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{{ infobox OS
{{ infobox OS
| name = Puppy Linux
| name = Puppy(Troll)Linux
| logo = [[Image:Banner logo Puppy.png|250px]]
| logo = [[Image:Banner logo Puppy.png|250px]]
| screenshot = [[File:Puppy Linux 5.1.0.png|250px]]
| screenshot = [[File:Puppy Linux 5.1.0.png|250px]]
| caption = Puppy Linux 5.1.0 ''Lucid Puppy''
| caption = Puppy Linux 5.1.0 ''Troll Puppy''
| developer = Barry Kauler (original)<br />Puppy community (current)
| developer = Barry Kauler (original)<br />Puppy community (current)
| family = [[Unix-like]]
| family = [[Unix-like]]
Line 21: Line 21:
| ui = [[JWM]] / [[IceWM]] + [[ROX Desktop]]
| ui = [[JWM]] / [[IceWM]] + [[ROX Desktop]]
| working_state = Current
| working_state = Current
| supported_platforms = x86, 64 bit
| supported_platforms = x86, 64 bit, Troll 69
| updatemodel =
bit| updatemodel =
| package_manager = PetGet, Puppy Package Manager
| package_manager = PetGet, Puppy Package Manager
}}
}}


'''Puppy Linux''' is a lightweight [[Linux distribution]] that focuses on [[Usability|ease of use]].<ref>[http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT7455536044.html An in-depth look at Puppy Linux by Howard Fosdick]</ref> The entire system can be run from [[RAM]], allowing the boot medium to be removed after the [[operating system]] has started. Applications such [[AbiWord]] a free word processing application, [[Gnumeric]] spreadsheet and [[Gxine]] a free multimedia player are included, along with a wide choice of web browsers that can be installed. The distribution is developed by Barry Kauler<!-- Barry Kauler currently redirects to this article - do not make this a self-link --> and other members of the community. The tool [[Woof (software)|Woof]] can build a Puppy Linux distribution from the binary packages of other Linux distributions.<ref name="Puppy5">{{ cite web | url = http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-5.0/release-500.htm | title=Announcement and release notes for Lucid Puppy 5.0}}</ref>
'''Puppy Linux''' is a lightweighty [[Linux distribution]] that focuses on [[Usability|ease of use]].<ref>[http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT7455536044.html An in-depth look at Puppy Linux by Howard Fosdick]</ref> The entire system can be run from [[RAM]], allowing the boot medium to be removed after the [[operating system]] has started. Applications such [[AbiWord]] a free word processing application, [[Gnumeric]] spreadsheet and [[Gxine]] a free multimedia player are included, along with a wide choice of web browsers that can be installed. The distribution is developed by Barry Kauler<!-- Barry Kauler currently redirects to this article - do not make this a self-link --> and other members of the community. The tool [[Woof (software)|Woof]] can build a Puppy Linux distribution from the binary packages of other Linux distributions.<ref name="Puppy5">{{ cite web | url = http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-5.0/release-500.htm | title=Announcement and release notes for Lucid Puppy 5.0}}</ref>


== Features ==
== Features ==
Line 74: Line 74:
[[Woof (software)|Woof]] is an advanced tool for creating Puppy installations. It requires an Internet connection and some knowledge of Linux to use. It is able to download the binary source packages from another [[Linux distribution]] and process them into Puppy Linux packages by just defining the name of that Linux distro.<ref>{{cite web|author=Barry Kauler|title=Woof: the "Puppy builder"|url=http://bkhome.org/woof/|date=March 2010}}</ref> It is equipped with a simpler version control named Bones.<ref>{{cite web|author=Barry Kauler|title=Bones: version control|url=http://bkhome.org/bones/index.html|date=March 2010}}</ref>
[[Woof (software)|Woof]] is an advanced tool for creating Puppy installations. It requires an Internet connection and some knowledge of Linux to use. It is able to download the binary source packages from another [[Linux distribution]] and process them into Puppy Linux packages by just defining the name of that Linux distro.<ref>{{cite web|author=Barry Kauler|title=Woof: the "Puppy builder"|url=http://bkhome.org/woof/|date=March 2010}}</ref> It is equipped with a simpler version control named Bones.<ref>{{cite web|author=Barry Kauler|title=Bones: version control|url=http://bkhome.org/bones/index.html|date=March 2010}}</ref>


Puppy also comes with a remastering tool that takes a "snapshot" of the current system and lets the user create a live CD from it, and an additional remastering tool that is able to remove installed components.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}
Puppy also comes with a remastering tool that takes a "crapshot" of the current system and lets the user create a live CD from it, and an additional remastering tool that is able to remove installed components.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}


