I give up on Puppy.

Booting, installing, newbie
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jonabark
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Joined: Thu 19 Feb 2015, 17:10

I give up on Puppy.

#1 Post by jonabark »

OK, I have spent 2 days trying to get this pp to work and I've had enough. The reason I don't have dogs is the little deposits of doggy doo.

Problems: 1)My netbook battery ran out with no warning and nothing saved of 5 hours of work on the precise puppy desktop. Also when I plugged in and restarted, it did not go through the same parameters and screen resolution process and I ended up with a distorted desktop. Perhaps my own damn fault but every other program I have used gives a warning.
2) I connected and added my 2 printers but a) the one printed blank pages out of a write file(works fine with mac) the other printer( also works fine with mac) doesn't work at all with pp even though it shows up in list and was selected as the printer
I have connected a lot of printers to OSs and this Cups online system sucks.
3) the paint and draw programs print choice does not allow you to select a printer, nor does it print to the one connected
4) finding the apps folder to move the icon onto the desktop takes like 4 or 5 steps which I had to find out via a youtube video
5) Lucid would not connect to my wireless
My entire puppy experience has been disappointing and I don't have the time for this kind of easy. These problems seem like basic issues that shouldn't take so long to resolve. The idea is to be better at least than windows. So sayonara for now. Gong to try other OSs.

The sea monkey stuff works fine

starhawk
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#2 Post by starhawk »

The devil's in the details... you know, if you'd asked us about those instead of storming off fuming you'd probably have had a different experience.

Oh well.

Take care!

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Ted Dog
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#3 Post by Ted Dog »

Oh... darn lost another back to the greedy arms of a for profit company. Bet he can get this level of support or forum drama on a 'real' OS website... Just glad it was not us personally :P
Would wish the internet would only let people know this should be viewed as a hobby, with good outcomes and not a stopping spot for stressed out windows folks banging head looking for fast and simple fix to complex problems.
But he was me in the early days, no time to learn, need it now! But with only a few days of free time, puppy answered more problems than other distros, so, here I am, today.

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rufwoof
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#4 Post by rufwoof »

Been taking Wary 5.5 for a walk the last couple of days - absolutely solid/great.

Dropped in kernel 3.10, added dbus and pulseaudio and its running Skype 4.3 and the latest portable firefox really well. Can watch onscreen video's and listen via the speakers whilst chatting on Skype using the headphones.

Liking it a lot. My old AMD64 single core works well with it and I'm tempted to sign the adoption papers to keep the pup long term.

My usual of get the core up and running as I want and then remaster, dropping pup sfs into initrd and then just pfix=ram,nocopy pupmode 5 booting thereafter with no save file (with the option to click yes at shutdown when asked whether to create a savefile - rather than having to immediately remaster in any further desired changes). All running 100% in ram.

Most impressed with how just opting for XVesa server at startup leaves nvidia graphics to establish itself well with no conflicts. Can opaque window resize/moves well, and is usable despite modesetting being turned off (nouveau.modeset=0 boot parameter).

Other OS's ? Yeah! ... tried 'em didn't like 'em. The ability of pup to provide a fixed read only core ... and update/virus problems become a thing of the past ... and not something that I'd be tempted to return to thanks.
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raffy
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user was trying Lucid Puppy on USB

#5 Post by raffy »

I tried to check on the user's progress and he said here:
...went to precise puppy after finding a discussion that said it worked on the D270 netbook out of the box. It loaded great and I am using it from the usb stick but assume I will be able to do a frugal install when I check out...
The guy must have installed applications in his first 5 hours with Precise Puppy (in USB). Then his battery went dead without warning from the OS.

Some helpful tips for newbies:

1. Get started fast with Windows installer. noryb009 keeps Windows installer at http://www.mediafire.com/?5ah0d0rzcz5cc, with the latest Slacko earning the label "latest" and other builds (including the new Tahrpup) available under "derivatives".

Use the latest builds because they have solved many problems and have more up-to-date drivers. And they include laptop utilities. :D

2. Be specific with the details of your problem and question and repeat it if forum replies don't address your specific issue.

And a bit of advice to forum oldtimers: please don't assume that every newbie is a hobbyist with the luxury of time and patience in experimenting with the Pup (In fairness, user jonabark gave Puppy two days of experimenting).
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

musher0
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#6 Post by musher0 »

My condolences...
musher0
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stemsee

#7 Post by stemsee »

I know exactly how you feel. You should have tried Lighthouse 64 or EmSee-V2.4 all the work is done for you.

