5 years

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puppyluvr
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5 years

#1 Post by puppyluvr »

:D Hello,
Well, its my 5th birthday.
5 years ago today, I was reborn.
Everything I knew about computers had, a few month before via the discovery of Linux,
been turned upside down. And on that fateful day, I discovered the Murga Linux Forum.
Puppy is my OS of choice. This forum is my Linux Community of choice.
Without the Forum, I would be blind and deaf. Today, 5 years after joining,
I have learned a few things.
First I learned to Remaster. So I decided to make a "Puplet".
Buddapup-2.15.. Basically just Tazocs awesome Lighthouse-2.15 with Enlightenment E-16..
Then I learned Unleashed.
Then I learned how and why that process worked.
So I built Buddapup-2.17, with the Enlightenment E-17 window manager..
A guy I know was so thrilled with E-17 and Puppy together, he made a YouTube video.
His love for it made me quit at "Buddapup 4.0", as he can do E-17 so much more justice.
So I built a 3.01 based windoze clone for my dad called "Transitions" with OO/Gimp/Icewm.
Then I learned some bash, and then some gtkdialog.
I had only used M$ related stuff, basic and dos, etc.
So I wrote a 'test script' called "PupTV", just to see if I could write a GUI.
It worked, so I released it just to see what everyone thought..
Imagine my surprise when BK included it in the next official Puppy..
I was speechlessly honored.. And am still, to see that it inspired apps, which are
still in the official releases..
Then I learned to compile....
I then made several versions of xscreensaver for Puppy, with and without GL..
Including a generic "pupxscreensaver".
Then I married a photographer.. She needed an open source photo editing platform..
So was PAW born, the Puppy "Photo Artists Workshop". Took 7 months to get all the
python and stuff to work together.. So after the divorce,
I thought the rest of the world could use it, so I released it.
Then I decided to create a GUI for all of the "toys for X" that I could find..
I liked xpenguins so much, I drew a whole cast of xpark guys..
Put them all together as "X-Toys" for Puppy..
Got into Opera for a while, made a 'skin' called "Puppy Blues".
Last I looked it was approaching 1/4 million downloads..
Then I found that my beloved Ripple was finished.. I had grown to love Compiz, since
wnop, the "wobbly nearly office pup", and Ripple was the Compiz dream.. Still is..
See, Dinky figured out how to make Compiz run on a "null" WM, somehow involving rox,
or rxvt, although as to how I am still mystified. But there should be an OOTB Compiz pup.
Woof came out.. Between it and Unleashed, the futute was wide open..
So Lupen was born. I still use it daily.. It is the lowest overhead Compis/Cairo-Dock I
could manage. The ISO has a few issues, but the Forum thread explains the easy fixes..
I am on it daily, and post from it now..
Then a user asked how to put multiple Pups on a single CD/DVD. As I had made "EditPup"
as a multiboot CD I knew the mechanics. I decided a user friendly GUI would make the
process accessable to many more users.. And so.. MultiPup was born..
Then I built a few 1000mhz kernels, and a Dpup and a Precise with them..
The Precise gave me wireless troubles. But the 3.6.2 Dpup is being "Star Trekked" out,
as my "Puppy Linux Users Group" on Facebook will show.. If it is ever good enough to
release, with all the voice stuff etc, I`ll let you know...
Then I got a Win8 computer for my 6 year old son..
He doesnt use the Win8, as he is only used to Puppy, so he has a Dpup Exprimo with GL
for games.. But playing with Win8 inspired my to recreate the 'Metro' interface, for Puppy.
There were a few Conky 'look alikes' but not much functionality..
So "CosmoUI" was born. Using gtkdialog/conky it is getting close.. Even the Slideshow..
And if the lua based 'interactive conky' pans out, it will be a close clone, we`ll see.
I take no credit for any of it... Everything is a group effort. 'It takes a village'.
This, and more, is what 5 years on this Forum had done for me..

So many people to thank for sharing the last 5 years, and their work, with me..
A short chronological list might include:

Of course, Barry Kauler, the Puppy Master, the Creator..
And John Murga, without whom Puppy would just be an OS, not a Community...
Tazoc, for Lighthouse which like its namesake, shined the light on what Puppy can be...
BigBass, for his barebones Puplets, the first base for remasters..
Caneri, for giving us a repo for a big part of Puppies life, that we might share..
Russoodle, for my 'repo' today.
Ttuuxxx, for his incredible contribution to Puppy.
BruceB, for making me try the CLI, and making me like it!
01micko for much help and encouragement.
Catdude, without whom MultiPup wouldnt have a classy background..
Runtt21, for his love of E-17, his help with Buddapup, and his Macpup,
saving me from having to continue fighting with E-17 and Puppy. He has whipped it into
a Distro of its own, a Pride to the Linux community, and an example of what Puppy can be.
The many users whos requests have inspired so much of what has taught me, helped me, made me.
I am glad I can edit these posts, cause so many more people will occur to me just after I hit
'submit'.. LOL

