The future of the forum and about the structure

[bigpup]

@rockedge

Do not ever think, the 0.3% are providing the overall attitude, about this forum, that we the 99.7% have!

You tweak it or do not tweak it, either way, the 99.7% of us is going to be happy, and very grateful for having this forum

Without this forum, most of everything on it would no longer exist !
.

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[amethyst]

I see the kennels (KL) already have its place alongside Puppy in the "DISTRIBUTION" section of the Forum. Thus same exposure. Other distributions like the Dogs and EasyOS feature further on in a sub-section called "Forum". I don't see the developers of those distributions complaining about the exposure or positioning in the forum and I haven't seen them complain about the name of the overall forum either....

[spiritwild]

I'm here everyday. I may not post much but I check new posts daily. I don't have issue with structure although the topis from when I first started using Puppy are less focused to what use to be "mainline" versions of puppy. I enjoy the creative side of this distribution but at times I don't know what a main version is anymore. Fossa, Bookworm, etc.

Linux is definitely not a new user friendly alternative to windows. Especially how automated and strictly proprietary windows app installations are.
Most things I try to compile lately require other software to be installed and that alone can be a crap shoot.

As far as forum structure, It's an information based forum and the BB code is sufficient for that.
It could be more media or cut and paste oriented but then there's other risks involved. spam, etc..

The other issue I think is that most of us are getting along in age

[wiak]

I see the kennels (KL) already have its place alongside Puppy in the "DISTRIBUTION" section of the Forum. Thus same exposure. Other distributions like the Dogs and EasyOS feature further on in a sub-section called "Forum".

As a user of this forum more generally and a longtime (from its start) of the debian dogs, I agree that EasyOS, Dog House, and FatDog should not be stuck in such a little rectangle, unexplained, 'forum' named section whilst aging, far from keeping up to date Puppy has its huge House Training section, Mainline distro section, International section, and more besides. Time to move on from the Puppy-only brigade and their nonsense negative apartheid arguments and bring this forum back into the modern age. Of course those who pretty much only use Puppy will always fight to keep the status quo and gang up in numbers in panic at the idea that change here is about to happen.

[amethyst]

I see the kennels (KL) already have its place alongside Puppy in the "DISTRIBUTION" section of the Forum. Thus same exposure. Other distributions like the Dogs and EasyOS feature further on in a sub-section called "Forum".

As a user of this forum more generally and a longtime (from its start) of the debian dogs, I agree that EasyOS, Dog House, and FatDog should not be stuck in such a little rectangle, unexplained, 'forum' named section whilst aging, far from keeping up to date Puppy has its huge House Training section, Mainline distro section, International section, and more besides. Time to move on from the Puppy-only brigade and their nonsense negative apartheid arguments and bring this forum back into the modern age. Of course those who pretty much only use Puppy will always fight to keep the status quo and gang up in numbers in panic at the idea that change here is about to happen.

Apartheid? I think you are trying to have a go at me as a South African coming up with this Apartheid stuff. really silly as you do not even know my background. BTW - Apartheid was started by the British, Cecil John Rhodes and his ilk. None more racist and more war hungry than the British. FFS - The British have invaded 171 of the 193 countries of the UN. Left their shit all over the place..but that's off topic....

[rockedge]

Left their shit all over the place..but that's off topic..

we got 'em off our backs............with a lot help from the French and a Prussian.

unexplained, 'forum' named section

That is a technical issue with phpBB3 and how I initally set it up. I wasn't quite comfortable with the concepts of manipulating the Categories and Forum types.
Only the Categories can be named. So to fix this I must dig in and change some things. I am testing this as we speak on a one-to-one copy of this forum on my home local machine server. So if it blows up...no foul no harm.

I'll let you know how it goes in a bit....

Oh !! I need a good title for the new category.........help here is needed....now

[rockedge]

Testing......

Screenshot(70).jpg (63.52 KiB) Viewed 527 times

[wiak]

Left their shit all over the place..but that's off topic..

we got 'em off our backs............with a lot help from the French and a Prussian.

unexplained, 'forum' named section

That is a technical issue with phpBB3 and how I initally set it up. I wasn't quite comfortable with the concepts of manipulating the Categories and Forum types.
Only the Categories can be named. So to fix this I must dig in and change some things. I am testing this as we speak on a one-to-one copy of this forum on my home local machine server. So if it blows up...no foul no harm.

I'll let you know how it goes in a bit....

Oh !! I need a good title for the new category.........help here is needed....now

Off topic first quote indeed...

The only help I could suggest for the category is an agreement with that Puppy fan that that section should not exist like that. Rather all these distros should be under 'Distributions' and main entry sections like Puppy Derivatives should be a level down under the single Puppy inclusion. Maybe we later get many derivatives of KL distros too

[rockedge]

Another version...more unified....

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[rockedge]

This is with a major change in structure......

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[d-pupp]

@rockedge I sorry but my old eyes and a small monitor means I can't see the picture above. Can you give a text layout?

