Puppy 2.15ce Standard RC1: my first look

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richard.a
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Puppy 2.15ce Standard RC1: my first look

#1 Post by richard.a »

Another sterling job done by all concerned; a few observations...

I haven't yet had any success with installing the previous beta, a long series of woes that consistently repeated; but I tried this as a live distribution in two modes -

1. As an "upgrade" to the beta previously tried and commented upon.

2. As a new pup_save file which preserved the desktop layout in all its new look... delightful to behold, but as indicated in another thread, not my personal "cup of tea".

Let me identify each observable point separately; not all are related to this specific version

1. The pointer size of the mouse needs to be easily adjustable. The Mouse/keyboard wizard doesn't offer this choice, nor has it in the past to the best of my knowledge.

2. The X-Org Resolution change option is no longer in there, and it was useful - to me anyway

3. Right clicking on the desktop did nothing, which is a pity as it means moving the pointer down to the start button every time. Right clicking on the taskbar and in windows seems to work as you would expect.

4. Something badly wrong with Gaim as you can't add accounts

5. The Disk Free application - when launched - still aligns with the bottom of the screen, rather than the taskbar, as mentioned in another thread.

6. Seamonkey appears to want to go full screen at random moments, which is infuriating lol :)

7. The Beta's description of "Computer" and "Documents" are much more intuitive than the names ascribed to the same functions in the Release Candidate, although "Home" is probably intuitive. Certainly more in line with the other OS's I have and currently use. I think "Setup" in the RC is better than "Configure" in the Beta. :)

As mentioned in another thread, I use the Windows "Network Places" desktop button many times a day and would imagine someone migrating from an MS Desktop would likely do the same. How about a start link to LinNeighborhood there please?

8. The new logo isn't intuitively a puppy - or even a canine. It's a nice stylised emblem, but what actually is it?

9. Need help documented somewhere about how you add new apps startup icon buttons at the right hand and left hand ends of the task bar. I actually like the XP concept of the arrowhead you can click to hide them, although when I first came across it, I found it annoying. It grows on you :) And users coming from XP will expect it anyway.

10. And how to you change the number of desktops? In KDE it's fairly obvious in the Control Panel. Can we have something in the wizards for this, perhaps? I know how to change it in JWM, through trial and error. But I'm looking at it from the perspective of a brand new user, and I have a couple of potential ones lined up right now, once it goes to "released".

11. Is there any way to change the colour of the text including the the clock in the dark themes, as there is insufficient contrast for poor eyes in both daylight and artificial light.

12. In similar vein, can the tooltips background and foreground be altered in the dark themes?

Plusses.

I found that out-of-the-box it played a DVD magnificently without any need for tweaking.

Networking was faultless.

Sound was detected automatically on one computer that I previously had to run the ALSA setup.

I'm sure there are other plusses :)

Look forward to hearing others comments, and answers to the points I raised.

Good one, chaps, thanks for the hard yacka you put into it.

Richard in Adelaide.
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WhoDo
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Re: Puppy 2.15ce Standard RC1: my first look

#2 Post by WhoDo »

