Trying out Puppy Linux 6.0.1
 

My computer was a friend's newer computer -- it came with Windows Vista. Of course, after using it for a short time, a virus ruined the OS. I put Linux Mint Qiana on it. Unfortunately, I could not get it to find a wi-fi signal after that. So, I tried Puppy Linux 6.0.1 and believe it or not, it seems to have no problem with wi-fi. How do I get other Distros, when downloading them takes many hours?

Welcome to LQ ! :-)

I've used Puppy in the past - good distro in and of itself.

I'm surprised that it would take *several hours* to download another distro. They vary in size from under 100 MB to close to 2 GB, so at today's typical broadband speeds, you should easily get one downloaded in anywhere from a couple of minutes to well under an hour.

Are you having throughput issues with your Internet connection ?

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Hello Rick,
Being fairly new using Linux, I assume that means is there a problem with the Internet speed - I use the wifi at my local public library. My friend and I were sending messages to each other (she was at home using 768K and I was using the library's broadband service). So the Internet speed here is very fast. By the way, the distro I was trying to download was Ubuntu 14.10 -- it never completed before I was running out of time (the library was closing).
Roman

Hey Roman - the only thing I can think of is that the library is either throttling its throughput to control costs or that the number of users simultaneously using their network were bottlenecking it. In any event, I typically download something like the Ubuntu ISO in around 10 minutes or so. My ISP service is capped at 30 Mbps (download throughput), which I rarely achieve, given ... well ... the nature of the Internet ... :-) ... All those hops and links.

You might want to check the location of the download mirrors you are using relative to your location ... pick something close. Or use the torrent system to download - usually the fastest.

Cheers !

Good thing to. 14.10 is not supported anymore. You were downloading a dead distro.

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/2015/07/03/...-july-23-2015/

Something like version 16.04 version is what you want.

I would stick with Puppy.
I use it and have for years.
I tend to prefer the Debian Based Puppies, but the Ubuntu based ones work well.
Also stick with a "frugal install" which is not well named as it is the method which supports the most options and add-ons as well as being capable of running from any "foreign" file system along side the original OS.

+1 for the suggestion of frugal install mode if you decide to stay with Puppy. A nice hybrid solution between full hard disk install (less recommended) and 100% mobile on removable media.

Cheers !

Why not try bit torrent - this is legal for Linux downloads and can be interrupted & restarted at your leisure.

I have a 300mbps fiber connection and 208mb puppy linux ISO took about 15 minutes to download.

Sounds about right.
Don't forget that the 300 is BITS and the 208 is BYTES

yup

300mbs connection - so that's about 30MB/sec download?
I'd expect a 208MB download to take about 7 seconds. :)

I did the math wrong! in any case, downloaded and installed Puppy linux. Cool distro. I have never used it before.