You have spoiled me for choice - which puppy should I choose

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Lawn Bowler
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You have spoiled me for choice - which puppy should I choose

#1 Post by Lawn Bowler »

There appears to be qujite a large litter of puppies and I am at a loss of what I should be looking at.

I currently have a Windows XP Home SP2 and AMD Atlhol XP2400+
2.00GHz and 736 MB Ram all for which as far as I can see is far more than I will ever need for a Puppy.

What I have either missed or is taken as read if what hardware/software is supported. I use an Epson ink jet printer and a scanner with a Logitech Cordless Keyboard and laser mouse and have cable broadband access. I use AVG ver 7.1 + firewall and have 5.1 surround sound and wonder if these are supported or do I need to change things over.

I use OpenOffice.org ver 2 as my main Office software and Opera as my browser.

Looking at the home page it shows various items on the desktop and also shows how to place others like OOo on to it. I am totally a minimust when I comes to icons on the desktop and if I could get rid of the recycle bin off it it would be totally clear. I tie OO writer and calc plus Opera to the task bar for quick start and other than that WMP.

I assume there is something equally good/better than WMP available that I can play my various radio stations on.

Should I be looking at working from a CD or USB or should I be loading to the HD. I have 60 Gb free space at the moment and do not expect to be using very much of that as I am a home user and dont store too much on the disk.

The idea of Puppy Linux really interests me but as I will be totally new to linux I will need all the help I can get.

Ideally I would like to have Opera and OOo2 as my main requirement and ask what you consider my best purchase option. I would like to have some hard copy to enable me to reinstall the next time I have to gut my system thanks to Microsoft blue screens

Thanking you in anticipation.

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MU
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#2 Post by MU »

use Puppy 108r1 with Megapup002:
http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=6771
Then install opera:
http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?p=37002#37002

This should cover most of your needs, the rest you might find here:
http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=5448
or on further request 8)

To install 108 to harddisk, try the XP-installer:
http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=5117

Hope you like it, Mark

wombat
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#3 Post by wombat »

G'day, LB, actually the Puppy 1.0.8 R1 Mozilla ISO would be highly recommended as a place to begin.
You can add the office program if you wish later.
Try booting to item 4 on the boot menu presented when booting from the CD.
Follow your nose with the few screens presented and you will arrive at a really nice GUI, similar to the windows desktop.
Practice with this for your first few operating sessions, learn to mount drives with the mount tool (start>utilities) checkout the wizard-wizard, try the system online, and get a quick feel for it without saving anything.
You will rapidly get an idea which way you want to go.
The Gxine media player leaves that other thing you mentioned for dead. DVD's Music, streaming radio or whatever.
Just bumble your way around for a bit and everything will slot into place, it really is way ahead of that other operating system you mention.
It may be pertinent to use a standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard initially until you find your legs.
That hard drive will be a bit like putting an ant on a football field, you might try a small partition if you decide to put it on the hard drive probably something like 10 gigs. You will learn how to do this later, it installs back to the hard drive from a running system, this is different to a standard type of install.
It certainly is an enyoyable experience as you learn to "dance" with it.
Cheers, wombat.

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Lobster
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#4 Post by Lobster »

wombat wrote: It certainly is an enyoyable experience as you learn to "dance" with it.
Cheers, wombat.
Agree with MU and Wombat - 1.0.8r1 is the latest and you will get any needed support with that much easier . . .

Interestingly Windows dictates what and how you interact but Linux is more like an interactive dance. At first penguins are a little awkward at dancing but get them in water and they are an underwater ballet . . .

Puppy is a frisky dancer. Have fun.
I am working to a new plan
It goes something like this:
:oops:
sorry I am dancing to another tune already - tell you later . . .
:)
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

Lawn Bowler
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You have spoiled me for choice - which puppy should I choose

#5 Post by Lawn Bowler »

Many thanks to you all.

I am now taking my faltering way to the dance floor and if only the ".iso" file would open I might dance with the Penguin. I copied the download to disk and when I attempted to open the file it appeared to offer the option of opening with OpenOffice.org or by Opera but after that nothing.

This is just my luck as I initially intended in purchasing a CD but when I attempted to do so the paypal link would not work.

