Does anyone here use ONLY Puppy?

[Mercedes350se]

I had a bit of a magazine cover live CD mania until I came across Puppy 2.16 (or was it 2.17?). Used it as the Live CD for some time then eventually did a full install on a spare hard drive. Zenwalk 4.8 looked very promising but it had issues that I could not be bothered resolving.

The clincher for me to do this was that 98 was not being supported particularly for the printers I had listed as a potential replacement for the inkjet that I was using. The only reason for replacement was that the ink dried in the "nozzles" or what ever so that I would get 10 prints or so out of a cartridge. Very expensive prints!!

Not sure now why I upgraded to 3.01 but have been very happy with it. With the help of the forum members I have it running pretty much the way I like it.. Install a later seamonkey so that I can use adblock, etc. and it will be almost complete.

Now if I can only find a way, using Puppy, to access information on a website that uses ActiveX then the only windows will be in the walls of the house.

[panzerpuppy]

It's so hard to ditch Windows (or Mac OSX) and use only Puppy (and Linux in general) as a main OS.

Here are some of the major problems users are experiencing for which there's currently no solution,so they are forced to use the other OS as well:

- Music production and audio recording.Until we get native Linux versions of the biggest (Windows-only) apps out there that can run all those great VST(i) plugins,it's a no go.

- Games for Windows are another major problem.The best (new and old) games are Windows only.Most people mainly keep their Windows install just for gaming.

- 2D and / or 3D Graphics performance compared to what we have on Windows. Performance in Linux is 2x - 10x slower Drivers from both camps (ATI and nVidia) suck at the moment,especially with the newer video cards.

- All those great freeware or Open source apps & utilities (that don't have a good enough Linux equivalent) still don't have Linux ports and don't run at all / run badly with WINE.

- Some of the best emulators are Windows-only and run like crap / don't work at all with WINE.

- The 2D / GUI performance of WINE - terribly slow

- Flash 10 with Opera. Adobe needs to get it right once and for all.Some people only use Opera and don't give a crap about SeaMonkey/Firefox/Chrome/WebKit etc.

- Video playback and (HD) acceleration with ATI cards = horror

- No per-application firewall to block and monitor connections from individual apps / processes.

- No global IP filtering driver / app like PeerGuardian that works together with the Linux firewall.

- File-sharing apps that depend on peer exchange or KAD.There's no way to make them working even if you open every single port.

But for everything else,(Puppy) Linux does the job better than anything from Apple or Microsoft

[panzerpuppy]

Unfortunately, Skype works best in windows

?!

'Skype's video chat/conferencing works best on Windows'

[edoc]

Unfortunately, Skype works best in windows

?!

'Skype's video chat/conferencing works best on Windows'

The gui generically called "windows" is common to Apple, Linux, and MS.

Are you referring to one or more of the versions of the the proprietary MS windows releases?

[E2001]

When I was reading on the many websites to decide which distribution to try Puppy came up a lot as being fast, but it was also not taken seriously as a main OS.
I think this is due to the fact that is so heavily advertised as running off a CD or thumb drive.

I think it relates more to the idea that whenever I mention to someone that I'm running Puppy Linux (particularly a user of a more mainstream distro, like Ubuntu, or SuSe), I get told: "Well, isn't that cute!"

I think the name, itself, suggests to a lot of people that Puppy Linux is something aimed specifically at beginners, or kids, or whatever. Maybe the devs might want to consider changing the name to "A.K.C." or "Best_In_Show".

[Lobster]

"Well, isn't that cute!"

It is a cute name and operating system

and what are others running?
Mac? - do you want fries with that?
Windows - would that be the broken one?

. . . guess I am just being cute . . .

Suse - sounds like a girls name?
Debian - is a girls name (50% Deb and Ian - from the creator)
Slackware - named after a term in a pseudo religion
Gentoo - named after a penguin

etc . . .

The greatest pop band ever were named after a bug - (Beatles)

Just a name

[puppyluvr]

Hello,

Puppy: A fast, frisky, loyal companion...
Windows: Get broken, leak, and need constant cleaning...