Thanks
d-pupp

[dogcat]

As a user of this forum more generally and a longtime (from its start) of the debian dogs, I agree that EasyOS, Dog House, and FatDog should not be stuck in such a little rectangle, unexplained, 'forum' named section whilst aging, far from keeping up to date Puppy has its huge House Training section, Mainline distro section, International section, and more besides. Time to move on from the Puppy-only brigade and their nonsense negative apartheid arguments and bring this forum back into the modern age. Of course those who pretty much only use Puppy will always fight to keep the status quo and gang up in numbers in panic at the idea that change here is about to happen.

wiak
You just insulted the whole puppy linux community. That is your main problem in this forum, you communicate in an extremely controversal manner, insulting, playing on rockedge's good nature and always threatening to abandon ship. Rockedge bends over backwards for you and you spit on him and everyone else here.

[fredx181]

Perhaps start with something like this for the "Distributions" part of the forum:

Code: Select all

Distributions:
└── Mainline Puppy Linux Distros:
    Subforums: Bionic, BookwormPup, DPupStretch, F96-CE, Fossapup64, LxPupSc, Raspbian Buster, Slacko, SPups, Tahr, Vanilla Dpup, VoidPup, Xenial, Legacy
---

Other Distributions:
└── Kennel Linux Distros
    Subforums: KLV-Airedale, KLV-Bspwm, KLV-Spectr, KLV-Swayland, KLV-HyprlandCE, KLA, KLU-jam, KLF, KL minis, KL_full2fr, KL-Dev_Work, How-To, firstribit, Virtualization
└── Dog House
    Subforums: DebianDogs, UbuntuDogs, Debian-Live Starter Kit	
└── EasyOS
    Subforum: Containers and VMs
└── FatDog
    Subforums: FatDog64, Software

So then the 'Other Distributions:' replaces the "Forum" section (in the middle) and all the "other" distributions are all together.

[amethyst]

Perhaps start with something like this for the "Distributions" part of the forum:

Code: Select all

Distributions:
└── Mainline Puppy Linux Distros:
    Subforums: Bionic, BookwormPup, DPupStretch, F96-CE, Fossapup64, LxPupSc, Raspbian Buster, Slacko, SPups, Tahr, Vanilla Dpup, VoidPup, Xenial, 
---

Other Distributions:
└── Kennel Linux Distros
    Subforums: KLV-Airedale, KLV-Bspwm, KLV-Spectr, KLV-Swayland, KLV-HyprlandCE, KLA, KLU-jam, KLF, KL minis, KL_full2fr, KL-Dev_Work, How-To, firstribit, Virtualization
└── Dog House
    Subforums: DebianDogs, UbuntuDogs, Debian-Live Starter Kit	
└── EasyOS
    Subforum: Containers and VMs
└── FatDog
    Subforums: FatDog64, Software

So then the 'Other Distributions:' replaces the "Forum" section (in the middle) and all the "other" distributions are all together.

Have to remove the word "Mainline" from the Puppy section as that will worry our special KL friend.

[dimkr]

The word "mainline" means nothing and IMO distros should be grouped by legacy/not legacy, with the legacy section at the bottom of the forum.

We have only ~5 Puppy branches that are not dead, so if all non-legacy distros (including non-Puppy ones) are moved to one group at the top, all of them (about 10 rows?) should fit in the forum front page on a an average 16:9 monitor.

[rockedge]

@dimkr the version I am testing is just as you describe and slightly adjusted with @fredx181's input.

@amethyst I removed mainline.....with sadness because it thought it sounds cool....mainline......rolls off the tonque

I can make these changes right now to try them on for size.....is everyone in the game?

[rockedge]

@dimkr would you mind making a text version (like Fred's) and posting it here so I can see it?

[amethyst]

@dimkr would you mind making a text version (like Fred's) and posting it here so I can see it?

The "Other Distributions" section in distribution alphabetical order...

[rockedge]

the "Other Distributions" section in distribution alphabetical order...

It isn't?????

[rockedge]

Anyone notice any differences?

@dimkr compact enough?

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[rockedge]

Odd....silence.....no one noticed.........

[cobaka]

Hello all (and woof!)

Quoting fredx181:

"It's a pity though that the forum isn't much visited, only a handful members online everyday and little feedback on the projects.
Still I think it has it's purpose, so for me it's fine how it is."

This note describes my life with The Puppy and The Forum. I use Puppy Linux every day. The BIOS in my PC was new in 2013; my PC has (a quite adequate for me) 8GiBytes of RAM.
That's my hardware.

I "donated" several older PCs to friends. These 'machines' came from around 2010 .. 2012, so I could only bring them to life with a 'bare-bones' OS like The Puppy. My friends are delighted with the response/speed of "The Puppy". (They didn't object to the cost either.)

I got a lot of help from the forum when I first set up Puppy Linux on a 2005 Dell with Pentium "M". I had to set a switch in the bootloader to deal with the "M". I don't understand why I needed the switch; I don't care, really. @bigpup sorted that for me. Without the forum I wouldn't be a 2025-variety of "Puppian".

