XP-like Puppy - A Puppy for Windows Users

Message

Javelin Dan · #1 Post by **Javelin Dan** » Tue 30 Aug 2011, 19:58

Contrary to the advice given to me by some, I continue to experiment with as many different versions and derivatives of Puppy as I can get my hands on. While many of these have bugs or otherwise don’t work on my stuff, with each failure I learn something so I still find each attempt educational. While cruising through the Puppy Version page http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PuppyVersion, on the bottom of the list marked “Active/Unknown

#2 Post by **BÃ©Ã¨m** » Tue 30 Aug 2011, 20:06

Everybody his opinion. Mine is to be as far away as possible in look and feel and function from the dark side.
Don't want to have nightmares.

nooby · #3 Post by **nooby** » Tue 30 Aug 2011, 20:48

http://puppylinuxnews.org/puplets/xplik ... h-version/

I've tested it some years ago. I guess it is the Hungarian version?

There is one from China too but that one looks a bit different to this one.

The Dev of it is still active here so maybe he can help you out. Search for it at the link I give in my signature. Beem too have that search link.

Maybe him have written some explanation for what you experienced there.

I guess it can be help to some. To find things in places one expect is of help but still puppy is so different that it only help with some aspects.

What is it about a distro that you want most of all?

Some like lighthouse and some like Rex version and I like Snow puppy and others like Fluppy so we all are different.

Javelin Dan · #4 Post by **Javelin Dan** » Wed 31 Aug 2011, 12:33

Nooby,

My only point to all this is that for someone coming over from Windoze who is well versed in DOS and has a basic understanding of working under the hood, I would imagine the learning curve in converting to Linux is rather small. But for someone who is comfortable working in Micro Soft and in a totally desktop environment, the curve is considerably higher. By human nature, most people are resistant to change and different can be intimidating. This distro simply looks and feels a little more like what they’re used to (actually, about half way in between), and I just thought it might be a bit of a more gradual gateway into the world of Linux for someone just crossing over. The only problem with the “sink or swim

nooby · #5 Post by **nooby** » Wed 31 Aug 2011, 12:43

I actually do agree with you but I am not good at expressing my agreement.

I don't remember now but if one look back on my activities here I guess one can say it personally took me from 2008 to 2010 or even to 2011 to be a full time puppy user from having been a full time Ms Win user.

So many new things to learn and without the kind and patient people here it would have failed for me

I would have drown in all the details to learn if it not was for Ms Windows constant patches and upgrades and control with Virus and mallware whatever and the upgrading each year to more and more resourceful computers. I gave up on windoes and and I failed to learn to adjust to the standard Linux requirement to keep in head if I was sudo or not.

I was rather active on Ubuntu forum and Linux Mint forum and on LinuxQuestions and so on. Slax and Vortex and Goblin and Nimblex and Zen linxu and Crunchbang and Easypeacy and even on Ulteo

Only Puppy was friendly enough but it took me some two or three years to move over from total dependence of Ms Windows.

And I still fail to do some things like upgrading my smart phone using puppy.

So I am all for that one make puppies that makes the transition easy.

My criticism is that them are not close enough to be that similar but that is not the fault of the Hungarian Developer it is Unix and Linux that is different enough to make it much difficult to make a puppy that is a clone of windows.

Now when I have used puppy for three years I hardly know how to boot into windows. I would most likely not even know my user name or password anymore.

Dewbie · #6 Post by **Dewbie** » Thu 01 Sep 2011, 07:36

IceWM Win XP theme, shown with one of the early Puppies (mid-2005):
http://www.desktoplinux.com/files/artic ... e57a3e.jpg

FleaBitten2 · #7 Post by **FleaBitten2** » Fri 02 Sep 2011, 18:38

Great Scot!!!!

Dewbie that hits pretty close to the mark. So far puppy has been my favorite distro, still taking some time learning the console. Keep finding myself typing DOS commands. Its irritating not having my A: C: D: prompt.

Still it would be good to have a XPpup to make the cross over easier. I finally found how to set the double click in the ROX. There is so much information to pull in at one time its like drinking from a pressure washer at times.

I think we could pull more users over if we had something a little more familiar. That single click setting turned both my wife and son off of it instantly, having a tough time getting them to try it again.

#8 Post by **BÃ©Ã¨m** » Fri 02 Sep 2011, 19:16

The best way to learn is to plunge in the deep. I did so. I didn't want to look backwards.

As for the single click: That can be changed to double click in the options of ROX.

FleaBitten2 · #9 Post by **FleaBitten2** » Fri 02 Sep 2011, 19:29

This You tube video was helpful for the double click issue.
http://helpmerick.com/how-to-set-puppy- ... -click.htm

Note this user uses puppy to troubleshoot windows. Windows is all they utilize at work, so I have to keep one foot in that world.

Over 20 years, I have never seen a full linux OS, some bits and pieces plugged in here or there.

I think puppy is the right choice to bring many over, it just needs to be a short easy step. After they pick up the basics, they can move on to what fits their needs better.

nooby · #10 Post by **nooby** » Fri 02 Sep 2011, 19:31

Doble click was a pain in the A to me. I almost never made it fast enough for it to know I did a double it always thought me did two spaced out single click. I am not only slow thinking and talking slow and walking slow I even click slow. play music slow, beat on drum too slow.

so single click on Puppy has been a blessing for me

Dewbie · #11 Post by **Dewbie** » Sat 03 Sep 2011, 04:39

FleaBitten2 wrote:

There is so much information to pull in at one time its like drinking from a pressure washer at times.

It's easy to forget that we didn't learn Windows all at once, either.
Usually, it's a step-by-step process.