richard.a wrote:1. The pointer size of the mouse needs to be easily adjustable. The Mouse/keyboard wizard doesn't offer this choice, nor has it in the past to the best of my knowledge.
Both Nathan and Pizzasgood suggested including the mouse pointer themes utility and maybe one "special" pointer. I haven't done so yet, but it's still on the agenda.
richard.a wrote:2. The X-Org Resolution change option is no longer in there, and it was useful - to me anyway
I have never been aware of such a feature - only the manual edit of Xorg.conf from the Xorg wizard, which is still there. Can you post a screenshot of it from an older puppy?
richard.a wrote:3. Right clicking on the desktop did nothing, which is a pity as it means moving the pointer down to the start button every time. Right clicking on the taskbar and in windows seems to work as you would expect.
Fixed for next release. I believe you are now aware of the manual workaround to enable this feature.
richard.a wrote:4. Something badly wrong with Gaim as you can't add accounts
RC1 carried Gaim2 Beta5. The next release has Beta6. Hopefully that will resolve the issue. There have been a few screwy things going on with regard to write permissions on certain settings files. Try running from the console and post any errors here.
richard.a wrote:5. The Disk Free application - when launched - still aligns with the bottom of the screen, rather than the taskbar, as mentioned in another thread.
No idea how to fix this one. I'd suggest it's probably hard-coded into the application. Like you, I'd prefer it started up much closer to the middle of the screen. Hopefully one of our code guru's will catch up with this one sometime.
richard.a wrote:6. Seamonkey appears to want to go full screen at random moments, which is infuriating lol :)
Maybe you are inadvertently striking the Full Screen shortcut key combination. Check in Seamonkey's configuration settings to see what that is, but it hasn't happened to me so I can't say which combination is the offending one.
richard.a wrote:7. The Beta's description of "Computer" and "Documents" are much more intuitive than the names ascribed to the same functions in the Release Candidate, although "Home" is probably intuitive. Certainly more in line with the other OS's I have and currently use. I think "Setup" in the RC is better than "Configure" in the Beta. :)
I did have some jibes suggesting that we were trying to mimic Window$ too closely, so I decided the best way to deflect that criticism was to revert to Puppy's own titles for those functions. If you will be in the next Community Edition #irc meeting you could raise the issue there.
richard.a wrote:As mentioned in another thread, I use the Windows "Network Places" desktop button many times a day and would imagine someone migrating from an MS Desktop would likely do the same. How about a start link to LinNeighborhood there please?
Sorry. Not as standard. That would presuppose that the majority of new Puppy users do so while connected to a Windows network. I don't see that in any other distro, and I wouldn't support it in Puppy. If you can get the community to agree, fine, but until then I'm exercising my "casting vote"! :P
richard.a wrote:8. The new logo isn't intuitively a puppy - or even a canine. It's a nice stylised emblem, but what actually is it?
It's a boxer puppy created from M$ Longhorn's "steer" emblem - (Longhorn was an early Vista codename). It was just an interim measure. The new background is sans emblem altogether, and I'm not unhappy about that either, even though I created Longhorn Puppy.
richard.a wrote:9. Need help documented somewhere about how you add new apps startup icon buttons at the right hand and left hand ends of the task bar. I actually like the XP concept of the arrowhead you can click to hide them, although when I first came across it, I found it annoying. It grows on you :) And users coming from XP will expect it anyway.
Right click on that arrow to hide the icons and you'll get the help you need. :wink:
richard.a wrote:10. And how to you change the number of desktops? In KDE it's fairly obvious in the Control Panel. Can we have something in the wizards for this, perhaps? I know how to change it in JWM, through trial and error. But I'm looking at it from the perspective of a brand new user, and I have a couple of potential ones lined up right now, once it goes to "released".
The very last line in /root/.icewm/preferences can be changed as follows:

Code: Select all

WorkspaceNames=" 1 ", " 2 ", " 3 "
Example will give 3 workspaces, but I don't know what the theoretical number limit might be.

richard.a wrote:11. Is there any way to change the colour of the text including the the clock in the dark themes, as there is insufficient contrast for poor eyes in both daylight and artificial light.

12. In similar vein, can the tooltips background and foreground be altered in the dark themes?
These settings are controlled by /root/.icewm/preferences and the individual default.theme file in each theme directory under /root/.icewm/themes - there is no easy way to do it for all themes, or even one theme. Editing the files by hand is the only real way. MU was kind enough to create a prefoverride file that I have included with all Puppy 2.15CE versions of Icewm. You can alter some key settings there, as previously advised.

Sorry it has taken so long to come back to these issues, Richard. Life has been just a tad busy on this end of the connection lately.

Cheers
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richard.a
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Re: Puppy 2.15ce Standard RC1: my first look

#3 Post by richard.a »

WhoDo wrote:Sorry it has taken so long to come back to these issues, Richard. Life has been just a tad busy on this end of the connection lately.
Gosh please don't apologise, I appreciate your comments.

Yes I've already fixed my desktop right and left clicks by the fwded message I got.

If I can do any good on any of the themes (assuming I get the time) from your advice, I'll post my results for others to try.

I also dropped a couple of points into another thread, think it was the bug one.

Richard
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#4 Post by Pizzasgood »

I've noticed Firefox wanting to maximize semi-randomly lately too. Mainly when I'm working with multiple windows and switching around. It seems like it's related to middle-clicking in Firefox when it isn't focused.

Yep, I just checked and that seems to do it.

Same in SeaMonkey?


EDIT: For the record, I mean Firefox 2.0.0.2&3 in Pizzapup 3.0
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richard.a
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Re: Puppy 2.15ce Standard RC1: my first look

#5 Post by richard.a »

WhoDo wrote:
richard.a wrote:2. The X-Org Resolution change option is no longer in there, and it was useful - to me anyway
I have never been aware of such a feature - only the manual edit of Xorg.conf from the Xorg wizard, which is still there. Can you post a screenshot of it from an older puppy?
This is the Screenshot from 2.02 Seamonkey basic, which was the first CD I could find that I was certain it was on...