I like the name....
Say what they will, my OS is faster, more adaptable, and "Cuter"...LOL

[Stevo954]

I have used Puppy 4.1 exclusively on my Pentium III 650 MHZ 512 MB 20 GB machine. After upgrading the RAM from 128 MB and replacing 98SE with Puppy, this 2000-vintage PC turned into a complete speed demon capable of doing everything I need a PC to do. It took a couple of weeks to get up to speed, but the more I use it, the more I like it. Flash 10, Java, Firefox 3, and Frostwire all work flawlessly. Very impressed, good job Barry.

[dio444]

I don't use puppy as my personal "Main" OS. But I do use it every day.

First off, I use Puppy 4.1.2 Live CD as a recovery/malware removal tool for customer's M$ machines. Previously, I used SystemRescueCD for this task, but I've found that Puppy does everything I needed from SystemRescueCD and more quickly, easily, and reliably.

Second, I run Puppy 4.1.1 from a USB flash drive to boot a poor performing Vista machine at work. (Celeron 2.0ghz w/512 mb RAM & intel 845g video chipset) Puppy makes it run like a river, as opposed to molassas in January.

Third, I have Puppy 4.1.0 as a full install on a mission critical Point-of-sale machine. It's fast and ultra reliable. I got very tired of having reboot it every day and having to fix the Win98 that it was running every few weeks. Puppy has required absolutely no fixing in the couple of months since I installed it there.

Fourth, I have Puppy 4.1.0 installed to USB flash on a diskless-headless router/firewall/dhcp server/proxy server that I use to handle my entire home network of 10 machines and manage it entirely through VNC.

Fifth, I have Puppy 4.1.2 installed (full) to my wife's eeePC 2g surf that she takes everywhere with her.

I also run the following non-puppy systems:

1) Personal main desktop is dual-boot Mint6/WinXP, though I haven't booted XP in quite a long time (at least 6 months, probably more like a year)

2) Wife's main desktop is WinXP (she refuses to give it up)

3) Daughter's machine is Mint6 (she prefers it to XP. She's 12)

4) Home file server is Mandriva Spring 2006

5) My Laptop is multi-boot: XP, Ubuntu 8.10, Debian, SourceMage, TinyCore, and I have a puppy save file too, so booting puppy from Live CD is almost like having it installed.

Well, that's all the machines I take personal responsibility for. There are more machines in my house, belonging to my sister-in-law and her husband who live with my wife and I. They all run XP, including the Vista one I helped the sister-in-law upgrade to XP.

The point I'm trying to add to this discussion is that Puppy is a very useful OS that can be used in many ways. It might not be my "main" OS, but I do use it each and every day, including 40 hours/week at work.

Tom

[viale89]

I use puppy in an old pc (I bought it with Windows Me, as bad as Vista, it crashed dayly) to make it as NAS server and point of download (I use three different antivirus before to pass it to the other Windows machine).In the other three I have Vista Business on a laptop (obviusly downgraded to Xp SP 3) and a desktop with Xp SP 3 too. I am waiting for Windows 7 becuase I have learned that Windows could go with every IBM Compatible PC. For example, in the oldest computer I put into Xp (Me was not so good, 98 didn't exist drivers) and later i tried to put into Ubuntu/Xubuntu/Fluxbuntu and every times during the installation it broke down. Xp workes, slowly but worked. I think Linux is a good OS for who work with internet because is safer than Windows but it is not easy to learn. What Microsoft sell is not a perfect OS for a kind of machine BUT the better for a family of IBM compatible, and also sell standard. So who has SOHO could get Linux but Corporations or other big factories will ever buy Windows becuase they need a standard, they want something like a callcenter that solve the problem without waiting.

[iscraigh]

Main machine Puppy/Ubuntu variant
Laptop for work XP @ work Puppy when I use it for home
Kids machine Puppy
Aspire one laptops Puppy

Craig

[gerry]

@iscraigh- puppy/ubuntu? Is that woof, or is there another?

