Other Distros

[Colonel Panic]

Puppy as a Trabant? Quite good, except that Puppy is one of the fastest distros out there, whereas a Trabant is, er... slow.

I think if Puppy was a car it would be something like an old Lotus Elan;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT7bAd9Pra0

I'm with you! That Colin Chapman beauty with the stainless-steel backbone and minimal weight is very much like a classic Puppy! My first dream car...never did own one of course.

Me neither, but it remains one of my favourite cars. Right at the end of its production run, in the early 70s, Lotus produced a version called the Sprint with an uprated engine and several other modifications, and these are very much sought after nowadays.

Here's a video which shows why (if you want to skip to the bit where the car is actually being driven, it starts at 6:50);

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3KWU1qlfIM

[starhawk]

Puppy as a Trabant? Quite good, except that Puppy is one of the fastest distros out there, whereas a Trabant is, er... slow.

I think if Puppy was a car it would be something like an old Lotus Elan;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT7bAd9Pra0

Well, if you must have it as a Lotus, it would probably be an Eclat Puppy does need tinkering!

[Puppus Dogfellow]

I'll agree -- nice, fast and doesn't tax my dated ride.

Though it doesn't remember my interface, Android tethering works without a hitch.

i was booting from more than one cd and had the add-in packages on three different old two-gig thumb drives--thought my lack of interface persistence was because i couldn't keep track of anything, but perhaps it wasn't. unpleasant old machine with a droopy lid and a loud fan, but i could hook it to a t.v. large enough to place at a distance, get a long cord for an external keyboard...may play some more in the near future. think i'd also like to see what the distro's like on a more capable machine.

[Burn_IT]

I would have likened it to a Reliant Scimitar if you're going to use a vehicle.

[starhawk]

Oh boy, I'd somehow managed to forget about that one.

Good choice

[Colonel Panic]

Oh boy, I'd somehow managed to forget about that one.

Good choice

I think this discussion deserves its own thread - what car would Puppy be

Yeah, I'd settle for Puppy as a Reliant Scimitar; it was a great car (I like the name too). Just one caveat though, from experience of a short drive with a friend giving me a lift in one; if you're more than six feet (1.83 m) tall as I am, don't sit in the back.

[Billtoo]

I've been using wmlive for several weeks and have now installed it to
the hard drive of my 2008 intel imac:

Summary
Computer
Processor 2x Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8135 @ 2.40GHz
Memory 4032MB (1844MB used)
Operating System Debian GNU/Linux 8.3
User Name bill (Bill)
Date/Time Sun 14 Feb 2016 02:10:47 PM EST
Display
Resolution 1680x1050 pixels
OpenGL Renderer Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV610
X11 Vendor The X.Org Foundation
Multimedia
Audio Adapter HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
Operating System
Version
Kernel Linux 4.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 (x86_64)
Compiled #1 SMP Debian 4.2.6-3~bpo8+2 (2015-12-14)
C Library Unknown
Default C Compiler GNU C Compiler version 4.9.2 (Debian 4.9.2-10)
Distribution Debian GNU/Linux 8.3

I added many applications with the package manager (synaptic)
kodi,kdegames,etc. and after adding gdebi I was able to download and
install 64 bit versions of Google Chrome and Google Earth from the root
terminal.

Works great.

[Colonel Panic]

Excellent! Window Maker's one of the best window managers out there.

I've always liked Exton's spins on popular Linux distros (including Puppy of course), and the latest one I've tried is Ex GENT, a live DVD wich is based on Gentoo and has Opera installed instead of Firefox.

It works well but for an over 2GB disk I think it should have LibreOffice installed as standard instead of AbiWord.

(I've also tried ExTix, another good distro and one based on Ubuntu 15.10. It's very good but oddly it doesn't come with XArchiver, so you have to download that if you want to unzip / untar anything.)

[Burn_IT]

The Scimitar was always sold as a two plus two so that doesn't surprise me at all.
It was also a strictly dry weather car both because it leaked like a sieve and, more importantly, it was nose heavy and handled like an excited puppy or a pony on its first outing (it had an affinity for lampposts and hedges.)

[Colonel Panic]

The Scimitar was always sold as a two plus two so that doesn't surprise me at all.
It was also a strictly dry weather car both because it leaked like a sieve and, more importantly, it was nose heavy and handled like an excited puppy or a pony on its first outing (it had an affinity for lampposts and hedges.)

LOL. One good thing about it though is that it wouldn't rust, being made of fibreglass rather than steel.

There was another car from about the same time which also was made of fibreglass and had a Ford engine - the Gilbern. They were made in Wales and were very rare (I think I saw one once, but I can't be sure). Here's one of the later models, the Invader;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbern#/ ... 994_cc.JPG

[Burn_IT]

Unfortunately the chassis DID rust and the mechanics suffered badly as a result.
There were two engine sizes the 3litre and the 2.5litre.
The smaller one was actually the better engine since the lower power was not really a problem and it was far smoother to drive - and rarer.

[Colonel Panic]

Unfortunately the chassis DID rust and the mechanics suffered badly as a result.
There were two engine sizes the 3litre and the 2.5litre.
The smaller one was actually the better engine since the lower power was not really a problem and it was far smoother to drive - and rarer.

I have to take my hat off to you here; you obviously know your stuff about cars. I do remember that Princess Anne had one in the '70s and got stopped for speeding in it.

If you're interested in cars and are from the Midlands, one of my heroes was a man called Spen King who is best known for designing the Range Rover (though he was in charge of terms which designed other cars such as the Triumph Stag ad the 16 valve Dolomite).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Spencer_King

[Burn_IT]

I have always been keen on all sorts of technical stuff.
I ought to know about Reliant though since I live about a mile from where the factory used to be.
There was a big fuss locally because there was a preservation order on it, which the council very conveniently managed to bypass so it could build prestige housing - for sale.
They made an absolute fortune.

The 16 valve Dolomite was the Sprint and the only one worth buying.
It was the fastest standard saloon car you could buy when it came out.
Again build quality was poor.

[Colonel Panic]

I edited my post whilst you were writing yours, by the looks of it! Interesting what you said about the land the Reliant factory was on being used for prestige housing - it's the way of the world now I suppose.

I remember the Dolomite Sprint being a very sought after car when it came out, almost like the BMW 5 series is now. Shame about the build quality though.

[Colonel Panic]

Here's an interview with Spen. It's quite long and goes into a lot of detail so he lost me in places, but boy does he know what he's talking about.

http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/facts-a ... spen-king/

[greengeek]

Some of the early Puppies I used were like the Reliant Robin.
Newer ones are more battle toughened though.

[starhawk]

Ah... the Robin. I have a thing for three wheeled cars.

Never seen the tracked version before tho where did you find that?

[greengeek]

Ah... the Robin....where did you find that?

I just used google images to search for "reliant robin". Actually, if you also google "reliant robin boat" it is amazing the depth of human creativity.

Someone even made one for the American market. Must've sold thousands over there. Even made it onto a TV series I think..

[Burn_IT]

A lot of the so called Robins in the media are not Robins at all.
They are Regals; there were nowhere near as many Robins made,
They were both stupidly fast (in a straight line).

[infromthepound]

I had the van version, you could drive them on a motor bike liscence then,
I never managed to roll it, or anything near.
A reasonable weight in the back made the front steering wheel a bit light; and going flat out on a straight road made the front wheel lift too, a bit frightening.
JB