Hello,
I have never tried Puppy Linux before.
I have a Windows background.

I have been using Kubuntu for 1 y (18.04 and then 20.10) on multiple machines.
It’s pretty descent. They just don’t put the latest software in Discover and some of them don’t run.
Eclipse doesn’t run.
VirtualBox runs but you can’t install VMs with it. You can an error msg.


I have a few question because I don’t want to download the wrong thing.

1. I see that on http://puppylinux.com/
there is
FossaPup64 9.5
409 MB
Why is it so small?
I once had a bad experience with Debian. I installed it (300 MB) and then, there is no GUI.
I don’t want a stripped down OS. Let it have a full GUI, very user friendly, LibreOffice, GNU Paint, KCalc.

2. I don’t want a network installation.
I will copy the ISO to DVD and will install on a few PCs, maybe.
I will also install in a VM, maybe.

3. All my PCs have 64 bit CPUs and 8, 16, 24 GB of RAM.

4. Video card, graphics card, graphics adapter, GPU.
One PC has nVidia GTX 980 4 GB.
for gaming.

The terminal is great but it is time to make a GUI for some of these operations.
All gamers want to click and install the nVidia drivers.
I will be installing the closed source driver since apparently, it is more feature rich. For example, S3 texture compression is copyrighted.

5. Software installation. My experienced with Kubuntu is that software installation is a hassle.
Discover is great the softwares there are old.

Example:
_1. Eclipse is old and doesn’t run. So I had to download Eclipse from the official site and then the issue is, should I install with sudo or not…. Too much of a headache.
On top of that, it does not create a start menu entry.
I understand that the fault lies with the guys at Eclipse.

_2. LibreOffice…. So I stop with the boring stories.
_3. NetBeans
_4. VirtualBox

Is Puppy Linux up to date? Do they push the latest?
For example, LibreOffice is at 7.0.4.2.

~~~~vmelkon

Maybe try Mint - is Ubuntu and Debian desktop oriented distribution. Puppy is small by design.

The best KDE implementation I have ever used is OpenSuse. There are GUI tools for everything, including all system maintenance. It's a big download (4.x GB) and the installer isn't as stupid easy as Ubuntu or Mint's. I can't speak to software age as I don't care, unless for some reason my hardware isn't supported, but that has only been an issue with ancient versions of sane.

I used OpenSuse Leap, not Tumblweed. Leap is stable, Tumblweed is bleeding edge, which in my world translates to giant PITA to maintain. I hate bleeding edge but that's me.

I tried Mint a few months back but it had some bizarre bugs.
I had Linux Mint 19.3.

1. I installed wmtemp from their Store.
When I open it, I get a microscopic window, I think the size is 10 x 10 pixels. I have to expand it. It does not refresh the window properly. Parts of the window is whatever the background is. The temperature that it shows is 0 °C for CPU and 0 °C for System. It does not appear in the start menu.

2. The Clipboard
There is a difference between Kubuntu and Linux Mint.
For the program that I had written with Qt, if I copy something to the clipboard.
Close the program.
Can you paste the text into another program?
On Kubuntu YES
On Linux Mint NO.
On Linux Mint, you can only paste into another program while my program runs.
As soon as you close my program, the clipboard is cleared.

-The guy at Qt forum said it is not a Qt problem.

3. On Linux Mint, if I double click my program, it asks with which app I want to open it with. The GUI does not check the executable flag?
On Kubuntu, once the executable flag is checked, it does not ask. It runs the program.

4. USB stick. Writing to a USB stick is broken. Sometimes I eject and put back in and check, the files have not be written. It looked like if I write a large file, it truly writes. Small files get buffered in RAM?

Yes, I have tried Tumbleweed. It's pretty good.
I don't know much about Linux but some bugs in LibreOffice were bothering me and Kubuntu would update other things but they would never touch LibreOffice. So finally, I uninstalled their LibreOffice and installed manually the one from the official website.
The problem is, to uninstall the manually installed LibreOffice to install the new one was a PITA.

I don't understand why they made LibreOffice into like 50 deb files with dependencies all over the place.
Or maybe I don't know what I am doing.

Why is it a PITA to maintain for you?

