puppy linux (re-booted thread) (1 Viewer)

[pissypants]

i got a scorching p3 with 512 mb of ram from work a while back and fired all my old hard drives into it, i was originally on 'dynebolic' but opted for puppy out of curiosity. it sorta surprised me again today as skype installed on it without asking any questions. in summary, it does these things on an old computer


email grand
thumped grand
95% of internet grand
pdf grand
skype seems grand, probably wont try video.
facebook without chat (better then facebook with chat)
music player that probably wont talk to your ipod but it works
useless for looking at photo's though its possible
grand word processor.
space invaders.
supposedly does torrents but i never tried.
really cant uncompress anything but a zip.


i have a 'real' computer (ok, a mac) for stuff like audio/video editing, after trying a few different versions of linux for my messin on the web and drinking beer to music machine i'd recommend it.

Hey did this work out? I've just put puppy linux on an old slow machine, and it's really much faster and doesn't hang like it does with XP. As you say, perfect for dicking around when you have a real machine for work.


There's 2 teething problems I'm having though:
1: Internet browsing is very very slow nay impossible compared to when used under windows on the same machine
2: The wireless connection seems to drop intermittently and it also doesn't start your web connection automatically.


Were either of these a problem for you?

 

[ann post]

There's 2 teething problems I'm having though:
1: Internet browsing is very very slow nay impossible compared to when used under windows on the same machine
2: The wireless connection seems to drop intermittently and it also doesn't start your web connection automatically.
Were either of these a problem for you?

I had to move to xp for the few programs i use for teaching, so sadly puppy got the boot.
I always had a wired connection for puppy, and it was on par with anything that was going at the time. i remember linux being a bit complicated when it came to wifi, so i suspect that being both your problems. i wouldnt have a notion how to trouble shoot it but the chances are someone has.

 

[pissypants]

Cheers for replying. Yeah theres loads of support out there, but I was just wondering how an (i presume) average user like you fared with it.

I've been dicking around with it all day and solved a few other issues, but this one seems like it's going to be the straw that breaks the camels back. Currently trying to find linux drivers for my wireless lan.

But your post has given me an idea - to try and use a wired connection to see how it fares. Although it'd be impractical to use it all the time, it might give me an idea if it's just a wireless gaff, or a deeper system problem.

Cheers!

 

[pissypants]

OK! Posting this via a wired connection and it's booting along. If I can solve this wlan issue I'm sweeeeeeeeet!

P.S. for anyone interested: Puppy Linux is a small light version of linux for use on lower powerd machines. I'm using it cos windows xp runs awful on this machine and keeps stalling and hanging.

To use Puppy Linux you burn the installer to a CD / DVD and then just boot from it instead of windows. Your windows install stays completely intact and instead of creating a new partition or anything puppy just creates a cache file on your windows partition ntsf drive. You don't actually really "install" anything and can revert to windows at any time by just not booting from the CD and letting windows boot normally. You can install it on a usb key too.

http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview and Getting Started.htm

It's got audio and movie players, a photoshop clone, a Word clone, audacity... I've even heard you can run Reaper on it too. There's a chrome and opera browser for it too. It's turned this old brick of a laptop into an iPad with a keyboard!

 

[ann post]

it really is amazing A) what they squeeze into puppy and B) how much space commercial systems actually use for similar tasks in comparison.

 

[pissypants]

You said it. It's such a small install, and so much in it. incredible.

also i've been on their live support chat on and off all day with a raft of enthusiasts helping a complete nabcake like me through issues I've been having. For example: I came off it now and i think I have the wlan drivers i need to make this work.

off i go to try.

<fingers crossed emoticon>

 

[pete]

...and he was never seen again

 

[pissypants]

I'm back. But not on Puppy either Wary or Lucid.

Simply could not get the wireless connection to work reliably despite extensive help from the guys in the live chat who were incredibly helpful and insightful. I even tried the older "Wary" version that had better legacy driver support. And a second USB wlan device.

Still and all, I'd recommend it for anyone who has a low powered machine that they just want to use for internetz, movies, and music - even basic image / audio editing. If I was using it at a wired connection I'd be all over it. It's just down to my wlan card really.

It's also awesome (small and fast to "install") as a file recovery tool if your windows installation gets screwed up.
Just burn the 120MB iso file to a cd and shazam! - off you go.

Bye bye puppy.



Crai.

 

[rettucs]

@pissypants ;

@ann post ;

 

[pissypants]

STAY OUT OF GEEX!

 

[ann post]

@pissypants ;

@ann post ;

i like how yer man was repeated.

STAY OUT OF GEEX!

 

[pissypants]

This just in: I've gone lubuntu.
http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownload/Lubuntu-Download-50492.html

Working great.
I'll update here if it turns out to be shit...
That is all.