Page 4 of 4: FAQ: Which Linux distribution do you use?

thomas_97batch · Credits: 878 My Scrapbook

My experience with puppy linux continued..

I installed Open Office and it DID NOT slow down my 512MB laptop which I think is post worthy considering that it is one of the biggest packages available for linux.

The first thing one must do after running puppy is to download a program called puppy software installer (written by mark ulrich).This program helps in easy installation of all the programs u need.

replace seamonkey (mozilla browser) with firefox and use the following extensions
1.adblock plus
2.no flash
3.no squint
4.session manager
5.FEBE
to get these search "firefox extensions" in google

install flash plugin(flashplayer9pluginbeta.pup)
install Java runtime environment 1.4.2 (there is a linux port called blackdown)

wordnet-excellent desktop dictionary

install openoffice
install GIMP

libraries one might need
wxBasic-2.5-gtk2
libgphoto-2.1.6
wxwidgets24

One will be able to get all of these using puppy software installer(PSI)

thomas_97batch · Credits: 878 My Scrapbook

I am not allowed to publish links so search for puppy linux forums,dotpups in google.
things that u might find helpful
t1.o start the internet click connect on the desktop and follow the instructions,your settings will be saved in a file called pupsave_003.fs if I remember right.
2.This system enables u to have the best of both worlds ,one can run linux as a live cd leaving the windows untouched yet at the same time one is able to save our files,settings to the hard disks.
3.If your desktop gets stuck for any reason,press ctrl-alt-backspace will bring u to prompt.To get back the windows ,type xwin and press enter.
4.When installing a lot of software,one has to increase the amount of space alloted to puppy on the hard disk.Go to menu->Utility->resize personal storage space.Reboot.This will increase the swap space as well(unconfirmed personal observation after my firefox refused to open after i installed openoffice,wordnet etc and it is now working fine after i increased the disk space.
5.After downloading a dotpup,dont delete the dotpup initially-it helps if u make a copy of all the dotpups to a cd or dvd using grafburn cd/dvd writing software.This helps if u want to reinstall the software.
6.As the reader must have realised by now ,I spend too much time with this than I should

and I cant help tinkering with a perfectly smoothly working installation.This ended up with lets just say accidents-the screen got stuck and stayed stuck.I found out the way to rescue the system was to reboot using another distro (i use pc linux os running as live cd which allows u to delete stuff in your hard disk unlike sidux) and i delete the corrupted puppy files on the hard disk.What should be noted is that no matter what u do the windows install will not be affected so feel free to experiment and hang your system

Anyway then reboot using puppy 2.13 -i found it always works.then i run puppy 2.17 -the upgrade is done automatically ,then i run 3.00 to get back my original desktop.This is where the saved dotpups helps-if u haven't saved them u would have to download a 100MB openoffice.pup again.With this u can have ur entire system back in no time.

I have not given much in terms of explanation because
1.limitations of space
2.one will understand perfectly what i am saying once u have puppy running on your system.
get the puppy version 2.13 iso ,burn it to cd using a software called imgburn obtained from filehippo taking care to burn it as a bootable cd.
then download puppy 2.17 and subsequently 3.00.This is just my experience -if u are short of time just download 3.00.
The puppy forums have a lot of information for everything one might need.If u have any doubt,search in google(yes yes it is obvious but i had to say it)

7.i have a iball webcam which i was not able to get to work.But u might have luck with brands like logitech(ie international brands).Gyach -yahoo messenger equivalent and amsn-msn equivalent are two IM clients which offer webcam in puppy.

8.It is a pity that I cant CTRL-S and protect myself again current failure etc(btw it is a good habit to develop- save documents frequently using ctrl-s prevents the pain of having to type the whole thing again).
9.i was able to access my sony digital camera after installing the library libgphoto
10.i dont have a scanner or printer.sane project organization gives the list of supported scanners.
11.i used transmission bittorrent client to download wallpapers-message torrents work
12.i use gxine to watch movies and listen to music.if the image is blurry -click video->settings and change the brightness,contrast etc to your taste
13.remember puppy has a firewall-run it once and check it with shieldsup firewall testing site-note it reports a ping positive but that doesnt matter
14.liferea is a great RSS reader

there are also ready made derivates of puppy where one has all this preintalled see puppy linux wikka puplets examples are tmxxine which was updated most recently-that takes out all the hard work(fun for me:)) It is a matter of personal choice.

