Puppy RAM requirements
 

Hi, guys,
I would like to find what are the real hardware requirements to run Puppy.
How much RAM is minimally required, how much is optimal and how much is desirable?
Thanks for your comments.
Val

For best performance, I think they recommend 128MB which allows puppy to run entirely in ram.

How much RAM...
 

While Puppy will boot and run on very little RAM - I've seen reports on as little as 24MB when a swap partition/file and a hard drive install is used - for practical purposes I would recomend from 128 to 256MB and up. And when running with the live CD in the 128 to 256MB range a swap file/partition is quite desirealble. The reason being that the ISO is very highly compressed and when expanded will use all or most of the RAM leaving very little to run applications. I've had instances where Firefox would not open when running the live CD on a machine with 256MB. A swap file/partition is very easy to set up and when sized at 2x RAM works very well. Search the wiki on the main Puppy site using the titles "How to Create a Swap File" and "Puppy Hard Drive Install Instructions" for more detailed information. :jawa:

Clarification of the question on RaM for Puppy
 

Hi, guys,

I very appreciate all replies to my post.

Let me explain what I am trying to accomplish.

I would like to send a computer to my parents so that I could communicate with them via email and IM. They are 100% computer illiterate. The solution should be cost effective and user friendly :-)


I have found the following publication and got in touch with the mentioned computer maker (please check out the link below)

http://www.norhtec.com/products/mcjr/index.html

The manufacturer has mentioned that their device could run Linux Puppy. Amen.

One of the decisions to make is - what should be the hardware configuration.

The other one is related to the first one - which configuration of Linux Puppy to choose.


So far, I have personally tried only Puppy that comes with OpenOffice 2.0. The LiveCD for this distribution is 170 Mb. The other ones claim to be smaller than 50-70 Mb.

So, I have to decide which way to go:

1. get the smallest Puppy, put it into the RAM (how much should I have?) and install the rest of the software such as graphics and OpenOffice onto the ... (hard drive, CF, - please help me with the configuration of the hardware)

2. get the Puppy with the OpenOffice 2 and adjust the hardware appropriately (amount of RAM, size and kind of the HDD etc).


I hope you see what I mean - I need a balance between the user friendliness (if I am not there - people would not crowd to help my parents), the features (email and IM in the 99.99% of cases - possibly some Word.doc files or scanning), and the hardware (they do not need to do rocket science - just basic communication).

The bottom line is

1. THE MUST - user friendliness (user friendliness in installation is optional - I can handle it; user friendliness in the use of computer is mandatory - once it is shipped, it is out of my control)

2. OS configuration and HardWare configuration should be in consensus to guarantee the requirement #1

3. Cost-effectiveness is desirable (I have no idea how much of the computer technology a 65 years old person can use when he starts from scratch)


I am looking forward for your help. If you can suggest me a better "software-hardware" configuration I would very appreciate it.

God bless you all.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

Val