Newbies - Puppy needs YOUR help too!

[Aitch]

STG

see edit, sorry I didn't highlight the changes...added this in case you hadn't spotted the edits

Aitch

[puppyite]

... then move the & onto the same actual line as the real url link, leaving no spaces like this

Real URL

I may misunderstand you but: When I write a post I must do the following to create a link:

Code: Select all

I start with:

[url=][/url]

Then I do this:

[url=http://www.address.com/page.htm]Web Site Link Text or address[/url]

No other method works for me.

Edit: I guess it doesn't matter since STG made it work.

[Aitch]

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.address.com/page.htm]Web Site Link Text or address[/url]

Yes, that's why your scroogle scaper link shows as scroogle, and mine as http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm
Although both function with the same resultant link, I think yours is neater, but some people don't like 'unknown' links, because of re-directer spammers, e.g. your word 'scroogle' could link anywhere not just to scroogle link & who would know?

So I use the basic [visible link] method
Just highlight a URL & hit the button, making sure the boxes are in the same line, with no spaces between the link and url boxes

For the same reason I always use the preview version of TinyURL when I use that for long URL links

Aitch

[puppyite]

Aitch,
I would like to shed light on some misconceptions:

If you examine my example code closely you will see that just like you I also specified that the URL *could* be the visible link text.

Whether text or URL is used for the visible link the actual address becomes visible in the browser status bar when you mouse over the link.

The address that appears in the browser status bar *can* be obfuscated via JavaScript but AFAIK this would not be possible in a forum post. Well I don't know how and I surely wouldn't try.

Finally and most confusingly it is *possible* for the visible link to misrepresent the URL. I.E. the visible link is: http://yahoo.com but the link really points to http://malefactor.com

I offer this only in the interest of clarity and I hope you don't think I'm trying to dispute what you say because you have been very gracious to me.

[SelftaughtGeek]

In case anyone else was following my thread about keyboard maps follow this link

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 683#342683

ttuuxxx made a pet that does exactly what I wanted - fantastic and the country flags are soooo cute.

STG

[SelftaughtGeek]

In case anyone else was following my thread about keyboard maps follow this link

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 683#342683

ttuuxxx made a pet that does exactly what I wanted - fantastic and the country flags are soooo cute.

STG

[Aitch]

Thumbs up STG, I agree, ttuuxxx is a star!
Hope it will come in useful for others
I'll post a suggestion for it to go mainstream......done!

puppyite - no problem
You are quite right,
The only suggestion I can offer is; I use Firepup, and the actual site you are going to, shows up bottom left [where the word 'Done' normally sits]
Is that what you mean by browser status bar? - I'm terrible with technical stuff - no need to answer, we've added enough here already.....

Aitch

[wizard_chef]

My background is I ran a Unix system back in the early 80s but long since have forgotten what I knew about scripting, greping, all that other stuff ... I wanted to install a fast Linux-based system on an old PC that worked out of the box that would let me do browsing with a wireless Internet connection, and some basic desktop aps to boot.

I spent 48 hours with xubuntu and finally gave up after about a dozen attempts at install. I went to puppy, and it took me about 6 installs to get it to work.

My biggest problem ... grub. For some reason, I could never get it installed correctly. There needs to be a simple grub installation that will repair and install grub (not grubconfig, that didn't help me). About the 6th universal install finally booted properly (dual booted, i.e.).

My second hurtle, which I am still in the middle of, is how to get my wireless card recognized and talking to my router. I am about to buy a new pcmcia card because of my inability to get this card (Linksys WPC54G) up. This should not be this hard, folks! I finally figured out Ndiswrapper (I think ... not sure), but that didn't work, either. There needs to be a clear, step-by-step set of instructions for how to integrate Ndiswrapper drivers into the system, including how and what to download from the Windows driver set.

I could find no UP TO DATE list of cards that were supported with native drivers. That would be a big help. The most recent list seemed to be 3 years out of date and contained cards no longer even available.

But, hey! It is free! I'm not complaining. Just a wish list!

[spongedaddy]

Hi wizard_chef --

This may help for issue #2:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=11861

RE xubuntu: I tried for a long time to make that distro work for me. Unfortunately, despite all the press about its small footprint, I still find it bloated and slow.