~~~~vmelkon

Probably not. Puppy is a lightweight distribution that usually runs entirely from RAM. It uses a different package manager and by default installs lightweight apps like Abiword and Gnumeric. Since it basically runs from RAM it uses saved sessions at shutdown to write changes like installed programs etc to some physical storage medium.

I have run it from a VM from time to time and it works but I prefer a regular distribution.

Put Puppy in ram when booting from usb and enjoy the speed. Save files can be kept in a Linux home partition on another install.


You don't have to commit like Kubuntu, OpenSuse, and other conventional installs.

Breakages. I want a system I can use, not a system where I have to constantly update and chance a breakage that requires manual intervention. I don’t care about latest and greatest, only that something works well. It’s just my preference.

@ vmelkon:-

As stated earlier, Puppy is small by design. All apps in the ISO are chosen for small size, lean code, etc. You don't get lots of eye-candy, but everything functions. I'm posting from the latest Chrome in Fossapup64 right now, running with a quad-core Pentium 'Gold', and 32GB RAM.

Running in RAM, Pup is respectably fast even on ancient hardware. On new hardware, it's like a rocket-ship; ridiculously fast, and a real revelation. As Roky says, run it with the 'save' on a HDD, and a USB install works great.

She's an acquired taste. Bit like Marmite (here in the UK), or Vegemite, I think they call it, down-under. (Yeast extract.....you either love it, or you can't stand it..!!) But one thing's for sure; Puppy can do everything the 'big boys' can.....just be aware, she's a bit more 'hands-on' than most, 'cos it's a 'hobbyist' system (designed for folks who WANT to tear their system to bits & re-build it the way they want it).

Nvidia - no probs. You can compile the latest driver whenever you want it; takes around 5 minutes, and a re-start.

LibreOffice; the AppImages work like a dream, OOTB. Easiest way, in my opinion, to keep it up-to-date.

And anything you have 'issues' with, the very friendly community will help get running. We love helping folks with 'our Pup'..!! Come and join the party:-

https://forum.puppylinux.com/index.php/


Mike.

1 members found this post helpful.

Sounds like ultra small distros are not for you, so I suggest looking at middle weight distros, such as MX Linux.

(AntiX, my regular distro, might work for you too.)

https://mxlinux.org/

( https://antixlinux.com/ )

1 members found this post helpful.

hi vmelkon.

I've been around puppy linux for a long time, but don't know it in depth.
I'm running fossapup 9.5 and it seems to do everything everything you asked about.
This is an ancient 32 bit win xp computer, 4 gb ram, fairly fast processor.
Puppy runs faster on here than windows.

When I want to use puppy I just call up the boot menu and select the usb stick it's installed onto.
Or, I can just unplug the usb and let the computer boot to windows. Best of 2 worlds.
No permanent change was made to the boot order.

You probably already know this, but ...
After you get it installed to usb, there is a "Save" icon on the desktop.
If you make a change you like, click the save icon.
If you gum something up, just exit without saving.
Has saved my bacon more than once.

There will be a learning curve for any new OS you try. No different for puppy.
And these guys will help you. See here:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...er-4175694925/

Noop. Puppy isn't for you. You need a rolling distro,
Sparky XFCE is light and up to date.Never gives problems.
If you have a hardo for the latest greatest try out this simplistic and basic arch
hefftorlinux. Quick and super simple install. Add what you want from the arch repot or aur last

Old question but maybe answering will help someone else:

It's so small because that is the design philosophy of Puppy & it can be done.

Re. #3, you don't need Puppy, but it's available.

I started Puppy from Mint & its Puppy Package Manager is superior, so long as you avoid version 2.5.

Puppy uses mtpaint. I use it regularly for basic functions but could use more learning on intermediate and beyond.

Mainline Puppy (other versions use Slackware, Debian, etc.) uses Ubuntu repositories. If Ubuntu Libre is up-to-date, so is yours. You can also install newer versions manually.

Caveat:

Would you like using Joe's Windows Manager? They have that bias, though other DEs are supported. I use both JWM & XFCE in what are called "puplets" (not official releases).