Gerry

[legendofthor]

G'day,
I keep on trying other distributions such as the Ubuntu/kubuntu series but I always have some issue with them and imo they're actually harder to setup.
I keep coming back to Puppy, now I pretty much use it exclusively.
1. I have iTunes running through Wine
2. Win$Office, if I ever need it! can run through Crossover,
3. Gnucash work very nice now
4. Win$ Games can run on Cedega
5. Who needs anything more than Amarok for music - I need my music and internet radio!
Puppy is stable, highly customisable and looks great!
My partner only exclusively uses Puppy on her desktop.
The only reason I still have a WinDoze partion (rather unused) on my laptop is the worrying reports that if I overwrite that partition it could stuff up my laptop.
Last night I was at Class to become a trainer and assessor - the lesson was in powerpoint so we all had to bring thei laptops - while everyone was still waiting for vista to load I was up and running with oxygenoffice. And what's more my classmates loved the look of my system - yes my competency presentation is going to be on Linux and Puppy Linux, so we may soon have a few more converts.
I am first and foremost a Puppian
Cheers
Martin
PS: Planning, when my course finishes, to write a walkthrough for both iTunes (only 7.3) and Gnucash 2.22 (not the newest by a few months)

[HairyWill]

PS: Planning, when my course finishes, to write a walkthrough for both iTunes (only 7.3)

I look forward to reading it.

[puppyiso]

Is there anyone using puppy only?

Right here, I have 3 machines running the puppies ONLY.

Puppy linux is the choice for me after trying most distros and other OSes for 5 years.

I believe in the Apple II's philosophy "Simplicity is the ultimate sophisitication"

[cagliostro]

My computer came with Windows XP, and I use it because WINDOWS IS THE BEST OPERATING SYSTEM EVER! (Sorry to shout.)

Sure, most of the time I use Puppy Linux. A couple of days ago I downloaded Mipup2 and this has been really nice, testing it out. Comes with icewm, wine, gimp, firefox, all kinds of multimedia files, and open movie editor and such, and most of these are very recent versions.

I never get on the internet using Windows. Only Puppy. For work I have OpenOffice installed in Puppy. I installed DOSBox, and use it for Chessmaster and Bridgemaster, and such. Puppy starts up in about 30 seconds (Mipup2 only takes a couple of seconds more to start, even though the sfs file is twice the size). Puppy shuts down in about 5 seconds.

Over the past weekend I tried Linux Mint 6. Firefox 3.0.3 had a terrible scroll lag, and for me this was unusable. It was like wading in molasses. (Google for "Firefox scroll lag" to see that thousands of people have this problem.) So when I tried Mipup2, with Firefox 3.0.3, I expected the same problems. Nope. Firefox works perfectly in Puppy. Maybe the Linux Mint problems are due to Compiz.

But I do play Tomb Raider, go to www.trle.net and download the custom player files, which these days usually are self-contained, have the exe file included. So with Windows I can play Tomb Raider. (Most readers gasp at this point, as with this one short sentence I prove that Windows is the best operating system.) I have watched Wine for years, waiting for it to include Tomb Raider in the games that work. I mean Tomb Raider 4, which is the basis for all the custom wads. No one in Wine has their priorities straight. They just ignore Tomb Raider. They spend all their time making Microsoft Office work, which is nonsense, since Open Office is just as good. Someday....

[legendofthor]

for those who doubt - iTunes is possible
but it needs a lot more tweeking - slow as a wet wig and I don't own an iPod hehe
Cheers
Martin

[glassparrot]

My primary operating systems are Vista and XP. I boot several operating systems on the same computer using Xosl. I've been very curious about Linux though, and Puppy has provided me a way forward for learning about it, and one that's perfect to customize to fit with my whims. When I've made Puppy better than Vista, I'll switch, but not until.

[linuxsansdisquedur]

i remember an itune clone is inside teenpup 2008 (or i've dream about it, teen is so gorgeous!).
And i use only puppy (pizzapup at last) in my PC since i've lost my hd since one year with 256mo ram 512 mo swap on 2go usb , what else ?

[banyanleaf]

I use Windows XP, Vista, and Ubuntu on different computers for different reasons. Only Puppy can make my old buddy PIII Compaq Armada M700 with 128MB RAM run. But the old buddy's 10GB hard drive is a constant concern for me. I have tried Puppy for a few days and I love it.

Because I don't depend on this laptop for other applications that I would use Windows or Ubuntu, can I completely remove Windows XP on this laptop and save the space on my hard drive? Can I just format the hard drive, boot from Live CD and install Puppy? Any advice?