#12 Post by **BÃ©Ã¨m** » Sat 03 Sep 2011, 05:45

I agree very much with Dewbie.
When I used Windows 3.1 I said: Why make it so difficult and not user-friendly.
Same when I used Windows NT 4.0
And again the same when I had Windows XP
I spend hours googling and in forums to find out things.

So I stand by my previous comment: Don't look back, don't compare and take the plunge and learn.

nooby · #13 Post by **nooby** » Sat 03 Sep 2011, 08:15

1. Yes that do works for fast learners.
But for slow learners one easily do ran out of help.

2. The big differences is that if one stay with the dominating "other OS"
then one have almost 95% of all computer owners at work or in neighborhood to ask for help.

Using any kind of Linux is unheard of where I live.
Okay there is a rather young? 25 to 35 not sure one block
further down the slope. Him is rumored to do scripting on Linux.

But him has severe Asperger/Autism and despite me having same diagnose
him is beyond reach. Each time I try to spoke to him he says nothing
in return and looks at me as if I am some enemy that has no right to
even try to take contact. Not a promising help around Linux. And that is
how it is despite me have lived here now since 2006 and met him many times.

None of my work mates know Linux nor none other of my neighbor or friends nor any of my relatives.

Haha there is a Nordic Puppy Linux forum but them are so secretive that
the only way to read their forum is to be a member of it. Whoah soemthing

Maybe I am to big exception but not sure. I have daily "plunged" for 24/7 now and barely get along even in Puppy Linux. And if I try other
Linux it is bewildering. One have no idea what to do.

dagodemon42 · #14 Post by **dagodemon42** » Sat 03 Sep 2011, 09:35

If you make linux too much like Windows, you might as well use Windows. When I first started with computers, my computer expert(brother) said you should use Windows because it was on the majority of computers, and if you needed help more people knew about Windows. I started with Linux because I didn't have the money to upgrade to Vista.
I tried the sink or swim method, but when you bork your system to the point it won't boot or connect to the internet, access to a working(Windows)machine is a necessity. This also works the other way, I have had Windows boxes that the only help was a Puppy CD to recover the files.
For people unwilling to learn, sometimes the old(Windows)ways are the best. I think Linux will succeed when it passes the Grandma test. Can your Grandma turn on the computer with out any help and get on the internet or look at her photos or whatever? Puppy is a lot more simple than most distros to learn, but it is enough different that without some linux experience you get lost.

nooby · #15 Post by **nooby** » Sat 03 Sep 2011, 10:39

Dago I don't agree at all

1. If you make linux too much like Windows, you might as well use Windows. ...

Nope that is not true and you give a very good reason here :

2. I started with Linux because I didn't have the money to upgrade to Vista.

Yes so true and it goes on with Ms Win7 and win 8 and win 9 and win
you need better and better computers all the time them are at it.

3. For people unwilling to learn, sometimes the old(Windows)ways are the best. ...

So so wrong. I don't think I am the exception. I started way before MsWindows was big. We had Sinclair Basic and we had Acorn and other computers and only much later Microsoft got big. We had learned computer way before them even got affordable for the average guy.

I where very willing to learn. I bought every book there was about Assembler and C++ programming and Pascal and other languages.

But one need talent for to think like a programmer because most OS are made by programmers setting it up for their needs so a noob are not used to think like the programmer.

The Grandma test is a good one. I fully agree with that one.

Dewbie · #16 Post by **Dewbie** » Sun 04 Sep 2011, 00:35

Early Puppies had FVWM95, a window manager similar in appearance to Windows 95.
(IceWM--with Windows XP theme--was apparently an alternate window manager.)
http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT6545156120.html

Javelin Dan · #17 Post by **Javelin Dan** » Fri 09 Sep 2011, 13:19

It's been several weeks since I first posted this thread, and just as in politics, people seem to be split about 50/50 on both sides. For those who ARE interested in this distro, I have a bug to report and a solution to it. It’s not really a “repair

FleaBitten2 · #18 Post by **FleaBitten2** » Fri 23 Sep 2011, 15:39

Dan,
have you tried ISpup Q120? It appears to be a close match. It takes a little more effort on load-up than 525 on my machines.

For some reason it saves the network settings and internet stuff better than the 525.

Double click is the default on start up, the file manager is a delight and the search function looks much more mainstream.
It includes firefox, and can play youtub without being choppy.

The down side is it doesn't have gnumeric or abiword. Not a big deal as each can be brought in as a pet.

Have had the best luck with pets that end in "q" I assume for Quirky. Abiword-2.8.6-q1 is missing libwv-1.2.so.4 for some reason.
Once the Rox is set to double click, 525 is pretty hard to beat. I tried 528 but it didn't run as rock solid as 525.

dalebednell · #19 Post by **dalebednell** » Fri 23 Sep 2011, 18:26

Hi guys
I have tried ubuntu and fedora and one or two other distro's but they where not as user friendly as puppy. Also what makes puppy linux so good is this forum and all the friendly people unlike launchpad.But what on earth would make any body want to make puppy linux look and feel like xp. I use puppy every day but from time to time i still use windose7 there are some tasks that are still easyer than on linux and for gaming.The one thing that really gets my back up is you have no choose when you buy a new machine it comes with windose
this should be stopped i want a chose.

Dale!!

faifpuhp · #20 Post by **faifpuhp** » Fri 23 Sep 2011, 18:32

dalebednell wrote:The one thing that really gets my back up is you have no choose when you buy a new machine it comes with windose
this should be stopped

Hear, hear! While there are exceptions to this and could be more, this is still true. Making every computer purchase a package deal with Microsoft is totally wrong.

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