Puppy - Which programs do you need/want?

[greengeek]

As puppy progresses it becomes able to handle new hardware, and also new software. But do we always need these new programs? I am interested for Puppians to list exactly what programs (or functions) they consider "must haves" and also what programs (or functions) they would like to use if they could.

Maybe a program you need is not available for your version of puppy? Maybe the only reason you have to go looking for a new Puppy is that you have to find one that supports a specific program?

Have you been forced to upgrade from an older Puppy just to get the ability to use a certain program?

I prefer not to upgrade my operating system if i can possibly avoid it - and that means I am reliant on developers making available the programs I rely on. I try to stick to simple, basic functionality.

Here is my list:

Word Processing
- Love the simplicity of Leafpad.
- Love the functionality of Geany.
- I use mostly Softmaker Textmaker for more complex work.
- I use Libreoffice if I have to (where Textmaker lacks some ability or other)
- It is a long time since I found any advantages with using Abiword and I don't recall what I last used it for. (It's biggest problem for me was that Abiword and Textmaker used different ways of handling rtf files - corrupting each others files - so I decided to stick with Textmaker)

Scanning and OCR
- xsane scanner
- peasyscan - for OCR info and pic2txt see here

PDF creation and manipulation
- I create pdfs using Textmaker.
- I use Peasy pdf for extraction and assembly of documents.
- Very occasionally use masterpdfeditor or xournal for specific needs.

Graphics
- Hardly ever use anything other than mtPaint
- Temporarily load Inkscape full if I need vector graphics.
- PeasyGlue for image joining.

CAD drawing:
- Librecad does what I need.

Audio:
- Peasymp3
- Deadbeef
- Pmusic
- mhwaveedit

Network:
- Minidlna to stream audio

Internet:
- 99% use Firefox 17 ESR
- Occasionally use Slimjet for troublesome sites.
- Sticking with Skype 4.2 for the few times I ever talk via internet.

Screencapture
- T.A.S for still screenshots.
- SimpleScreenRecorder handles what I need in the way of video capture but I'm always looking at other methods (since SSR requires QT which is not in all my puppies)

Other:
- Uextract for file zipping/unzipping

EDIT : Here's some extras that spring to mind as others mention them:

- Gparted (I have version 0.14.1)
- Syslinux 3.7.3 (Newer versions than that cause me boot problems on some hardware)

What are your tips for successfully staying on an old Puppy instead of having to "upgrade" to a later one? How do you keep your old programs running?

[learnhow2code]

do we always need these new programs?

imagine a web made out of rubber bands, with beads as nodes:

Code: Select all

  \ \ / /
 \-o-o-o-/
  ><X|X><
 /-o-o-o-\
  / / \ \ 

some of the nodes are the kernel, some are modules, some are libraries, and some are core software components (like bash)

theres a little give in most of these nodes, so changing some of them doesnt always require changing others. thats the rubber bands-- they connect the nodes but they stretch.

sometimes the kernel has to be updated to support hardware.

sometimes the libraries have to be updated to support software.

sometimes the libraries or other software expect other stuff to be compatible.

you can only stretch the bands so far before something breaks, unless you bring the other nodes closer to what youve upgraded.

the "proof" is that we use not only the 3.x kernel instead of 2.x, but that we use puppy from the past few years (well, a lot of us do) instead of puppy from 8 years ago. again: mostly.

one of the important things about core components is security updates.

[ally]

yassm network

[mcewanw]

Hello greengeek,

Not an answer to your thread question, but related. Following some earlier comments you made elsewhere, I've been trying out my new AV+screencast app in Slacko 5.6. As you say, the ffmpeg in there doesn't recognise newer ffmpeg options asyncts or thread_queue_size. Not a problem, since I use a simple plugin system for changing ffmpeg code lines, so I took these options out of the relevant plugins. However, these are important and useful new options which prevent the old Alsa buffer xrun errors and also force video and audio streams to keep sync. The net result is my new program will successfully record an audio stream, or a video stream, or your webcam, but will not successfully record audio/video at the same time. You'd need newer ffmpeg for that.

I presume SimpleScreenRecorder, which directly interfaces to underlying ffmpeg libs, works fine on your Slacko 5.6 system? Or are you using that with a different Pup distribution?

William

[musher0]

Good thread, this, greengeek.

In view of the Puduan project, it couldn't have come at a better time for me!

Thanks.

[musher0]

Wrong thread, sorry. (Message moved to proper thread.)

[Sailor Enceladus]

- Leafpad
- Gnome Mplayer
- Mtpaint
- Old Firefox (before Austalis)
- Xarchive (with tar, gz, xz, zip, etc.)
- Gparted and grub4dos (only needed if MS is still on the hard drive)

Extras:
- Timidity (to play midis)
- Take-A-Shot (for automatic capturing of windows)
- Dosbox
- XChat
- Wine (maybe...)

My list is huge

[greengeek]

I presume SimpleScreenRecorder, which directly interfaces to underlying ffmpeg libs, works fine on your Slacko 5.6 system? Or are you using that with a different Pup distribution?

Thanks for the heads up re lack of sync with old ffmpeg version. I use SSR only on a Slacko 5.6 derivative so far but to be honest I have not recorded a lengthy enough clip to be able to identify any loss of syncing. I need to test this and report any untoward outcome in the relevant thread. What would you consider an appropriate recording time (or other parameter) to reveal this symptom?

[greengeek]

- Old Firefox (before Austalis)

Any idea which exact version that is? Keen to know what people find still works well for them. I recall mikeb was still running FF 3.6 last time he posted (where has he gone??)