Look, I love this Forum, it is, and has been for 5 years now, a major part of my life..
I have many friends here, many people who`s opinions I value, whos teachings I absorb, whos
critisizm I admire.. Many have drifted over to my Facebook group for Puppy,
and I hope more will, as it is a more personal place for Puppy uesers..
Anyhow.. 5 years.. Wow..
Much love people...........
Puppyluvr aka Jay Stansbury.
Close the Windows, and open your eyes, to a whole new world
I am Lead Dog of the
Puppy Linux Users Group on Facebook
Join us!

Puppy since 2.15CE...

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8-bit
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#2 Post by 8-bit »

I have also been with and using Puppy for quite a while and I personally want to thank you for sharing your travels with Puppy as well as the many contributions you have made.
I am not leaving out others in this! As you stated, you were helped by others in the Puppy community.
My contributions are minimal compared to what you have done and about my only claim to fame was a GUI utility for formatting USB connected floppy drives.
I took time writing it and then trying every way I could think of to crash it before releasing it on the forum.
But to my surprise, it got a good number of downloads so it must have been of use for some others.

But I am not here to honk my own horn so all I can say is thank you for all you have contributed to Puppy!

jpeps
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#3 Post by jpeps »

I don't know about about enlightened desktops, but for "lighter" you can't do much better than OpenBox with ROX. I tried e17 when JWM conflicted with java apps. After about 5 freezes and an hour configuring, I switched to OpenBox, set up some hotkeys, dragged and dropped some icons onto the desktop and was in business. For those seeking enlightenment, I highly recommend e17.

Dewbie

#4 Post by Dewbie »

Then a user asked how to put multiple Pups on a single CD/DVD.
Guilty as charged. :twisted:
As I had made "EditPup" as a multiboot CD I knew the mechanics. I decided a user friendly GUI would make the process accessable to many more users.. And so.. MultiPup was born..
Thanks again. :D

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tallboy
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#5 Post by tallboy »

Jay wrote:Well, its my 5th birthday.
Is this kid still in kindergarten? Who knows what magic performances he'll make as a grownup! :lol:

Happy 'Birth'day!

tallboy
True freedom is a live Puppy on a multisession CD/DVD.

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01micko
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#6 Post by 01micko »

Aw shoot.. I feel bad now forking pupTv .. :lol:

Happy Birthday mate! (and many more to come :wink: )
Puppy Linux Blog - contact me for access

raffy
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married

#7 Post by raffy »

Married then divorced - was that for 7 months? That's perhaps a lesson for devs: never marry and then spend time only with the Puppy. :oops:

Anyway, that's an impressive recount after 5 years. Happy Birthday!!!
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

jpeps
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Re: married

#8 Post by jpeps »

raffy wrote:Married then divorced - was that for 7 months? That's perhaps a lesson for devs: never marry and then spend time only with the Puppy. :oops:

Anyway, that's an impressive recount after 5 years. Happy Birthday!!!
Subtitle: "Confessions of a Computer Addict"

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oldyeller
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#9 Post by oldyeller »

Happy Birthday puppyluvr, AKA Jay Stansbury.

Thanks for all you have done for the kennels

Cheers

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tubeguy
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#10 Post by tubeguy »

Hope you are enjoying your day!

I found Puppy in the summer of '09. Biggest change it has made in my life is that I never worry if I will have a working computer anymore. :D
[b]Tahr Pup 6 on desktop, Lucid 3HD on lappie[/b]

jpeps
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#11 Post by jpeps »

tubeguy wrote:Hope you are enjoying your day!

I found Puppy in the summer of '09. Biggest change it has made in my life is that I never worry if I will have a working computer anymore. :D
...ah...puppy religion.

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nitehawk
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#12 Post by nitehawk »

tubeguy wrote: Biggest change it has made in my life is that I never worry if I will have a working computer anymore. :D
...yup! I feel exactly the same.
And "Happy Puppy B'Day", puppyluvr

(I'll soon hit the 5-year-mark, myself).

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sunburnt
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#13 Post by sunburnt »

I have been here almost 7 years, and very good years they have been.

I still have not seen another distro. as simple and friendly as Puppy.
It has ongoing problems that it would be very nice to see fixed for good.
But it is very resilient and it`s very easy to recover from crashes.