Puppy Linux uses the T2 SDE build scripts to build the base binary packages.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}
Puppy Linux uses the T2 SDE build scripts to build the base binary packages.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}

Revision as of 17:45, 12 December 2010

Puppy(Troll)Linux
Puppy Linux 5.1.0 Troll Puppy
DeveloperBarry Kauler (original)
Puppy community (current)
OS familyUnix-like
Working stateCurrent
Source modelPrimarily open source
Latest release5.1.1[1] / September 2, 2010 (2010-09-02)
Marketing targetLive CD, Netbooks, aged systems and general use
Package managerPetGet, Puppy Package Manager
Platformsx86, 64 bit, Troll 69 bit
Kernel typeMonolithic
Default
user interface		JWM / IceWM + ROX Desktop
LicenseGPL and various others
Official websitewww.puppylinux.com

Puppy Linux is a lightweighty Linux distribution that focuses on ease of use.[2] The entire system can be run from RAM, allowing the boot medium to be removed after the operating system has started. Applications such AbiWord a free word processing application, Gnumeric spreadsheet and Gxine a free multimedia player are included, along with a wide choice of web browsers that can be installed. The distribution is developed by Barry Kauler and other members of the community. The tool Woof can build a Puppy Linux distribution from the binary packages of other Linux distributions.[3]

Features

Puppy Linux is a full-fledged operating system bundled with a collection of application suites that cover a wide variety of tasks, allowing Puppy to be used by general users. Puppy is small-sized so it can boot from many media. It is also useful as a rescue disk,[4] a demonstration system, leaving the original/existing operating system unaltered, or as an OS to a system with a blank or missing hard drive, or for keeping old computers useful.[5]

Puppy can boot from:

Puppy Linux features built-in tools which can be used to create bootable USB drives, create new Puppy CDs, or remaster a new live CD with different packages.[6]

Puppy Linux has a unique feature which sets it apart from other Linux distributions: the ability to offer a normal persistently updating working environment on a write-once multisession CD/DVD. (It does not require a rewritable CD/DVD.) Puppy automatically detects changes in the file system and saves them incrementally on the disc.[7] This feature works particularly well with DVDs, partly because of the much larger space available. While other distributions offer Live CD versions of their operating systems, they do not allow programs to be permanently added nor do they allow files to be written to the CD.

Puppy also features sophisticated write-caching system designed to extend the life of USB flash drives that Puppy Linux runs from.[8][citation needed]

Unlike some other OSes, Puppy Linux does not mount (allow for writing to) hard drives nor connect to the network automatically. This reduces the odds that a bug or even intentionally-added incompatible software could corrupt the contents of a hard drive.[9]

Since Puppy Linux fundamentally runs in RAM, all the files and operations that are created in a session would disappear when the system is shut down. However, it is possible to save files upon shutdown. This feature allows the user to either save the file to disk (USB, HDD etc.) or even write the file system to the same CD puppy is booted from if "multisession" was used to create the booted CD (on CD-Rs as well as CD-RW) where a CD burner is present.

It is also possible to save all files to a disk instead of the file system; examples include a hard drive, USB stick, or even a floppy disk. Puppy can also be installed to a hard disk.[10]

User interface

Desktop with one of multiple integrated themes with XMMS a multimedia player, mtPaint a painting program for creating pixel art and manipulating digital photos and gxine running plus an opened text file under Puppy Linux 2.15 CE Viz (with default WM: IceWM)

Puppy comes with a choice of 2 graphical servers: X.Org (full-featured) and Xvesa (lightweight). A wizard during the start-up process guides the user through setting up a graphical server appropriate for their video card & monitor. At the end of the wizard the user will be presented with a desktop and window manager; the default WM in most Puppy releases is JWM.[11]

Packages of the IceWM desktop, Fluxbox and Enlightenment are also available via Puppy's PetGet package (application) management system (see below). Some derivative distributions, called puplets, come with default window managers other than JWM.[12]

When the operating system boots, everything in the Puppy package uncompresses into a RAM area, the "ramdisk". The PC needs to have at least 128 MB of RAM (with no more than 8 MB shared video) for all of Puppy to load into the ramdisk. However, it is possible for it to run on a PC with only about 48 MB of RAM because part of the system can be kept on the hard drive, or less effectively, left on the CD.