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ardvark
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Re: user was trying Lucid Puppy on USB

#8 Post by ardvark »

raffy wrote:And a bit of advice to forum oldtimers: please don't assume that every newbie is a hobbyist with the luxury of time and patience in experimenting with the Pup (In fairness, user jonabark gave Puppy two days of experimenting).
I would add that most end users are not technically inclined and/or savvy and expect an OS to "just work" with a minimum of involvement on their part.

Windows can provide this (for the most part) because...

1. Windows is pre-installed on almost OEM systems that you find in a store. Just answer a few quick simple questions and you're up and running. Some distributions are catching up to this as far as ease of installation, though. :wink:

2. Brand new peripherals such as printers, scanners, cameras, etc., usually come with a driver CD that (usually) makes installation easy. If for some reason it didn't come with one, you can usually find one on the internet or, in some cases, Windows will already have one in their database and download and install it for you. Even if you have to find one online, the .exe does all the work for you, you just have to answer a few questions. No command line work or know how, no having to build anything or make sure dependencies (if any) are met. No, it's certainly not foolproof and folks do experience problems but by and large, it works pretty well.

To be honest, the OP's experience is not unique, it's fairly common. I think that if Windows users had to try to do some of the stuff that we, as Linux users, have had to do to get something to work here and there (and I think we all have had to, in some way or another,) there would be a major upheaval! :lol:

Regards...
Last edited by ardvark on Wed 25 Feb 2015, 02:26, edited 1 time in total.
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Robin2
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#9 Post by Robin2 »

I have a lot of sympathy for the OP in this.

I have been using Ubuntu for a few years and Puppy just for a few weeks.

Moving from Windows to Linux was a huge learning process even though the Ubuntu folks make the installation fairly straightforward.

But once you have Ubuntu installed it is very difficult to do anything that is the least bit unusual without needing to know a lot of Geek stuff that is totally unnecessary with Windows (and, presumably with Macs).

Unfortunately it seems to be a badge of honour in the Linux system to master these complexities rather than to eliminate them. And decent documentation for Open Source software is as scarce as hens' teeth.

Having said all that I have switched from Xubuntu to Puppy because I like the way it exposes more of the stuff that is behind the scenes.

I think it is fair to say that Puppy would not be easy for a naive Windows user and maybe that should be made clear on the main project page. Installing it is only a small part of the user experience as the OP has very clearly shown.

...R

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ardvark
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#10 Post by ardvark »

Robin2 wrote:But once you have Ubuntu installed it is very difficult to do anything that is the least bit unusual without needing to know a lot of Geek stuff that is totally unnecessary with Windows (and, presumably with Macs).

Unfortunately it seems to be a badge of honour in the Linux system to master these complexities rather than to eliminate them. And decent documentation for Open Source software is as scarce as hens' teeth.
+1, as they say. :wink:

Regards...

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SFR
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#11 Post by SFR »

jonabark wrote:My netbook battery ran out with no warning and nothing saved of 5 hours of work on the precise puppy desktop.
It seems to me that none of Puppies (or very few - probably mostly those who have e.g. Vattery instead of powerapplet_tray) is able to warn and/or shutdown gracefully if battery is very low.
No, it dies instantly instead, "just like that", no matter if something is being written to HDD at the moment, no session saved...full carelessness. :roll:

Anyway, here's a version of powerapplet_tray with this issue addressed:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=85752
Dunno how many (if any) Pups have it preinstalled, though...

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8Geee
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#12 Post by 8Geee »

I have had a much different transition from W98-2 to Linux to Puppy.

I saw the addictive behaviour of the windows experience, and releases that basically went F-L-O-P. The switch to user and admin priviledges handed to everyone else but the user was the last straw. W98-2 went non-support and that was it for me.

Along came the ASUS eee and Linux, and I bought one. Smooth transition with an Office Suite installed. Just like Windows, I had to trim the storage consumption of JVM, and essentially not let the "jars" get filled. Tho not root sudo was my friend. ASUS stopped supporting the OS almost immediately, and Xandros was dead. Tweak this and that, but dead. The kernal was actually limiting the ability to install new stuff, like FF and OpenOffice. Eventually, the "internet-social-media-portal-Internet of things" complained and did not behave well. I needed newer things, more secure things, and a way to maintain it all.

Lurking here since 2008, I saw a lot of changes, and Puppy Distros were catching up to what I needed. But the main limiting factor was and still is the kernel. After sorting thru alot of stuff, the nearest transparent transition was from Xandros to Puppy Slacko 5.5-XL. And thats how I got here... It took time, research, and minimal compromise(s). For those not familiar, the 5.5-XL kernal is 3.2.33-np and can handle newer things.