Stick with Puppy and you won't be disappointed.

[Aitch]

Hi wizard_chef

this may be useful to you

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=11277

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=22469

sometimes it all goes horribly wrong.....

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=44507

there are still issues both with the wizards, and kernel changes, and manuals/info.....IMO

Aitch

[KittyCat]

I know I'm a bit late to the thread, but I will add my voice to the ones who have pointed out that a lot of the documentation in the forums is out-dated. The Index for Beginners is a beautiful idea, but unfortunately it's not very helpful if it's not continuously updated.

I wanted to install Puppy to the hard drive of my laptop and found a link in the Index that claimed to be a complete step by step guide and started reading.

It was not helpful at all, since the guide is from 2005. My laptop has no floppy drives, I have no copy of MS-DOS available, and Puppy is no longer version 1.xx, I'm working with 4.30.

Fortunately I remembered that I had seen a manual and instructions on the official Puppy site so I went and read those instead, but the Index for Beginners needs to be updated if it is going to be helpful for us brand new newcomers. Cleaning out all links leading to guides more than 12 months old would be a good starting point, and then updated links can be added back in.

[thebeaky]

In a recent change in the kernal it seems to me that many old computers were dropped from the kernal build. This makes newer puppies unavailable on older machines.

I am still new to using puppy, and linux in general. My understanding is still very limited. But if puppy has an aim to be available for older computer, can it make sure not to drop these from the kernal.

( puppy 4.2.1 works on my comp, 4.3 doesnt), and almost no new distro's work with my comp. (which still has life in it yet)

[James C]

I've tested the newest kernel for Puppy 4.30 (2.6.30.5) in equipment ranging from a 433 mhz Celeron to several P3's to a 2.8 ghz P4 and it worked in every one of them.That said, every pc will not work with every kernel.

Barry K did release builds of 4.30 with the older 2.6.25.16 kernel (same as the prior releases) and the 2.6.21.7 kernel (the prior release "retro" kernel).Hopefully one of those versions will work on equipment no suitable for the latest kernel.

[davids45]

G'day,
Just a quick query for thebeaky.
Did you try the newest kernel Pups with "puppy pfix=ram acpi=off"?
My relatively new desktop requires this extra boot parameter (acpi=off) to work with post 4.2.1 Puppies. It's a BIOS issue with my computer, I think.
Without this parameter, trying to boot, a Live CD gives an irq handler error message then completely fails with a message about looking for Puppy files.
If this acpi=off does help, you may need to modify rc.sysinit to get the computer to fully turn off, as well.
David S.

[sarakay]

Hi! Just wanted to say a big THANKS FOR PUPPY from a Windows refugee. In a previous life many moons ago I was a computer programmer, and when I was using UNIX we did just about everything on the command line. I know one can still do that but I am certainly enjoying the GUI and all the thought that was put into making Puppy truly user friendly.

I am using 3.01 on an old Thinkpad, and for a lot of casual users I think it would have been just fine "out of the box" (but I like to tinker). Puppy has breathed a new life into my laptop. Even my pathetic dial-up connection is faster. No more bloat!

As for suggestions ... documentation is a bit of a problem; we all know programmers would rather program than write. The new Wiki is great! Wish we had that kind of a tool when I was working. I have it bookmarked and am looking forward to more topics being addressed in it as I get deeper into Puppy.

[dogle]

Sarakay, welcome and heartiest thanks to you and everyone else who are contributing so much to this thread.

documentation is a bit of a problem; we all know programmers would rather program than write.

Absolutely spot on! (IMHO this is the cardinal Linux problem,not just a Puppy one)

The salient consensus from this thread is very clear - new Puppy users are bright people who dearly want to learn more and who are struggling, above all, to gain easy access to up-to-date information.

The new Wiki is, I hope, going to be a hugely important resource in this respect, and one to which we can all contribute.

(PS the beginners' stuff in this forum is receiving attention right now, big hat-tip to Colonel Schell).

[KittyCat]

The new Wiki is, I hope, going to be a hugely important resource in this respect, and one to which we can all contribute.

There's a new wiki? Where?