I hope this helps .Thank you for your time and patience.For me this is the least I can do for the creators of this wonderful distro-spread the word.

thomas_97batch · Credits: 878 My Scrapbook

I tried out two more slackware based distros

wolvix hunter -KDE based distro with an excellent launch bar ala mac os with excellent mulitmedia support,internet apps and everything worked out of the box.Great beginner distro.

Nimblex -i downloaded the sub100 mb version and it is the fastest and smallest kde based distro currently out there.It is very functional given its size and it detected all my hardware and set up my internet connection out of the box.It can be loaded to ram like puppy.

docmojo · Credits: 803 My Scrapbook

hello pals, i am an avid ubuntu user... love linux for the fact that its absolutely free with added advantage of immunity from malwares...
i dual boot xp with ubuntu... rarely ever does the need arise to Sign In to windows.. otherwise its completely ubuntu (with compiz fusion) for me!

anyways, i came across a website quite a while ago... i believe it would be of help for any newbie here who would wanna try out ubuntu without actually needing to go through the (apparent) horrors of partitioning and installing linux... try out WUBI (google the term to get access to the site)

the site describes it as "Wubi is an unofficial Ubuntu installer for Windows users that will bring you into the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other application. If you heard about Linux and Ubuntu, if you wanted to try them but you were afraid, this is for you."

i havent personally tried it though... so cant comment about its performance.. but i am sure you shall find few reviews through google...

dsp · Credits: 1962 My Scrapbook My Reading List 23 Books

I started off with slackware more than a decade ago, (am I that old?)
The kernel was 1.xx, You got a commandline and if you could manually edit the xconfig file and knew the refresh rates, timings etc and the internals of your graphics card, you could use X windows.

Then red hat appeared on the scene, and I stuck to it for a long time. I dumped red hat about the time of the Fedora fork. I never was tempted with the intricacies of .deb till ubuntu came along.

While I started off with 5.04, I finally chose ubuntu 6.06 LTS for my desktop when it was released (I was getting fed up of manual partitioning as I run dualboot) and since then, it has been running fine, and being regularly updated. It runs most of the programs I need (Opera, Openoffice, R, Gimp, Tuxpaint). Being a 3 year old system, the difference in the speed and booting time vs XP is very noticeable

I use Ubuntu 7.10 for my laptop, again dualboot, without any problems. I have configured wifi and setting up ATI and Broadcomm propreitary drivers is painless. I plan to install 8.04 LTS when it is released in April 2008 and stick to it, that should see me through to 2011

cheers

dsp

thomas_97batch · Credits: 878 My Scrapbook

I am currently using a distro called linux mint which is based on ubuntu.This offers automatic access to all the programs that ubuntu offers.The advantage of mint over ubuntu is that all the multimedia codecs,browser plugins are preinstalled.The performance is also better than ubuntu.Give it a try.

hrct · Credits: 440 My Scrapbook

i m using pclinux 2007..
it is very good yr..

oriyadoctor · Credits: 143 My Scrapbook

Linux distributions have a bad name due to the inability to play multimedia due to the non free media codecs.
Many people get frustrated because they do not know how to get support for the linux.
DSL is very good distro, but still very poor in comparison to Elive, which I have dual booted with XP.

Elive, many have not heard about this.

It detects everything.
Just 1 cd
A live cd
Uses Enlightenment as window manager instead of KDE or GNOME
Uses Creative Commons than GNU license.
Gem version can cost u 5$
Development versions which are better than any linux out there are free to download.
Plays every media formats that you can think of.
Best looking OS ever.
Speed is insane, enter password,click, enter the fully usable desktop in less than 1 second this is unbelievable to you, believe it,better try it.
It can be installed on a Mac too.
Just give it a try, it is Debian based.
Linux world is bigger than Redhat or Ubuntu, try to get elive from Elivecd site, or learn about it from Distrowatch .

the more I use it the more I love it. well linux mint is good but needs RAM in excess of 512,
dreamlinux is also good, but I have told you about the best already

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