Which is the most stable and problem free Puppy for me?

[mr_monkey]

Ok, I need some advice on which version of puppy to choose, stability is really essential, as the install will be for my mum who is not the most technical soul.

I already tried her with 5.2.8, which she liked, but issues with sound suddenly disappearing and loss of printer and scanner, have been a big problem - I can't rush round to deliver technical support 24/7, and the fixes I found on the forum (002 update and patch) haven't cured the problem.

The following are essential applications;
Browser that supports the delicious addon (works great with firefox in 5.2.8 - chrome and IE also support delicious)
Skype - (again worked great in 5.2.8 until sound disappeared)
OpenOffice - no problems with 5.2.8

The PC is a reasonably old socket A sempron with 1GB ram which struggles with XP + antivirus & bloat, but flies with puppy.
Currently booting from CD + savefile(on memstick) as mobo bios has no support for boot via usb.

Although everything will work ok with 5.2.8 on a fresh installation(scanner(canon lide 100) needs a small pet that i found easily on the forum to be detected correctly), I really need a stable installation that doesn't randomly lose functionality, or require technical intervention to remain stable day to day, e.g. firefox filling the save file despite setting a limit for it's cache.

Any advice on which version to choose would be much appreciated.

[sfeeley]

I've been using 5.25 for about about a year now, and haven't had much in the way of unexpected changes. But some of this may depend on the hardware plus user.

A few thoughts.
-For firefox and other things, look for menu options to turn off auto-updates. This might minimize unexpected changes.

Another thought: I think I recall there being some threads for turning puppy into a kiosk, that is locked down and can't really be changed by the user. Maybe something like that would work? In theory, if something goes awry after you have it set up, all she would have to do is reboot to get back to "normal"

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=64632

I suppose you could do something like this with a remastered CD. Get all your configurations set up as you like, then remaster the CD. That way, every time she boots, it could be from a "fresh" install but one tweaked the way you like it. Set it up so that all data (documents, etc) is saved to a file outside the savefile. In theory, I suppose its possible to set up a puppy that doesn't ever have a savefile (which could get corrupted) but instead relies on changes saved on the remastered CD.

there were a few suggestions for solid puppies here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=73246

[snayak]

Did you try wary 500?

this is best for me till now.

[bigpup]

Stable Puppy?
Really depends on hardware.
Not all Puppies work on all computers.
Lucid Puppy 5.2.8
Slacko Puppy 5.3
Wary Puppy
Classic Puppy 2.14X
Puppy 4.3.1


If you use Puppy with a save file make sure you make the save file before making changes and adding programs.
People tend to make save file to small.
Running from CD with save on USB could be causing your problems.
There are some timing issues, showing up, concerning accessing USB drives on bootup.
Try putting the save file on the hard drive and boot with the CD using it.
Try that for awhile and see if it works better.

The save file being placed on the hard drive will do no harm to Windows. It is just a data file, like any other, and will only take up some space.

Save file filling up will be a problem unless you make it very large.
A full install of Puppy to the hard drive would be limited only by the size of the hard drive.
Full install would need a Linux formatted partition.

This info may help you:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=60302

[disciple]

Save file filling up will be a problem unless you make it very large.

Why, what would fill it up?
Browsers and things shouldn't be a problem once they hit whatever limit you set for them. After that the save file should fill up incredibly slowly for most people, just as they create files and store emails.

[irishrm]

Google chrome 202mb
firefox 189mb (cache set to 4mb)
Just moved both outside of save file.

[bigpup]

Why, what would fill it up?

Anything and everything.
Example:
500MB save file

Google chrome 202mb
firefox 189mb (cache set to 4mb

Really depends on what you do.
A lot of programs use temp files, just in the process of running the program.

Also when installing a pet package, which is a compressed file. It has to temporarily uncompress, install, and then delete the temp version. So it will use 2 to 3 times the space in the install process.
A 10MB pet package, after installing, could actually take up 10 times that size when installed. Depends on how well the program compressed down, when made into a pet package.

[sfeeley]

I could be wrong, but I think the thread might be getting a bit de-railed. I think his main goal is to create the most maintenance-free puppy possible--something that wouldn't require him to help his mother when things go wrong.

[Dewbie]

So far, I've had really good luck with Wary 5.1.4.1.
A pre-release version of Firefox 4.0.1 is also available, as well as Skype.
As for OpenOffice...couldn't find a Wary .pet, but how about looking at SoftMaker Office 2008, which is even more compatible with MS Office?
(First try the OpenOffice .pet that you've been using, as it might also work with Wary.)

I've experienced sound-loss issues on this computer with 4.x-series Puppy Linux, but not with Wary.

I haven't used a printer with any Puppy Linux version.
So I can't advise as to how well Wary 5.1.4.1 would work with one.

Also, I haven't used the Skype .pet, so I don't know if all dependencies are included.

[gcmartin]

The following are essential... .

Hi Mr_Monkey

Puppy offers many distros that are well within the range of the PC you intend for your Mom.

I have done this very thing for 4 separate females over past 6 months. all with success. Maybe I can help you help your Mom. I understand that you have a Sempro.

2 Questions will help all of us to help you

1. Does this 1GB RAM PC have a CD writer or a DVD writer?
2. On the Puppy running on your Mom's PC, would you open a terminal and type the following:
   hardinfo -r >> hardinfo-report.txt.gz
   and attach the hardinfo-report.txt.gz file to your next post on this thread for us to review?

Then, knowing this, a simple safe solution can be offered which MAY not require you to "touch" her hard-drive or worry about space.

Hope this helps

[Dewbie]

gcmartin fixed his post, so there's no longer any need for this one.