moose On The Loose]

....
id like to know everyones favorite puppy features.
....

I will start with some native actions of the OS as it comes out of the box

1) When I plug a memory stick onto the machine, there is no drama, nothing pops up (over what I'm working on) as a "modal dialog box" demanding that I do what it asks of me. A little icon for a memory stick appears letting me know that when I want, the computer will now do my bidding with that memory stick. I remain in control of my computer not it in control of me.

2) The button in the lower left corner of the screen is called "menu" and brings up a menu just like the label says. Nobody made me learn that "start" means "menu" or that a funny little picture did it.

3) For most common tasks, there is a clearly marked icon on the desktop.

Now for some things that can be installed

1) I can install gcc and write my own software without having to sign up for an on going expense.

2) I can install gimp, kino, avidmux and edit images and videos etc without having to pay for them before I find out if they work for me. (Octave and Qcad, were good and got a donation and a few others have gotten a little work on code in return)

3) I can install and use network packet sniffing tools and network mapping tools and run them easily.

[gcmartin]

There are 2 disk partition table types. They are available for selection whenever any user is constituting/reconstituting a drive, such as an HDD/SSD/USB/SD/microSD/etc.

Generally you can have only four primary partitions, but if one of those is a extended partition then you can create potentially unlimited (??) logical partitions within that extended partition.

This type of drive, type "msdos", is a throwback to days of old where there are 4 primary partitions Architecture of which one of them can be an extended partition where it can be expanded into multiple additional partitions. Partitions created in the extended area are known as Logical partitions. The name 'logical' is used to reference partitions in the extended area to differentiate them from msdos's primary partitions which to NOT have the functionality shown with extended partition. IN FACT, there is NO reason anyone couldn't ONLY HAVE AN EXTENDED partition which contains as many additional partitions as one chooses (1 to 255). Partitions in the extended area also have the same flags and characteristics as msdos's primary partitions. The following is an example of a msdos drive with only an extended area with as many logical partitions as the users would want.


The other drive type of drive, type "gpt", is what is found in modern pre-installed PCs (since 2007) where there are ONLY primary partitons (no concept of extended intended here). And you can have as many partitions as you choose. Thus there is no need for thought or planning necessary as is done/needed when the drive type is "msdos".GPT type is recognizable in all of the modern PUPs.
GPT or MSDOS drives can be created by fdisk, cfdisk, parted and GParted. From the GParted Menu, one selects Device>Create Partition Table where anyone can constitute a drive as MSDOS or GPT or ...

In looking at the new consumer 10TB disks, GPT becomes reasonable layout for use.

Hope this is helpful.

[gcmartin]

ISO to Live DVD operations and the ability to take my running system into a bootable ISO which can be burned for booting from a DVD...+1

This, over the years, IMHO, is one of the greatest attributes of Puppy Linux. This live behavior allows evaluation and continued use (with it save session features).

[dk60902]

Runs fast from RAM, probably fastest OS for browsing
Easy install to USB
Lightweight
Multiple monitor support on Tahrpup
Boot from USB w/o altering SSD
Can run w/o hard drive

[Colonel Panic]

Just off the top of my head;

Loads into, and then runs completely in, RAM so you can be up and running very quickly.

Runs as root so no need to use or remember a username or password, especially when accessing other drives or partitions.

Full set of system tools, so it's straightforward to burn an ISO off to a DVD-R or to create and shrink partitions on the hard drive.

Displays all the partitions in your system, whether mounted or not, at the bottom of the screen,

and

Able to install application files from other distros, including .rpm, .tgz and .deb files.

[8Geee]

I would like to add that puppy event manager + ext3 filesystem + 3fs save can be configured to save on shutdown only, or wait X minutes without activity- then save and shutdown. Sometimes we get a little distracted.

[drongo]

pfix=ram

runs as root

Helpful guides that walk you through, e.g. setting up ethernet or wireless, with descriptions of the consequences of selecting various options. This is a much under-rated feature, you almost never see this in any other software (app or OS)

Forum

I miss the barks, though.

[Galbi]

Helpful guides that walk you through, e.g. setting up ethernet or wireless, with descriptions of the consequences of selecting various options. This is a much under-rated feature, you almost never see this in any other software (app or OS)

+10