Puppy is fairly full-featured for a system that runs entirely in a ramdisk, when booted as Live system or from a 'frugal' installation; however, Puppy also supports the 'full' installation mode, which allows Puppy to run from a hard drive partition, without a ramdisk. Applications were chosen that met various constraints, size in particular. Because one of the aims of the distribution is to be extremely easy to set up, there are many wizards that take the user through the process of a range of common tasks.[13][citation needed]

Package and distribution management

wNOP v0.2 on EeePC: Puppy 3.01 & Compiz-Fusion

Puppy Unleashed (currently replaced by Woof) is a tool used to create Puppy ISO images. It consists of more than 500 packages that are put together according to the user's needs.[citation needed]

Woof is an advanced tool for creating Puppy installations. It requires an Internet connection and some knowledge of Linux to use. It is able to download the binary source packages from another Linux distribution and process them into Puppy Linux packages by just defining the name of that Linux distro.[14] It is equipped with a simpler version control named Bones.[15]

Puppy also comes with a remastering tool that takes a "crapshot" of the current system and lets the user create a live CD from it, and an additional remastering tool that is able to remove installed components.[citation needed]

Puppy Linux uses the T2 SDE build scripts to build the base binary packages.[citation needed]

Variants

Because of the relative ease with which the tool Woof and the remaster tool can be used to build variants of Puppy Linux, there are many variants available.[3][16] Variants of Puppy Linux are known as puplets.

Release history

Version Release Date
Puppy 1 29 March 2005
Puppy 2 1 June 2006
Puppy 3 2 October 2007
Puppy 4 5 May 2008
Puppy 5 15 May 2010

Puppy 1 series will run comfortably on very dated hardware, such as a Pentium computer with at least 32 MB RAM. For newer systems, the USB keydrive version might be better (although if USB device booting is not directly supported in the BIOS, the Puppy floppy boot disk can be used to kick-start it). It is possible to run Puppy Linux with Windows 9x/Windows Me. It is also possible, if the BIOS does not support booting from USB drive, to boot from the CD and keep user state on a USB keydrive; this will be saved on shutdown and read from the USB device on bootup.[17]

Puppy 2 uses the Mozilla-based SeaMonkey as its Internet suite (primarily a web browser and e-mail client).

Puppy 3 features Slackware 12 compatibility.[18] This is accomplished by the inclusion of almost all the dependencies needed for the installation of Slackware packages. However, Puppy Linux is not a Slackware-based distribution.[19]

Puppy 4 is built from scratch using the T2 SDE [20] and no longer features native Slackware 12 compatibility[21] in order to reduce the size and include newer package versions than that found in 3. To compensate for this, an optional "compatibility collection" of packages was created that restores some of the lost compatibility.[21]

  • Puppy 4.2 features changes to the user interface and backend, upgraded packages, language and character support, new in-house software and optimizations, while still keeping the ISO image size under 100 MB.[citation needed]

Puppy 5 is based on a project called Woof[22] which is designed to assemble a Puppy Linux distribution from the packages of other Linux distributions. Woof includes some binaries and software derived from Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, T2 SDE, or Arch repositories. Puppy 5 came with a stripped down version of the Midori browser to be used for reading help files and a choice of web browsers to be installed, including Chromium, Firefox, SeaMonkey Internet Suite, Iron and Opera.[23][24]

See also

References

  1. ^ Index of /pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-5.1.1/
  2. ^ An in-depth look at Puppy Linux by Howard Fosdick
  3. ^ a b "Announcement and release notes for Lucid Puppy 5.0".
  4. ^ "Rescue dis".
  5. ^ "Reviving old computer".
  6. ^ "Make your own Puppy CD".
  7. ^ "Puppy Multisession DVD/CD".
  8. ^ "How Puppy Works".
  9. ^ "AutoFS".
  10. ^ Eckstein, Keith (2010). "And they call it Puppy Love…". Retrieved 9 July 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  11. ^ "JWM".
  12. ^ "JWM".
  13. ^ "AboutPuppy - Puppy Linux". Archived from the original on 2008-06-21. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  14. ^ Barry Kauler (March 2010). "Woof: the "Puppy builder"".
  15. ^ Barry Kauler (March 2010). "Bones: version control".
  16. ^ "PuppyLinux: Puplets".
  17. ^ "Pupsave file".
  18. ^ Kauler, Barry. "Puppy 3.00 Released (Updated to 3.01)".
  19. ^ Kauler, Barry. "Puppy Linux release notes v3.00".
  20. ^ Kauler, Barry. "Puppy Linux release notes 4.00".
  21. ^ a b Kauler, Barry. "package management".
  22. ^ Kauler, Barry (9 February 2009). "Woof: the "Puppy builder"". Puppy developer pages. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
  23. ^ Puppy Linux (2010). "Index of /pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/Lucid_Puppy". Retrieved 6 November 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  24. ^ Puppy Linux (2010). "Index of /pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/pet-packages-lucid". Retrieved 2 December 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
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