@ trimis:-
Y'know, there's absolutely no need to buy Puppy at all. It's simple to download, and very easy to put on disc yourself. The app we always recommend to Windows users for this purpose is BurnCDCC, from TeraByte Unlimited:-
https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-free-software.htm
Second item on the page.
It does one thing.....and one thing only; it 'burns' an ISO image to an optical disc. That's ALL it does, so you can't really go wrong with it. And it doesn't even need installing; it comes as a .zip file, which you can unzip to literally anywhere you want to.....and it will run from there.
------------------------------------
The ease of getting online was one of the main things I liked about Puppy from the word go; as you say, it's one of those 'essential' features which can 'make it or break it' for many people. It was always envisaged as a 'refuge' for folks who were getting fed-up with Windows, to which end Barry K made certain it was packed with tooltips and wizards to guide the beginner every step of the way.
At the same time, BK was wise enough to realise that not all Windows users wanted to give M$ the boot, so he always gave this advice, echoed by many Puppy Forum members to this day; keep Windows for the 'serious' stuff, but use Puppy for fun. Play around with it. Enjoy it. Which I did myself for around 18 months or so, until I finally came to the realization that everything I did on a regular basis (and even many of those 'occasional' tasks) could be achieved with Puppy.....and I didn't actually need Windows any more. So I bade good-bye to XP.....and haven't looked back since. (If I'm honest, I find I don't even miss it any more.)
I will never presume to try and 'push' Linux onto anyone.....but I'm always keen to make people aware that there ARE 'easy-to-use' alternatives out there, which don't require jumping through lots of hoops. As for MX Linux, I used its sibling Anti-X until fairly recently, and, like MX itself, I'd recommend it as a thoroughly sensible XP 'replacement'; easy-to-use, and very easy to set-up. The reasons I switched to Puppy were various; it runs well on my old desktop (which itself is approaching the 15-yr old mark), it's lightweight, and doesn't demand much in the way of resources, but the MAIN one was simple.....because the mainstream distros were all dropping support for older hardware.
Which Puppy will never do.
Linux, TBH, isn't any 'better' or 'worse' than Windows.......but it IS, very decidedly, 'different'. And some people find it easier to make that transition than others do (I have to agree with you, too many Linux developers have a rather 'snotty' attitude in this respect). I can't knock anyone for wanting to stay with something with which they're on familiar ground, and know what they're doing.....but XP is fast approaching the stage where it's just no longer safe in as far as internet-facing apps (browsers, e-mail, IRC and instant messaging clients, etc) are concerned. Yes, keep it for non-internet activities by all means (there will never be a problem doing that), but disconnect it from the network, and instead run a Linux distro alongside it for internet stuff. Puppy's ideal for this, because it's so small, and can be run from a USB stick.
Which should give you the best of both worlds..!
---------------------------------------------
As to which Puppy, well, it depends to a large extent on your hardware. If you have an even vaguely modern set-up (like, in the last 10 years or so), I would recommend Xenialpup 7.5 (32- or 64-bit, the choice is yours). It's based on the last-but-one Ubuntu Long Term Support release, 'Xenial Xerus', and is by now rock-solid, and completely stable. If, however, you're running something like a P4 or similar, I would recommend Precise 5.7.1, BK's last 'official' Puppy before he handed over the reins to the community; it's fast becoming accepted by the community as the Puppy to use for older hardware. It's the one I use myself on my 17-yr old, P4-powered Dell 1100 laptop, and it runs like a dream.
You can find the ISO downloads here (these are direct links):-
'Precise' 5.7.1 - http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/precise-5.7.1/precise-5.7.1.iso
Xenialpup 7.5:-
32-bit - http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/puppy-xenial/32/xenialpup-7.5-uefi.iso
64-bit - http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/puppy-xenial/64/xenialpup64-7.5-uefi.iso
The Xenials will run with UEFI-enabled hardware, but require the 'Legacy Boot' option to be selected in the BIOS, or what passes for it. It also helps to disable 'FastBoot', too (the 'hibernation' thing).
Hope those help.
Mike.
