Minimalist Base Distro

[wanderer]

Minimalist Base Distro

I have tried innumerable distros and by far Puppy is the best overall ... except. In my opinion a significant deficit of Puppy is that it does not have a minimalist base system that can be extended incrementally to obtain whatever the user wants.

Tinycore linux is an example of what I am talking about.
(and I encourage puppy fans to take a look at this distro)

Pupngo is also an example of what I am talking about. Goingnuts has done many amazing things with it and there are links to this system on this thread thanks to goingnuts and ally

There also have been other examples of modular puppies though not necessarily with an absolutely minimal base and some links have been posted to them thanks to partsman greengeek mavrothal and others

Because the threads for many of these systems have become inactive I think a lot has been forgotten so this thread may be useful in keeping all of this fine work in the public eye

As for me I continue to play with tinycore (a symlink system) and pupngo (a layered filesystem). Where these two systems intersect is in the creation of sfs pet and tcz files which are interchangeable and provide the individual pieces that can be added to the bases of each system.

If you are interested in these ideas why don't you explore these systems and maybe even post your thoughts

remember less is more

have fun

wanderer

[unicorn316386]

I tried TinyCore (the 75MB version I think) and couldn't figure out how get it to connect my wifi, but the Puppy420 (100MB?) that was included in UNetbootin worked out-of-the-box, and I loved all the little extras, so I have been using Puppy ever since.

You can build a smaller version by remastering with Setup -> Remove Built-in Packages or building what you want using Woof-CE. I tried building a smaller version of Slacko 6 with 70 programs removed, but it's only about 35MB smaller than the original (I was surprised how small most programs actually are) but I still haven't looked into which libraries/dependencies I can remove yet.

[darry1966]

Minimalist Base Distro

I have tried innumerable distros and by far Puppy is the best overall ... except. In my opinion a significant deficit of Puppy is that it does not have a minimalist base distro that can be extended. A few have been created but they were never maintained. In my endless search I have often looked at Tinycore Linux (and DSL before it) but I couldn't do what I wanted with it. Now I feel it has matured to the point where it is an excellent distro and I have built a base system with everything I want and need. It works great and is eminently hackable even for a non-guru. In my opinion Tinycore's system is actually superior to how puppy is structured because it has a small basic core and separates each package into its own unit. It also does not rely on a layered filesystem and has many other advantages as well such as it can save to a folder on a file system rather than a limited save file etc.

I am not saying puppy is not great what I am saying is that puppy enthusiates who want a minimalist base distro should look at Tinycore.



The reason I posted this in the puppy projects instead of the other distros section is that I encourage Puppy enthusiasts to take a look at Tinycore and adopt it as our minimal brother. I feel collaboration between the 2 distros will benefit both and I intend to use this thread (if it is not deleted) to look at ways to puppify tinycore and tinycorify puppy.


wanderer

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=96973

[gcmartin]

Please try to understand the context this is offered.

For a general user, Puppy Linux distros are "minimalist".

The only minimaist Linux distros on Distrowatch that exist, are aimed at people who are knowledgeable in Linus architecture and coding. This points to people who are not only adept in Linux use, but also experienced.

Any experienced user who comes to Puppyland find that almost EVERY PUP distro has utilities to delete subsystems and packages that come in PUPs as well as the ability to extend PUP in almost any directions that is conceivable.

PUPPY is not only crafted to allow these, but provides one of the, IF NOT THE, best performing distro in the Linux world.

Lastly, a distro size does not reflect its performance. Somehow, many misunderstand this concept.

I have always found Puppy Linux to be, probably, the best packaging of all the distros available, today. With the current changes that have come along this year, alone, it is taking us to a better combined experience than ever seen in Puppyland.

If we discount most of what has been done already in 2015 and just focus on 3 things, we see how it has moved forward to a better experience for its developers and its users; namely kernel development and exchange services, maintenance and service update offerings now in most PUPs, and attention paid to its LAN integration services.

This is not taking issue. It only expresses one perception of looking at Puppy Linux as it exist, today running on both decade old 64bit PCs, 2 decade old 32bit PCs, and now touchscreen handheld devices. ... easily...and within the scope of the PCs RAM as well as devices' RAM.

So much attention has been paid to providing flexibility for all.

[L18L]

... I intend to use this thread (if it is not deleted) to look at ways to puppify tinycore and tinycorify puppy.

I wish you good luck for puppifying tinycore
You will need it.

[cthisbear]

What happened to >>>> pUPnGO?

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=51478

pUPnGO - 6Mb ISO - Basic Building Block Puplet

I see that goingnuts has posted recently

Chris.

[goingnuts]

I work with pupngo almost everyday but only for my own amusement. You might find some new stuff here but maintaining it towards the public gave too much work - (documentation etc.)

[wanderer]

Thanks goingnuts

your pupngo was/is THE puppy minimal base distro

wanderer

[cthisbear]

" but maintaining it towards the public gave too much work "

Fair enough mate....

Cheers......Chris.

[Smithy]

What about tinycoring Puppy Linux then?

[wanderer]

see first post

[mikeslr]

Hi All,

Just thought this might interest someone, rufwoof's 67 Mb Pup able to handle current apps: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 454#870454

mikesLr

[amigo]

Puppifying tinycore would be difficult, but tinycorifying Puppy would be impossible -it would mean *completely* re-designing and rebuilding. Modularity can't be added as an afterthought.

[mavrothal]

A bit dated by now (based on luci 525) but LazY pup is fully modular (with ~250 SFSs) and I think is leading tinycore in that aspect as instead of the tcz approach is implementing something analogous to the latter implemented in TC with the CSM modules, the no-dependencies application SFSs.

[greengeek]

Does tinycore use jwm?

[wanderer]

see first post

[L18L]

the way to have the advantages of both
is simply to make puppy functions into extensions for tinycore

You might simply start with just one of these puppy functions, please.

[wanderer]

see first post

[gcmartin]

Hello @Wanderer

I think you may already be aware of this. If not, it might be a match for your desire for a PUP solution of a startup, bare-bones PUP to build upon.

Hope this is helpful in some way

[mavrothal]

I am working on that now
they already have everything I absolutely need
<snip>
the way to have the advantages of both
is simply to make puppy functions into extensions for tinycore
<snip>
if puppy gurus make more extensions

It would appear that Tinycore is your system of choice.
Would make much more sense to ask in the tinycore forum for some help on puppy derived extension. They have an entire section with 6 subsections exclusively on TCEs. They sure know how to make them much better than any puppy "guru"