Puppy Linux 2.15CE has a few new tricks
Submitted by srlinuxx on Mon, 04/16/2007 - 18:26
Given how similar Puppy 2.14 was to 2.13, I was wholly unprepared for how different the latest Puppy release, 2.15CE (community edition), is from its predecessors.
First of all, it looks completely different. That's because IceWM is the default window manager for Puppy 2.15, although the old standby JWM (Joe's Window Manager) is still available. And aside from the radical change in GUI, the desktop background is darker (and less "puppy" themed) than in distros past. Still, the Menu key on the bottom left does have a paw print.
Under Settings-Themes in the main Puppy menu (accessible, as always, by right-clicking anywhere on the screen), you can alter the look of your desktop very easily.
Under IceWM, Puppy remains lightning-fast -- it sure was on my Dell 3 GHz Optiplex GX520 with 512 MB RAM.
All my configuration information from the previous Puppy version was picked up from my pup_save.sfs file when I booted 2.15 for the first time, so my networking, screen resolution and printing were already set up.
Changing window manager in tiny Linux ? Puppy ?
In Puppy and other tiny Linux distros, the scripts failed to automatically insert another startx command when you change window manager, and you get a blank screen but with a cursor to type in the startx command?
Maybe Puppy enthusists will add the startx command for window manager switchero. This is the first time for Puppy window switching activity, so its command is missing?
Austrumi handled it better for its language change and window manager changes too.
Puppy and its complexity ?
Over the years, I recommended Puppy v0.93, Mepis, Knoppix, and AIX5L. They were relatively bugs free under kernel 2.4.x. After kernel 2.6.x was introduced, recommendations were withdrawn; and we are still pushing for usability of any Linux distro. We are waiting patiently for mind over matter, which takes over two years now, to have bugs compacted not redirected.
This concept and backward compatibility in Linux is still kept by Barry who maintains Puppy and creates new scripts. He has more help nowadays and community is getting larger, which gives Barry more work than he deserves. How to keep too mamy cooks from spoiling the soup? A quick vacation is planned to get away from civilization in Australia.
But the fact that Puppy has too much past applications to maintain, eventually will have to pick the best and only the best for survival in Puppy distro. More is better is not always the best choice.
So, hopefully Barry has a plan to compact all binary codes, and keep only the best programs for Puppy choices. Maybe the new name should be BestofPuppy distro.