Puppy Linux

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Yesterday I installed Puppy Linux on my old, lame eMachines computer. (The computer maxes out at 2 GB of RAM.) I wanted a lite version of Linux, because Ubuntu and Xubuntu run slow on this computer. I’ve been hearing about Puppy Linux, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I went with the version which is compatible with Ubuntu 14.04, since there is a lot of good Ubuntu software out there.

Puppy Linux tries very hard to get you to run it straight off of the DVD. But if you hunt around, you can find how to install it to your hard drive, so that it will run faster. I went with installing it to my hard drive. The process was very easy. In fact, everything you do in Puppy Linux is very easy, because you get very detailed, plain-English explanations of everything. Particularly easy was the partition tool (Gparted), which allowed me to delete and recreate the main partition when I was installing Puppy Linux to the hard drive. However, it wouldn’t let me delete the two very small Linux partitions. I assume that this was because they are needed by Puppy Linux. My feeling was that this was well-tested, well-thought-out code.

Things weren’t exactly like they are in Windows, however. Often, a single click (rather than a double click) was required. If you double clicked, it would load two instances of the program, or tell you that it couldn’t load a second instance because there was already one loaded. Single clicking took a little getting used to.

Puppy Linux comes with the Pale Moon browser, a browser I have been wanting to try out. And everything is reasonably fast in Puppy Linux.

Problems:
1) The computer crashed A LOT! For example, whenever I tried to go to the add printer area. And whenever it crashed, it took A LONG TIME to reboot — it was rebuilding or verifying things.
2) Even though I installed Puppy Linux to the hard drive, I still had to leave the Puppy Linux DVD in the drive, because there was a file it needed from the DVD which wasn’t on the hard drive. I tried to copy the file from the DVD to the hard drive, but I couldn’t find a way to explore the contents of the DVD.
3) I couldn’t get the NoScript browser extension to work with Pale Moon (version was too old). And I couldn’t get Firefox installed. I finally figured out how to upgrade Pale Moon to a newer version, but by that time I had decided to ditch Puppy Linux.

Because of the continual crashes, I’ve decided to ditch Puppy Linux for something else. I’ll probably go with Linux Mint.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Elly

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Thank you for the report on your experiment.  I have been thinking along similar lines.  Picked up a flash drive for it & am about to sally forth.  Was considering puppy & then I’d try mint.  Seems like mint will be my first attempt.  Not sure when (this weekend or next), but am closer now after reading this.

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Check my post on Linux Mint: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/linux-mint/

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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I gave Unbuntu 1704LTS a try the other week. It has got a whole lot better. Networking with Windows was a real breeze. Went looking to set it up and it downloaded Samba all by its self. Impressive!
I was just about to hit terminal for the old “sudo apt-get samba” cmd. Setup was some what problematic it seems you cant set it to download updates and features. Unless you choose one or the other as it wont remove the “greyed out” continue off the partition page (next page) but it went fine. A little ponderous but worth tinkering with for a while.
However Win7prox86, whilst it can see Unbuntu and even see’s the shared printer, it refuses to see the shared folders. That needs a bit more work. All in all not bad a bit slower overall but not bad.

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I had the same issue when I last let the Linux machines join the Workgroup.  I suspect it is because WIndows cannot read the Linux file formats.  Linux can read Windows and is why I use a Linux live CD to fix corrupted files that have prevented Windows programs from starting.

I was under the inpression that Ubuntu only has LTS versions in even numbered .04 releases.  That would be 16.04 and next years 18.04.

I believe Mint versions are alway based upon the current Ubuntu LTS (except the Debian version).   That is one of the things I like about Mint.

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MrJohnPhelps: ” I installed Puppy Linux on my old, lame eMachines computer. (The computer maxes out at 2 GB of RAM.)”

Couldn’t some of the problems that led to ditching ‘Puppy Linux’ be related to the characteristics of the computer? I had the impression that eMachines were collector’s items these days. Their mention does take me back…

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Oscar, I agree with your point – I believe that there is a very good chance that my problems with Puppy Linux were due to the crummy machine I was trying to run it on.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Jim: have you tried EasyOS, being developed by the inimitable Barry Kauler,  who was previously involved with Puppy Linux?

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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I have never tried EasyOS.

What I finally went with on my old, lame eMachines computer was Elementary OS. Elementary OS is a very light and stable Linux distro, based on Debian. Therefore, it is compatible with Mint, Ubuntu, and many other distros.

If you like the MAC interface, I’m sure you will love Elementary OS. FYI @parkernathan

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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