Image

Image

WhoDo wrote:
richard.a wrote:7. The Beta's description of "Computer" and "Documents" are much more intuitive than the names ascribed to the same functions in the Release Candidate, although "Home" is probably intuitive. Certainly more in line with the other OS's I have and currently use. I think "Setup" in the RC is better than "Configure" in the Beta. :)
I did have some jibes suggesting that we were trying to mimic Window$ too closely, so I decided the best way to deflect that criticism was to revert to Puppy's own titles for those functions. If you will be in the next Community Edition #irc meeting you could raise the issue there.
See if I can, though uncertain at this stage. There is a wide range of different titles used in many different operating systems; didn't realise that there were hard-and-fast names here. Sorry if I made a faux pas :)
WhoDo wrote:
richard.a wrote:As mentioned in another thread, I use the Windows "Network Places" desktop button many times a day and would imagine someone migrating from an MS Desktop would likely do the same. How about a start link to LinNeighborhood there please?
Sorry. Not as standard. That would presuppose that the majority of new Puppy users do so while connected to a Windows network. I don't see that in any other distro, and I wouldn't support it in Puppy. If you can get the community to agree, fine, but until then I'm exercising my "casting vote"! :P
I can name several. Sun's Java Desktop System (both on Linux and Solaris), Suse, Linspire/Lindows, PC-BSD, and I suspect there may be others which I forget.

But that's fine. It is so easy to add for yourself.

Maybe I should write a page on how to drag starts to the desktop, from where, and how to iconise them to suit the app?

Again, thanks for the comments :)

Richard
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Re: Puppy 2.15ce Standard RC1: my first look

#6 Post by WhoDo »

richard.a wrote:This is the Screenshot from 2.02 Seamonkey basic, which was the first CD I could find that I was certain it was on...

Image
Wow! Now that would be VERY useful to get back. 2.00 was my first ever Puppy version and I mostly used Xvesa back then. I didn't notice an Xorg resolution option, but often lamented there wasn't one when I needed it! I'll ask the question of those who should know. Thanks for that.
richard.a wrote:There is a wide range of different titles used in many different operating systems; didn't realise that there were hard-and-fast names here. Sorry if I made a faux pas :)
No faux pas committed and not really any "hard and fast" names either; just what it has been for a long time. Call it traditional. There was another suggestion that instead of Home we should use Kennel, or at least a kennel icon. I don't know about that, but if the community were to make a choice that would be what I would follow.
richard.a wrote:I can name several. Sun's Java Desktop System (both on Linux and Solaris), Suse, Linspire/Lindows, PC-BSD, and I suspect there may be others which I forget.
Richard the ones you have named are universally HUGE by comparison with Puppy. They can afford all sorts of fancy autodetection mechanisms that we don't have sorted as yet. AutoDHCP is on the list for Barry's Puppy 2.16, but was too much of a new item to make a consolidation edition such as CE.

Cheers, mate, from Sunny 32 degrees C Newcastle on the main coast! :P
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#7 Post by Gekko »

I second the vote to re-add the xorg resolution changer in which I did not know exist. If we are going to re-add it, can we add a "custom" option, where we can type in my favourite 1152 x 864? Or just add the setting for little ol' me :P It's quite a common resolution on Windows XP and I quite like being able to open an application windowed at 1024 x 768 and still see my taskbar and other windows :)

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richard.a
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Re: Puppy 2.15ce Standard RC1: my first look

#8 Post by richard.a »

Thanks for the comments...
WhoDo wrote:Wow! Now that would be VERY useful to get back. 2.00 was my first ever Puppy version and I mostly used Xvesa back then. I didn't notice an Xorg resolution option, but often lamented there wasn't one when I needed it! I'll ask the question of those who should know. Thanks for that.
No probs mate :)
WhoDo wrote:
richard.a wrote:I can name several. Sun's Java Desktop System (both on Linux and Solaris), Suse, Linspire/Lindows, PC-BSD, and I suspect there may be others which I forget.
Richard the ones you have named are universally HUGE by comparison with Puppy. They can afford all sorts of fancy autodetection mechanisms that we don't have sorted as yet. AutoDHCP is on the list for Barry's Puppy 2.16, but was too much of a new item to make a consolidation edition such as CE.
I didn't mean auto-detection, or AutoDHCP.

I just meant putting a shortcut to LinNeighborhood on the desktop, with an appropriate icon, so that if the user has a network, runs the network wizard, gets the nod that eth0 is working, they can then use the desktop click :)
Gekko wrote:I second the vote to re-add the xorg resolution changer in which I did not know exist. If we are going to re-add it, can we add a "custom" option, where we can type in my favourite 1152 x 864? Or just add the setting for little ol' me :P It's quite a common resolution on Windows XP and I quite like being able to open an application windowed at 1024 x 768 and still see my taskbar and other windows :)
I second Gekko's suggestion about (hopefully) adding a customisation for the res to be typed in... but if I had shown the "top end" resolutions in the screen cap rather than the bottom res's, we would have seen 1024x768, 1280x768, 1280x960, 1280x1024, 1400x1050, 1600x1200.

Saying that, all it would need is a small modification (I suspect) for the 1152x864 - which I normally use on this LG 17inch monitor on OS's that support it. Another radio button, another text label, and "Bingo"!!!


I think I stuffed up my query on mtPaint 3.whatever; I can't get v2.2 in Puppy 2.02 to copy and paste either now :(

Richard
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