Puppy 2.15ce Standard RC1: my first look
Posted: Wed 21 Mar 2007, 10:28
Another sterling job done by all concerned; a few observations...
I haven't yet had any success with installing the previous beta, a long series of woes that consistently repeated; but I tried this as a live distribution in two modes -
1. As an "upgrade" to the beta previously tried and commented upon.
2. As a new pup_save file which preserved the desktop layout in all its new look... delightful to behold, but as indicated in another thread, not my personal "cup of tea".
Let me identify each observable point separately; not all are related to this specific version
1. The pointer size of the mouse needs to be easily adjustable. The Mouse/keyboard wizard doesn't offer this choice, nor has it in the past to the best of my knowledge.
2. The X-Org Resolution change option is no longer in there, and it was useful - to me anyway
3. Right clicking on the desktop did nothing, which is a pity as it means moving the pointer down to the start button every time. Right clicking on the taskbar and in windows seems to work as you would expect.
4. Something badly wrong with Gaim as you can't add accounts
5. The Disk Free application - when launched - still aligns with the bottom of the screen, rather than the taskbar, as mentioned in another thread.
6. Seamonkey appears to want to go full screen at random moments, which is infuriating lol
7. The Beta's description of "Computer" and "Documents" are much more intuitive than the names ascribed to the same functions in the Release Candidate, although "Home" is probably intuitive. Certainly more in line with the other OS's I have and currently use. I think "Setup" in the RC is better than "Configure" in the Beta.
As mentioned in another thread, I use the Windows "Network Places" desktop button many times a day and would imagine someone migrating from an MS Desktop would likely do the same. How about a start link to LinNeighborhood there please?
8. The new logo isn't intuitively a puppy - or even a canine. It's a nice stylised emblem, but what actually is it?
9. Need help documented somewhere about how you add new apps startup icon buttons at the right hand and left hand ends of the task bar. I actually like the XP concept of the arrowhead you can click to hide them, although when I first came across it, I found it annoying. It grows on you And users coming from XP will expect it anyway.
10. And how to you change the number of desktops? In KDE it's fairly obvious in the Control Panel. Can we have something in the wizards for this, perhaps? I know how to change it in JWM, through trial and error. But I'm looking at it from the perspective of a brand new user, and I have a couple of potential ones lined up right now, once it goes to "released".
11. Is there any way to change the colour of the text including the the clock in the dark themes, as there is insufficient contrast for poor eyes in both daylight and artificial light.
12. In similar vein, can the tooltips background and foreground be altered in the dark themes?
Plusses.
I found that out-of-the-box it played a DVD magnificently without any need for tweaking.
Networking was faultless.
Sound was detected automatically on one computer that I previously had to run the ALSA setup.
I'm sure there are other plusses
Look forward to hearing others comments, and answers to the points I raised.
Good one, chaps, thanks for the hard yacka you put into it.
Richard in Adelaide.
I haven't yet had any success with installing the previous beta, a long series of woes that consistently repeated; but I tried this as a live distribution in two modes -
1. As an "upgrade" to the beta previously tried and commented upon.
2. As a new pup_save file which preserved the desktop layout in all its new look... delightful to behold, but as indicated in another thread, not my personal "cup of tea".
Let me identify each observable point separately; not all are related to this specific version
1. The pointer size of the mouse needs to be easily adjustable. The Mouse/keyboard wizard doesn't offer this choice, nor has it in the past to the best of my knowledge.
2. The X-Org Resolution change option is no longer in there, and it was useful - to me anyway
3. Right clicking on the desktop did nothing, which is a pity as it means moving the pointer down to the start button every time. Right clicking on the taskbar and in windows seems to work as you would expect.
4. Something badly wrong with Gaim as you can't add accounts
5. The Disk Free application - when launched - still aligns with the bottom of the screen, rather than the taskbar, as mentioned in another thread.
6. Seamonkey appears to want to go full screen at random moments, which is infuriating lol
7. The Beta's description of "Computer" and "Documents" are much more intuitive than the names ascribed to the same functions in the Release Candidate, although "Home" is probably intuitive. Certainly more in line with the other OS's I have and currently use. I think "Setup" in the RC is better than "Configure" in the Beta.
As mentioned in another thread, I use the Windows "Network Places" desktop button many times a day and would imagine someone migrating from an MS Desktop would likely do the same. How about a start link to LinNeighborhood there please?
8. The new logo isn't intuitively a puppy - or even a canine. It's a nice stylised emblem, but what actually is it?
9. Need help documented somewhere about how you add new apps startup icon buttons at the right hand and left hand ends of the task bar. I actually like the XP concept of the arrowhead you can click to hide them, although when I first came across it, I found it annoying. It grows on you And users coming from XP will expect it anyway.
10. And how to you change the number of desktops? In KDE it's fairly obvious in the Control Panel. Can we have something in the wizards for this, perhaps? I know how to change it in JWM, through trial and error. But I'm looking at it from the perspective of a brand new user, and I have a couple of potential ones lined up right now, once it goes to "released".
11. Is there any way to change the colour of the text including the the clock in the dark themes, as there is insufficient contrast for poor eyes in both daylight and artificial light.
12. In similar vein, can the tooltips background and foreground be altered in the dark themes?
Plusses.
I found that out-of-the-box it played a DVD magnificently without any need for tweaking.
Networking was faultless.
Sound was detected automatically on one computer that I previously had to run the ALSA setup.
I'm sure there are other plusses
Look forward to hearing others comments, and answers to the points I raised.
Good one, chaps, thanks for the hard yacka you put into it.
Richard in Adelaide.