Looks very much like I will have to refresh my "lucky white heather".

Any assistance will be most appreciated.

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MU
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#6 Post by MU »

nonono - don't copy.
You need a special program to burn bootable isos:
http://rhinoweb.us/

There it is explained in Detail with 2 small videos :)

Or use the XP-installer I mentioned above to install it to the harddisk.
That requires 2-3 clicks.

Mark

Lawn Bowler
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You have spoiled me for choice - which puppy should I choose

#7 Post by Lawn Bowler »

Many thanks for the guidance.

I have now got things up and running from disk.

Will see how I get on from here. Initial reaction is there is too much on the desktop but for the moment things can stay there.

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MU
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#8 Post by MU »

it is always easier to delete icons than to add some ;)
I usually just have 3-7 icons.
3 applications for easy access just when I booted, and 3 folders to quickly drag files from on my dotpup-wizard or to search icons when I create packages :)
Mark

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Lobster
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Re: You have spoiled me for choice - which puppy should I ch

#9 Post by Lobster »

Lawn Bowler wrote: Will see how I get on from here. Initial reaction is there is too much on the desktop but for the moment things can stay there.
Right click on an icon to delete
In Puppy2 and possibly 1.0.9 icons can be dragged from the desktop to the bin in a more comprehensible way . . .

There is also a dotpup to show or hide desktop icons - or did I dream it? Would that be useful as an option from the menu?
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

Lawn Bowler
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You have spoiled me for choice - which puppy should I choose

#10 Post by Lawn Bowler »

Progress is being made all be it slowly. I have somehow botched up loading the OS to my hard drive. I at times struggle with some downloads and this was my reason in enquiring about purchasing a disk. Provided I can master things will be happy to give wee Billy and his products the bums rush.

As I stated earlier I was unable to purchase a disk as the paypal link did not work. I also attempted to use the hyperlinks in Lobsters intro to Puppy Manual without luck. Can anyone direct me to where I may purchase a disk ? I would really like to have one preferably with OOo2 and Opera if possible.

I had been connected to broadband via a cable modem and after buying an ethernet cable I am now on the www as easily as pie. There is however one problem, having got on to www and finding Puppy as my opening page I attempted to go to the BBC.co.uk. The keyboard typed "zzz:bbc:co:uk" other attempts at www produced zzz. I am at a loss on this as playing with the writer and spreadsheet I had no difficulty with them.

Taking Wombats advice I have been looking at the various items within the start menu and finding my way about. I note that on the desktop there appears to be 4 boxes on the toolbar to the right of start. Can you advise what they are for as I am unable so far to find out what to do with them.

I am liking things more and more and if only I can get rid of the Irish keyboard offered by Puppy I might like it better.

Thanking you once again for all your assistance



Went to the keyboard settings and set them to UK querty but still no luck.

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Lobster
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Re: You have spoiled me for choice - which puppy should I ch

#11 Post by Lobster »

Lawn Bowler wrote:
Taking Wombats advice I have been looking at the various items within the start menu and finding my way about. I note that on the desktop there appears to be 4 boxes on the toolbar to the right of start. Can you advise what they are for as I am unable so far to find out what to do with them.
You are seeing Puppy through fresh eyes - how wonderful . . .
The boxes are virtual screens

Open a program in one
click on a box
open another program
Now you have a program (or series of programs) on each virtual screen
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

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Dougal
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#12 Post by Dougal »

I would have thought Simplepup would have been better for him: xfce doesn't use desktop icons and panel buttons can be added as launchers.

Lawn Bowler
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You have spoiled me for choice - which puppy should I choose

#13 Post by Lawn Bowler »

My seeing Puppy through fresh eyes has hit a temp fault. I spoke with Logitech re my keyboard and they say that they so dont support Linux.
This is rather tough as I just spent 80 UK pounds for their nice new kit.

So back to the drawing board.

Can anyone direct me on purchasing a disk as I really wish to set it up on my HD. I share my system with a partially sighted person who in the past has created havoc by not properly seeing what she is hitting. I would feel much safer if I had everything to hand and easily installable.

Initially I would like to get myself going and eventually bring her onboard.

Your assistance will be most appreciated.

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