I got other help from the forum too - I taught myself enough "C" to debug a cross-assembler/simulator for the 6809 uP. This came from GitHub, and was written in "C". I guess the same help would be available elsewhere (eg Geeks-for-Geeks) but I certainly appreciated the help from The Forum.

On another occasion I got help (again from @BigPup) about adding a spelling checker to Geany. I use Geany and The Terminal (bash) every day. You should understand the phrase 'every day' to mean 'seven days a week'. I haven't played a game on any PC running Puppy - ever. Puppy does 'serious stuff' for me.

I visit the forum spasmodically - perhaps nothing for a month; then every day for the next week. Sometimes I treat other members of the forum with great disrespect. I submit a question, but don't complete following through the posting to the end. Sorry fellas, but I just run out of time. Sometimes I edit the posting so that others can quickly 'goto' the correct subroutine. In this case 'goto' is not considered dangerous.

On the forum I try to read 'active topics'. I submit an answer on occasion. My last posting was about transferring photos from an Android camera to the Puppy file system. I got some good help and then suggested a method others could use. I try to 'give back'.

I always use the "Puppy Search" menu to find a solution before I post a "Q". That means I'm a "phantom" forum user at times. This is because I value the time of other forum users.

The forum is a useful place to share "goodies" for Puppy. In the past I considered solving the problem of a suitable speech-to-text module; I never completed that task.

That's my report about the value of the forum and how I use it. The format is excellent and I make a donation to Rockedge every year on my birthday to keep this truly valuable bit of kit running. The forum has a value equal to The Puppy. In my view, no Forum - Puppy would die. I would never return to Windows. I doubt whether I could find a version of Linux that suited me better than The Puppy. I'm certain others would agree with that point.

That's my view about the value of The Forum.
Now I expect a "Good Post" imoji and "thumbs up" from @mikewalsh for writing such a thoughtful note. If I don't get one I'll spit the dummy and never, ever, visit the forum again. Yes, it's true. I'm a first class, obnoxious bastard. I'd cut off my nose to spite my face. I'd throw the baby out with the bath-water. I'm the sort of fellow who would say, "I love AH" and expect others to believe me. not!

Woof! Snarl! Wag!
собака.

[greengeek]

Odd....silence.....no one noticed.........

Does the second image show the expanded view of the other distributions (after the user clicks on the title) - or is that the homepage view?

[rockedge]

Does the second image show the expanded view of the other distributions (after the user clicks on the title)

Yes the Other Distributions is in the image expanded. The sections are expanded or collapsed as to user specifications so customizable to individual preferences.

It can easily be set to open the home page like this example:

Screenshot(80).jpg (56.23 KiB) Viewed 357 times

[wizard]

@rockedge

Odd....silence.....no one noticed.........

Did notice, do think it's cleaner and easier for a visitor or new user Nice work.

Silence probably because you didn't note you had turned it on.

Thanks
wizard

[mikewalsh]

@rockedge :-

Rock, I guess whatever you eventually decide upon will be fine with the majority of members. The ability to expand/collapse sections to suit personal preferences was - and is - a good move.

You can't 'rule by committee' in every last respect. You cannot be expected to make polls to get a majority consensus on every last little detail. About all you can reasonably be expected to do is to listen to ideas, mull them over, make your mind up, and take your best 'stab at it'. No-one can expect any more.

As the saying goes, "Ya cannae please ALL the folks, ALL of the time". Some seem to think you can, but.....it's impossible.

Mike.

[d-pupp]

@rockedge I noticed. I think it's better. I would like to see General info tab collapsed so that the first thing you see are the Distributions.
The other issue is the size of the Advance topic section. Is that all just puppy stuff?
I know this is a work in progress. However I would like to see the sections cleaned up so that only current versions are visible. Is that in the works?

[fredx181]

I like it too mostly, except some from the Advanced topic section better have it's own subforum IMHO (e.g. "Programming").

[mikewalsh]

@rockedge :-

Umm....o-kay. Yeah...

Do I take it that "Active topics" in the "House Training" section is now a cherry-picked selection of topics from across ALL sections, presented together? Hm. Gonna take some getting used to.....and is also going to mean a LOT more "drilling-down" to actually find anything....

Not too sure about this. The front page is a lot 'cleaner', yes.....but I'm not sure as I like the way a lot of other stuff has now been all jumbled-in together. I can't see it making things easier, but.....ah, let's "give it a go".

Enough people have made sufficient "noise" about this that we need to at least give it the old "college try".

Mike.

[fredx181]

@rockedge :-

Umm....o-kay. Yeah...

Do I take it that "Active topics" in the "House Training" section is now a cherry-picked selection of topics from across ALL sections, presented together? Hm. Gonna take some getting used to.....and is also going to mean a LOT more "drilling-down" to actually find anything....

Not too sure about this. The front page is a lot 'cleaner', yes.....but I'm not sure as I like the way a lot of other stuff has now been all jumbled-in together. I can't see it making things easier, but.....ah, let's "give it a go".

Enough people have made sufficient "noise" about this that we need to at least give it the old "college try".

Mike.

But we like hear your noise too !
@rockedge Probably this need some nights to sleep over it, great though that you made the change so quickly !