Is Puppy Linux the best Linux distro?

[linuxcbon]

Hi,
I am doing exactly the other way around.
I am used to use windows XP a lot because of PC games (especially TF2, skyrim, fallout)...
But now, I see many games in Steam are ported to linux, like TF2, so I am going to get rid of XP forever. I am also surely going to use "wine" or "playonlinux" for non linux native games.
Take my advice, go full linux, it's the future, even for games.
XP and windows in general can be good, but has many cons :
- very few programs ported to windows 64 bits (firefox is not !)
- too many adwares, especially in "public" softwares (they often don't even tell you and it's hidden).
- too many viruses (no comment).
- needs too many tweaks and attention : the autorun programs (often hidden), some registry optimizations lacking, the services to disable, uneeded system files to remove (take much hard disk place), etc.
- many ports open by default : dcom rpc, rpc locator, netbios, upnp, ssdp...
- ntfs needs defragmentation all the time
- tcp ip not optimized by default
etc
Cheers.

[nic007]

Hi,
I am doing exactly the other way around.
I am used to use windows XP a lot because of PC games (especially TF2, skyrim, fallout)...
But now, I see many games in Steam are ported to linux, like TF2, so I am going to get rid of XP forever. I am also surely going to use "wine" or "playonlinux" for non linux native games.
Take my advice, go full linux, it's the future, even for games.
XP and windows in general can be good, but has many cons :
- very few programs ported to windows 64 bits (firefox is not !)
- too many adwares, especially in "public" softwares (they often don't even tell you and it's hidden).
- too many viruses (no comment).
- needs too many tweaks and attention : the autorun programs (often hidden), some registry optimizations lacking, the services to disable, uneeded system files to remove (take much hard disk place), etc.
- many ports open by default : dcom rpc, rpc locator, netbios, upnp, ssdp...
- ntfs needs defragmentation all the time
- tcp ip not optimized by default
etc
Cheers.

No, I'm not taking your advice but nice try anyway

[mikeb]

No, I'm not taking your advice but nice try anyway

rofl

Yo...anyway it took just 2 minutes for 2000 to get infected direct to the internet.... rpc on port 135 ...netbios/windows networking is equally vulnerable (so why all this SAMBA on linux???)

Routers save the day as their firewalls are enough to deal with all these open by default ports (ie a second one on the PC is a bit of a waste of time and can be a headache for local networking) though you CAN close them if you want or need to...

Beyond the ports the bundled windows 98 type software is the killer..it needs removing or at least avoiding... they are the gateways to hell...you know the ones by now.

Windows...has to be secured (but can be)
Linux...secure by default
the main difference I see.

Not sure beyond XP how friendly windows is to creative/clever software...oh yes the newer systems are shiny but then so are ball bearings....and seem to be heading into the tablet...'ah well who needs a computer anyway when you can have the next generation of mindless TV...' Its more about selling new hardware anyway. I used windows pretty much daily and have not had a single virus/adware etc for 10 years without any 3rd party 'defenses'... but that's my gain and others choice.

Oh the topic.... its not a competition...puppy does at least try out different approaches...ok some are crap...the system is not what you would really classify as a 'system' but some of it does work and often where others fail (wifi)...linux is a pic 'n' mix jobbie anyway...just take a pile of the good bits and stick them together.

mike

[tallboy]

One if not the best as a LiveCD.

Boot a factory fresh operating system and browser each and every time - a brand new 'install' all achieved within a few minutes. Do whatever you like, completely trash it or be exposed to virus ....and a reboot has you back to fresh again.

Many of the other LiveCD's aren't really usable as LiveCD's, they're more like demo's of what a 'installed' version might look/feel like. Or their support is relatively low/slow. Ask a question on these boards and likely you'll have a reply within the same day, if not within the same hour - 24/7.
When I go to my bank website I like to know that I'm using a brand new opsys/desktop and browser that's not been used to go anywhere else - all run from CD and within memory (no HDD activity). Not some other choice that's been around a while and been here and there - potentially having caught a virus/key/session/comms logger or that might leave confidential data sitting somewhere on the disk. ...

The quote is from a post made by rufwoof early in this thread, and I couldn't agree more! I only run live puppys, and I have not found any other compact, fast and versatile distribution that is a match for a live puppylinux. You have to look at the whole package; a tiny distro offering blistering speed, ease of use, totally safe, lots of available programs, and not to forget the support from a very large and extremely active forum like this one, which is absolutely superb! Very hard to beat!

The whole idea behind puppylinux, was a small but complete distribution that primarily could run totally in RAM, off a live disc or a USB stick, but also could be installed. Personally I would never install a puppy, as an installed distro, it would have a lot of competitors that may be more mature and stable, and some are also reasonably compact and close to puppy in size.
For ordinary distros primarily designed to be installed, the Debian is hard to beat when it comes to stability and variety of programs. My own is huge, regularly upgraded, but rarely used anymore for everyday tasks - my live puppys takes care of those! I also like the more compact Debian based Mint distro, which somewhat resembles the puppy idea when it comes to delivering a complete package, ready to run. They also have versions that are designed to be very easy for Windoze users to migrate to.

tallboy

[mikeb]

I go for the horses mouth... slax based as it does all those fast...ram loading ...install anywhere type stuff using aufs to its max and with xfce you get something around the 100MB mark and infinite sfs ability to add on what you like. It also benefits from a full set of linux/unix utilities and standard system structure ..and multiuser and...oh well I am biased.

Safe...well if you ignore those scripts that can potentially wipe a hard drive...but we won't go into those....
Chaotic package management...one for improvement.