### Suggestion to Puppy Dev.s:
A menu item for backing up and restoring the SAVE file would be great!
A restore option would be added to the boot menu`s options.
So then it could do an instant recovery from a bad SAVE file ( common ).
Gzip the SAVE file with the date in it`s name, show list in the boot menu.
.

jpeps
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#14 Post by jpeps »

sunburnt wrote:
### Suggestion to Puppy Dev.s:
A menu item for backing up and restoring the SAVE file would be great!
A restore option would be added to the boot menu`s options.
So then it could do an instant recovery from a bad SAVE file ( common ).
Why not just keep a copy somewhere; isn't that simple enough?

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sunburnt
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#15 Post by sunburnt »

jpeps; Puppy already will boot from a selection of SAVE files.
I just don`t see any other organization of the SAVE file problem.
A menu item to organize the SAVE backup process is a natural step.

And the SAVE file going bad is probably the biggest recurring problem.
Usually it amounts to a config. file that`s corrupted, and fixing it is unlikely.

As I said, Puppy has other long time problems with no solutions also.

jpeps
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#16 Post by jpeps »

sunburnt wrote:
And the SAVE file going bad is probably the biggest recurring problem.
Usually it amounts to a config. file that`s corrupted, and fixing it is unlikely.

As I said, Puppy has other long time problems with no solutions also.
The solution is to copy your save file. Actually, it's far more important to back up your data. It's simple to start a new save file.

starhawk
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#17 Post by starhawk »

Congratulations, puppyluvr! You're quite the mover and shaker. I'd be interested in trying out Lupen, and PupTV. I'd also like to see your Star Trek pup! (I'll help test, if I can.)

-----

I've been here since 2010. I'm still more thick-headed noob than anything else. Guess I'm not really destined to be a dev. (It's OK.)

jpeps
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#18 Post by jpeps »

sunburnt wrote:
As I said, Puppy has other long time problems with no solutions also.
Not to pick on anyone in particular, but clicking on some of the links above, I noticed someone receiving detailed explanations and a file. His next request was:
"I've never unpacked a tarball before.
What is the best and/or easiest way to do it?"
Of course, after unpacking he wasn't able to follow the clear instructions, which resulted in
I`ll do ya one better..
Rather than go into editing menu.lst files and grub.....
I did it for you...
Okay...is it too much to expect that a user learn basics like how to unpack a targz or edit the menu.lst, vs building yet another GUI?
I hope I'm not being overly critical here. I think there's a point where too much help negates basic development.

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puppyluvr
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#19 Post by puppyluvr »

:D Hello,
I think there's a point where too much help negates basic development.
I agree in some contexts. There are some instances where one should just say "read this man page" etc.. And "* --help" in a terminal will teach you more than anything else..
However, the thread in question led to MultiPup.. What it accomplishes is beyond the scope of explaining to most "newbies". It is not just "another GUI" to me, it is a way for new users to easily create a multiboot Puppy CD/DVD, which many would not ever take the time to learn how to do..
OTOH, PupTV was just silly.. :roll: So much easier to just paste the URL into a terminal to mplayer.
Of course, I have to add that studying how GUI`s do things is how I learned to code, so....
Also, most newbies have never used anything BUT a GUI..
Most new users are shy of the CLI, especially running as root, fearing they will bork their Puppy, and they could, sort of.. (Their save file anyhow)
(The classic "rm -R /" comes to mind..)
So "hand holding" can be both positive and negative..
I dont believe everyone wants to be a developer..
It helped end a marriage for me. :wink:
The CLI is your best friend, but try telling that to someone who has never used it.. BruceB made me see the power, the versatility, the sheer wonder of what a terminal can do.. I am forever in his debt.
But many users dont want to learn, they just want to use.. If a GUI allows more users to access an ability of Puppy that they would not in a million years try to work out on their own, it is a good thing...
Puppy isnt just for "Linux guys" anymore...
Perhaps a bit of lazyness on my part as well..
I avoided several hours of explaining with several days of coding.. :oops:
Partly, information access is to blame. I have explained the same things over and over on the forum, because I couldnt find the thread I explained it in the last time.. So sometimes it is just easier to say "Here, I did it for you".
:D
Close the Windows, and open your eyes, to a whole new world
I am Lead Dog of the
Puppy Linux Users Group on Facebook
Join us!

Puppy since 2.15CE...

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puppyluvr
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#20 Post by puppyluvr »

:D Hello,
Also, anyone wanting to try the Lupen alpha:
I forgot to kill Rox for Compiz..
In a terminal type "rox -p=" to end the flickering rox desktop troubles.. :)
More info in the Lupen thread..

Oh, and I still think every Puppy should have my X-Toys. 8)
Close the Windows, and open your eyes, to a whole new world
I am Lead Dog of the
Puppy Linux Users Group on Facebook
Join us!

Puppy since 2.15CE...

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