I actually managed to find it. It's on http://puppylinux.org/main/index.php, and you can get to it by clicking on the Wiki Ho-To tab on the top of that page.

There are two major problems with that wiki: The first is that it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to finds links to it here in the forums. The second is that there are no guide sections in it. Until these two problems are fixed, the wiki will not be very helpful to any newcomers to Puppy.

[T_B]

Let me start by saying "Puppy is amazing".
I am using Linux for more than a few years now, but I always feel like a newb when I am using Puppy instead of Ubuntu (or other major distros like Suse/Fedora).
I never have to ask a question in forums when I use Ubuntu. All questions have been asked and for most questions there is a good answer already or there is workaround.

In Puppy it is always the question if the program you want to run is available as a pet. If so, the question remains is the pet for the current version.. Does it have dependency issues.

Puppy is great for newbies if you *only* want to run standard included programs or if you are lucky that someone created a pet for you.
Of course you can compile something in Puppy with a dev.sfs, but that is not for newbies and tbh never really worked well for me (try compiling aMule...).

I love puppy, it is my favorite rescue cd. Every time I use it after a period of Ubuntu I am thrilled about its speed. Unfortunately after a while I always need to go back to Ubuntu because there is a program that I need/want that is not available for Puppy.

[dogle]

Thanks, T-B.

It seems to me that Barry is well 'on the case' with improvements to the Puppy Package Manager and the development of Woof, but it is also abundantly clear from this thread that the 'newbie' feeling you describe is the real biggie re. Puppy acceptability to newcomers.

I never have to ask a question in forums when I use Ubuntu.

Any comments/suggestions as to how Puppy information might better be brought to match that of the big distros are very welcome, and needed.

[ogodon]

I am a XP refugee that keeps insisting on believing on Puppy despite several perpetual headaches... I hope I can list the things I find more frustrating. My computer knowledge is that of the average clueless Windows user, but I can't afford new computers to keep up with Windows massive hardware demand. I will learn to deal with Linux or die trying I guess... Puppy does it for me cause it is small and fast, I really like the philosophy behind, and those things I've managed to get going are working really well, hey, I love it... but it can be tough.

This is what I find makes it so hard, my hope is that this is of some help to someone. I wish I could help in other ways that pointing out things. Anyway here is my list of things that make migrating to Puppy tough :

1) The big amount of time dedicated to search for answers. Murga Linux is full of old threads, then the threads that probably contain the answers are full of things I don't quite understand. Most notably however are the endless comments of small particular details. If I look for a way to install openoffice, I find lots of stuff about unusual cases, but I can't find the ABC to it. Most questions in forums are asked by people that know a lot more than me. The answers to my simple stupid questions are not easy to find. For example, what do I do with a program in .tar.gz format? it took me a while to figure that one out, just enought to get by. Maybe I'm just not good at choosing where and how to search, but it is not obvious to me where and how to search anyway.

2) Everything is online. I can't find any manual or helpfile to download and use when I am not online. This applies for Puppy in general, and for most programs in Puppy. For people like me who don't have a good connection, it doesn't help to depend so severely on the net. I'd like to point out Puppy is a great option for people with little money since it runs so smoothly on old machines others have discarded, it is the case sometimes they don't have a high speed connection home.

3) As a total newbie, I never found a good place to start learning from. All I could do was put it on, install it, and try everything in it. It sounds good, but just pressing buttons will leave plenty of big blanks in the way. There are hundreds of Linux tutorials that start off with this great guy in Finland, and then they hop on to a distro other than Puppy. Is there something like this but related to Puppy? I think not, so I have considered learning a few things in a different distro and then back to Puppy, but I have still remained faithful to Puppy...

Well, that's all, this message is mostly a bit of an outcry. I know I am not good with computers, I just hope people will realize how really simple stupid stuff can be a huge problem for a beginner, and how hard it can be to find the help for that. I am a teacher myself and I am aware it is a big challenge to efficiently put together the basics, many guides really suck, but at least there is something to decypher.

Other than that, thanks a million for Puppy. It works amazingly for me, it has been a beam of light after a long dark night, and it keeps rewarding me for my efforts everyday. It's a challenge I enjoy, a tough challenge, and I can picture many, even myslef, giving up too soon.