Swings and roundabouts really...I just try and jump on the best swing I can find

mike

[Saladin]

Ask a question on these boards and likely you'll have a reply within the same day, if not within the same hour - 24/7.

Definitely worth repeating. I recently joined the forum for another distro, and it was a completely different experience. Right from the registering I didn't feel welcome. It was an especially difficult captcha, no audio option either, and then I had to do it again before I could post. My password wasn't up to their standards (I mean jeez, it's a Linux forum -- it's not like I'm giving it my credit card number), and then there was something like twelve pages that I was asked to read before posting -- the forum rules, the FAQ, the wiki, the distro's philosophy, and so on.

The Puppy Linux forum has always been welcoming and helpful. One of my best forum experiences of the last fifteen years.

[mikeb]

Agreed... a saving grace is the open nature of thee forum.. we drift further off topic than most could ever dream to cope with and the rest of the linux world tends to be so far up its own butt that darkness has befallen them

mike

[nic007]

Agreed about the forum. Very helpful and mostly decent guys. And best of all is that those posters who really know a lot do not act like people having chips on their shoulders (well mostly).

[darry1966]

Agreed... a saving grace is the open nature of thee forum.. we drift further off topic than most could ever dream to cope with and the rest of the linux world tends to be so far up its own butt that darkness has befallen them

mike

Yes not many Linux forums have an off-topic section where you can talk about other stuff very much enjoyed your Boat stuff Mike.

[mikeb]

Whatever floats yer...sorry ...my boat eh

Well most humans do tend to have interests and needs outside of the one in question. In this case we all run computers and at some point puppy linux was used/tested but that common thread does tend to include a multitude of other systems and hardware even within the topic.

That is perhaps stating the obvious but such flexibility here does keep it bouncing along when others have ground to a halt.

Should the topic be 'Is murga the best forum in thee world?'
mike

[partsman]

'Is murga the best forum in thee world?'
mike

Absolutely !! Yes indeed it is
Thank you to all
Everyone here is what makes puppy the best distro !!

See signature

[Illutorium]

- very few programs ported to windows 64 bits (firefox is not !)

So yet 64bit Firefox for Windows is not include? -> http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/ ... s/?C=M;O=A and http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox

- needs too many tweaks and attention : the autorun programs (often hidden), some registry optimizations lacking, the services to disable, uneeded system files to remove (take much hard disk place), etc.

Some peoples can use a nLite instead... Non-Trashes,Registry Mods. So... That's not problem...

[wboz]

"Best" is so subjective!!!

Puppy is unique because it 1) runs from portable media AND 2) loads to RAM and runs from it AND 3) can save at end of session AND 4) is beginner-friendly.

I don't know any other distro that does all these. I also love that because of #2, and also because it chooses to run very low-RAM programs/DE/services, Puppy is indeed very fast. It takes the HDD on older systems out of the equation, which is usually one big performance bottleneck. I won't say that Puppy is INHERENTLY speedy, ie it hasn't been specifically optimized for performance. Its creators have just made a few very intelligent and reasoned decision about how it should run, in order to get the most out of the system resources available.

The tradeoff from numbers 1 and 2 has forced the invention of a good way to do #3, which is save session. And #4 is perhaps separate entirely, except that I believe that because 1,2, and 3 are so nontraditional, the user-friendly approach to dialog boxes, troubleshooting, initial setup etc is NECESSARY to get people into the game.

I am very OS-agnostic, and it's not the primary OS on this computer for example, but I like Puppy a lot .. I'm using it now

[mikeb]

Hmm you describe slax/porteus/nimblex...and slitaz..dsl and probably others..... these ideas come from various places...... 4 is subjective indeed and I find many of the pups painfully complicated.

The forum on the other hand I would agree is unique....only place I can post whereas I can use other systems ..

mike

[8Geee]

Puppy is better than Windows XYZ,period. Thats 85 - 90% of all OS's in a desktop, laptop, or netbook.

Windows XYZ is an addicted, power-hungry, bloated OS. It saps processing power to defend itself, requires frequent real-need updating, and requires third-party software to clean itself. Windows since the "admin" archetecture is frought with "trusted" circumvents that allow extended priviledges for unworthy software and/or developers.

I'm not sure which is worse
M$#
GOOG#
They are both unnecessary evils most people accept.

Is puppy the best? I dunno, buts its better than A LOT of "whats out there".

[mikeb]

Wild horses can be tamed.......

mike

[sickpig]

hell yeah! puppy is the best
other oses not running off ram are so last century
puppy is so blazing fast and compatible with all the hardware on my machine

puppy is so spartan
its a mystery to me why windows has 4gb iso and on idle consumes in excess of 1.4 gb ram
i dont need all that resource hogging
puppy is the new modern non caveman os

[foxpup]

Puppy is not the the best if you are a heavy gamer with a new machine with both integrated and discrete graphic card.
But since I hardily play any game at all, Puppy is the best for me.

why?
. Lots of builds to choose from. A lot of creativity.
. Small and fast. Little demands on the machine.
. For old and new machines.
. A great community.
. It runs from everything: pen drive, hard disc, in ram.
. It is nicely packaged (frugal) and it runs as root.
You can mess with it, but it does not hurt. So it is the easiest way to learn linux.
When I try out another linux and have some problem, I always think of Puppy in the back of my mind. Puppy is my reference.
. Lots of applications and tools from Pupsters.
. No (intrusive) updates.
. I never have viruses.
. Safe! The IT'er from my bank encouraged me to use a pristine Puppy for webbanking!
. You can rely on the repos of the big distros, if you want.