[mcewanw]

I presume SimpleScreenRecorder, which directly interfaces to underlying ffmpeg libs, works fine on your Slacko 5.6 system? Or are you using that with a different Pup distribution?

Thanks for the heads up re lack of sync with old ffmpeg version. I use SSR only on a Slacko 5.6 derivative so far but to be honest I have not recorded a lengthy enough clip to be able to identify any loss of syncing. I need to test this and report any untoward outcome in the relevant thread. What would you consider an appropriate recording time (or other parameter) to reveal this symptom?

With old ffmpeg, recording audio and video together at same time hardly works at all. Even a short clip of a few tens of seconds would be enough to guage how well SSR is coping with syncing. New ffmpeg with asynts supports syncs very well indeed - I'd expect SSR to internally manage something similar.

The main reason I encoded audio and video as totally separate tracks in pAVrecord, and then merged them at the end, was to allow compensation for the sync issues. It worked okay, but I could now improve the libx264 encoding parameters in that. My new app records both audio and video at same time, so sync is crucial.

William

[greengeek]

With old ffmpeg, recording audio and video together at same time hardly works at all. Even a short clip of a few tens of seconds would be enough to guage how well SSR is coping with syncing.

I just did a fullscreen test (1280x800) of 2minutes 20seconds and the syncing was perfect. Quite happy with that. Looks as if a longer recording would probably be fine - there was no loss of sync at all.

[nic007]

Although not all necessary, my view is that puppy's applications are so small that all of them can stay. The only application that is "problematic" is Abiword. That thing has never been stable and it does mess up some of your files. The default media player can play everything so no need for any additional audio players. In the end it all comes down to user preference. I use some smallish Windows programs with Wine which have served me well over the years. Programs like: Atlantis Word Processor, 2nd Speech Center, XMPlay, Irfanview, SumatraPDF, AllerCalc,uTorrent, etc.

[Moose On The Loose]

As puppy progresses it becomes able to handle new hardware, and also new software. But do we always need these new programs? I am interested for Puppians to list exactly what programs (or functions) they consider "must haves" and also what programs (or functions) they would like to use if they could.

I will mostly list things I do rather than programs

* Browse the web
** watching videos
** https for banking

* edit pictures
** Taking them from my phone as though it is a memory stick

* edit videos
** Taking them from my phone as though it is a memory stick
** Taking them from a webcam
** taking them from a youtube video

* edit sounds

* make spreadsheets

* make text documents

* Run LTSpice specifically

* Design circuit schematics

* Design circuit PCBs
** Using Express PCB specifically
** Making standard gerber outputs

[greengeek]

* Run LTSpice specifically
* Design circuit schematics
* Design circuit PCBs
** Using Express PCB specifically
** Making standard gerber outputs

Is there a specific pup that you use for these programs?

[Moose On The Loose]

* Run LTSpice specifically
* Design circuit schematics
* Design circuit PCBs
** Using Express PCB specifically
** Making standard gerber outputs

Is there a specific pup that you use for these programs?

I run on 528
LTSpice runs perfectly well under wine due to efforts made by the nice folks at Linear.

On my google drive there is a Linux native Kicad.
SFS:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B63vE ... ndGOU5icG8

PET:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B63vE ... V9CLTJDajg

ngspice pet
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B63vE ... jFDMTJhcEU

xcircuit
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B63vE ... FhlVXZnRzg

These days, I run the windows version under wine more often

[Sailor Enceladus]

- Old Firefox (before Austalis)

Any idea which exact version that is? Keen to know what people find still works well for them. I recall mikeb was still running FF 3.6 last time he posted (where has he gone??)

Ah the "Australis/ChromeFox renovation" happened in Firefox 29, so I use Firefox 28. Firefox 3.6 was nice, but doesn't support a lot of things now - heh. Some sites like Youtube and Facebook say that Firefox 28 is outdated, but besides those nag screens I don't see any real issues. The main advantage is that it works better (and faster) on 1GB RAM than the newer versions for me.

[Burn_IT]

It takes a little work, but there is an add on called CLASSIC THEME RESTORER which makes later versions look like earlier ones so you get the later security fixes but keep the good old looks.
I use it.

[Rattlehead]

This is a bit of a random comment, but I recently tried to install F.lux (a program that modifies the screen's light depending on the hour of the day in order to protect your eyes), and I found nothing in the Tahrpup Package Manager, otherwise so well supplied.

(As a sidenote, shouldn't a program like that, given that it works, be mandatory like, in every computer ever? )

[musher0]

This is a bit of a random comment, but I recently tried to install F.lux (a program that modifies the screen's light depending on the hour of the day in order to protect your eyes), and I found nothing in the Tahrpup Package Manager, otherwise so well supplied.

(As a sidenote, shouldn't a program like that, given that it works, be mandatory like, in every computer ever? )

Hello Rattlehead.

Not necessarily. You can modify the lighting in your computer studio using
curtains and lamps, can you not?

Just a thought. BFN.

[8Geee]

Basic puppy*: Slacko 5.7 Frugal install (pupmode=13)
Browser*: FF27.0.1 configured (YT D/L included)
Video Edit (simple): avidemeux 2.5.5-s5 (edits YT)
Office: FreeOffice 6.97 (pre Win10) trimmed to language specific and manuals moved to HDD
paint*: mtPaint (mine is 3.44.48 IIRC... newer is available elsewhere here)

* found in slacko5.7-2017 elsewhere here with latest security upgrades.

As others have pointed out spice, and clones need wine and dep. pkgs.

Regards
8Geee