After having discussed what is required to burn a disc with Elizabeth (like a twenty-step process), I find no big need to do so, plus add on the process of downloading, messing with the MD5 checksum, etc., and I'm even less inclined. Maybe the day will come when something provides sufficient motivation for me to change my mind, and learn this stuff...but maybe not. I paid over $70 for the cheapest of my used XP Pro install discs, having only one activation left. I think I can afford $10 for a Linux CD, considering the fact OSDisc knows how to do this stuff (I've bought over twenty CDs/DVDs, and not one dud), and does the MD5 junk too. Convenience and reliability (and zero irritation for me) is quite worth that price. Speaking of which, my choices for Puppy are:
Bionicpup 8.0
Xenialpup 7.5
Tahrpup 6.0.5
Slacko Puppy 6.3.2
Google has not been cooperative in providing any useful info for choosing one or the other. I'm running Dell Optiplex 755 /w 8GB RAM, in case you would like to recommend one as best for my rig. If I'm going to test-drive Puppy again, I'd like to get it the best chance to impress me, as the previous two did not.
At the very least it has to be internet ready without me messing with it, as are MX Linux, Linux Mint and TAILS. Puppy 4.2.1 failed that test, as did the other version. I vaguely recall a series of questions about the 'internet connection', one of which I seemed to of guessed wrong. I had been using Puppy to teach myself Linux, but after about two months of no internet, I lost interest. At that point I was ready to call it quits, til I stumbled across MX Linux and later Linux Mint. The first two versions of TAILS I tried failed the test too. The guy at the computer repair shop gave me a TAILS install CD marked '64_3.01', which works perfectly. As for MX vs Linux Mint, I found the latter slightly less easy and intuitive than MX Linux....just slightly, but that edge was all it took.
My opinion would be that once upon a time Linux was much better than Windows, but that was long ago before Torvalds and his cadre sold out to the TCG, Entertainment Industry (and their DRM demands), etc. Now Linux is only slightly better than Windows, but that edge will not last, as Torvalds seems to be headed towards copying the worse elements of M$. Only a matter of time before the kernel becomes infected (or should I say infested?) by the same corporate malware that Vista, Win 7, and especially Win 10 carry.
It is not specifically the "rather 'snotty' attitude" of the CLI elitists at Arch (or similar distros) that I was referring to , but the unrealistic attitude of them that want the MS expats, yet seem entirely clueless how to attract us, and upon failing to do so, blame us. There are many such distros, and I suspect I tried most of them, yet so far, only three passed muster. Linux has a huge learning curve, even with those three distros that got it right. Probably the worst is learning which apps mirror those in Windows, and how to use each one. The Table of Equivalents (http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html) is some help for the former, but the actual use of each seems to be relegated to trial and error....a major flaw in the Linux community.
I have no problem pushing Linux onto others, nor pushing XP Pro either. Considering the atrocious alternatives, and the rabid fanboys pushing these alternatives, I stand by my advice to have either two HDDs or a dual-boot scenario, for both XP Pro and a Linux distro. We differ on the topic of XP Pro. I have had it running at least five hours a day, at least six days a week, for the past couple years. I go wherever the CA nazis have not blockaded me from, and now that I have Mypal & Centaury browsers, I can reach most of their forboden URLs too....and yes, that includes those dens of iniquity (and malware) porn sites. In two years I've gotten the sum total of 2 or 3 PUPs, probably from downloading at Softpedia or MajorGeeks. I keep hearing how XP is "no longer safe" from M$, yet where are are the viruses, trojans, rootkits, and assorted malware long ago promised to overwhelm my PC, and turn it into a botnet? Apparently everywhere but actually in my PC, or perhaps such only really exists in the wetdreams of M$. So long as such musings continue to reflect fantasy, and not reality, I will continue to be cynical. Maybe when I have my tech guy over and he finds a nasty, or I haul my massive PC to the computer repair shop for the yearly checkup, and they ferret out a hidden enemy, I'll be more openminded. Until then I will consider the idea XP is no longer safe to be a prime example of that old adage "If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed", and yes, considering the sordid history of both M$ and Lil Billie, I've no doubt either would resort to such a propaganda technique to pad their coffers. That said, I'll admit I no longer use XP Pro for online shopping/banking. Better safe than sorry. Using MX Linux for that costs me nothing, so no reason not to. For everything else, I got no problem nor paranoia using XP Pro...and I'm an old tinhat paranoid kinda geezer.
Right now I use MX Linux and TAILS in LiveCD mode, but MX Linux is not really designed specifically for that, and TAILS is iffy for online shopping/banking. I'd definitely like to have Puppy or some other mini-distro for this. Right now the only option I have found, but not yet tried, is browserlinux (https://www.browserlinux.com/).