In return for the opportunity, I remastered a smalller puppy Slacko-5.7 into a near-turn-key pup for those that jest want to get online and browse around. About 85-90% of what I need is doable with the turn-key pup. But when I need letters, forms, spreads, XL is more than adequate.

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mikeb
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#13 Post by mikeb »

I have never known a kernel version to limit software choices.
win98 was bloody awful...anything would be an improvement.... 2000 and XP ...NT based....at least have a decent stable core... and not being admin is a very good idea in terms of security.

So puppies have no decent low battery warning by default?

Never felt standard pups have been as noob friendly as claimed...but some who have worked on puppy have made some nice improvements in the later releases..... lucid, slacko and tahr come to mind.

raffy
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precise

#14 Post by raffy »

The user said that it's "precise puppy", see post above.

That can narrow your inspection. :wink:
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

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mikeb
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#15 Post by mikeb »

The user said that it's "precise puppy", see post above.
yes I know...perhaps its not one of the better releases and is anyone maintaining it at present?

mike

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Smithy
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#16 Post by Smithy »

Well I was going to have a go at bleaching and a good scrub around the rim, but decided to stick with DPup Wheezy, which incidentally, the maker had made/ modified the battery indicator and gracious save/ shutdown.

I know there is a very cool audio hiss like hgv air brakes when you shut the lid, which at first I thought was the cpu was frying, but since my battery is feckked (i.e says 3 hours, and then in 10 mins is down to 8% then ..gone) on my lappy I have disabled it with (non conductive before u rant) gubbins over the terminals for now.

I think it's in Wheezy, but not too sure, but there sure is some very nice right click ease of use stuff in there. Pemasu took a lot of care, as did the Lucid guys (Playdayz and the forum) , and this shows.

Maybe he will come back when he realises Apple adopted that shi**y cups thing, drivers would be much preferable, but once you get that 631 thing nailed, it doesn't get in the way, unless you try a new puppy.. managed to find the stuff to transfer printer painlessly to another distro..just about..etc cups and other places..

Now, has anyone got an opinion on NICE, RENICE and IONICE in Debian?
Does it work, Windows is so good it doesn't need to be done but Linux...?

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mikeb
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#17 Post by mikeb »

Hmm..pups used to only have one of the nice trio...but that may have changed.

I used renice for setting such as media converters to run at low priority eg renice 10 {pid} after getting the pid since I could not nice directly. ..is that not nice?

cups... not so bad really though on pup lacks HP drivers but who can afford to run those anyway :D
Yes its s-l-o-w to print because it interpolates the image but that produces much better results for lower resolution images than windows method of using the gui screen driver...fast but blocky.
Its also easy to network I find. At least puppy includes it now.. printing was a non starter without it.
Bonus bunny is built in PDF printing.

Windows handles networking priority badly in XP and older... try a heavy network game and see how fast it disconnects :D Or a LAN transfer under load for that matter.

mike

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rockedge
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#18 Post by rockedge »

It is just not a good day if I don't blow up a Puupy OS in trying something out or getting a package to run. I have crashed machines going down with fans screaming...most of the time a restart brings us back up and sometimes well...just install a new one. Puppy Precise 5.7.1 has given me trouble, some things don't work as expected although it did prove to be a great platform for DOSBox and Virtualbox for running MS-DOS programs like QuickBasic 4.5. Mostly found UPUP 3.9.9.2 and so far Tahr 6.* to be super solid. Overall Puppy Linux in most flavors is a great OS.

I may be somewhat biased on the ease of use.....I began to learn how to massage computers on a PDP-11/70 running RSTS/E OS and programming in Digital Basic in 1975. Remember loading TinyBasic from a paper tape roll through a Teletype model 33 and bootstrapping by toggle switchs loading the bootstrap loader in HEX. on an a MITS ALTAIR 680b with a huge 4k of RAM

wouldn't it be really cool if we could get a Puppy to run on one of those!

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rcrsn51
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#19 Post by rcrsn51 »

mikeb wrote:though on pup lacks HP drivers
Please explain.

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mikeb
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#20 Post by mikeb »

Please explain.
why???

Well it's my understanding is that by default some puppies do not include the full hplip package due to size considerations.

I also had to add drivers for a canon too though that was because the cups included ones lacked features and only gave low resolution prints.

Epson...work out of the box so far.

So good system but may not cover everything as it comes in puppy.

mike

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