Helping new users-What Makes Puppy Different?

[wizard]

Here's the 14th topic in the Helping new users series

Thanks
wizard

********************************Draft220301 *************************
If you are a MS Windows user and new to Linux or if you have used another Linux distribution you will find Puppy Linux does some things that are different.

Here’s some useful examples. Everyone knows if you click the Menu button in the left of the taskbar you get the main menu. In Puppy, if you right click in any empty space on the desktop, you will also get the same menu.

By default, Puppy uses single click mouse action, kind of like web pages, single left click on a folder/directory to open it, single left click on a file to open it. Read the topic: Single-Click-Or-Double-click on how to change the mouse/trackpad action.

Unlike Windows or large Linux distributions that install thousands of individual files on your drive, Puppy puts only a few compressed files that are like “Zip” files in Windows (this method is called a “Frugal” install for the efficient way it uses the computers resources). When Puppy boots up, the contents of these files are copied into ram memory and Puppy runs completely from ram. The original compressed files are “read only” so they always remain in like new condition. This goes a long way into making Puppy more stable, secure and bullet proof than other operating systems.

When you make changes, download files, add programs or create documents, etc. they are saved into another file/folder called the “save file” or “save folder”.

This all makes Puppy Linux more flexible to use than almost any other operating system. With its small size it can:

--run completely from a CD or DVD drive
--run completely from a USB flash drive
--run completely from its ISO on a USB flash drive (using special tools)
--run completely from a SD Card (if the computer supports sdcard boot)
--run completely from an external USB hard drive
--run completely from an internal hard drive in its own partition.
--run completely from an internal hard drive in the same partition as MS Windows or another Linux (called dual booting).

In addition, you can run more than one Puppy Linux in the same partition. If you like you can have configurations or Puppy’s for different purposes. Such as, web surfing, one for games, one only used for financial transactions, one for audio/video processing, one for graphics, etc.

Here are some Linux=Windows terms to help you:
Directory=Folder
Link=Shortcut
Root user=Administrative user
Background=Wallpaper

When you run Puppy you are the Root user. If you’re a Linux user who has used “sudo” in terminal commands, Root user does not require sudo.

Drive Identification:
Let’s start by defining drive partitions. Most computers have one internal (also called fixed) physical hard drive or solid state drive. Partitioning is when you divide the physical drive into separate spaces. It’s like taking a box and putting dividers in it to make separate compartments.

Windows uses letters to identify drives and partitions, if you have one physical drive with only one partition it will be C:, two partitions, C: and D:. If you plug in a USB flash drive it will be assigned letters accordingly.

Linux identifies drives with letters and numbers, which gives the user more information about the actual drive. If you have one physical drive with only one partition it will be sda1, two partitions, sda1 and sda2. If you plug in a USB flash drive with one partition it will be sdb1.

Puppy displays icons for the drives and partitions it finds in the lower left of the desktop.

drive_icon.jpg (4.13 KiB) Viewed 436 times

Here we have one hard drive with three partitions, sda1, sda2, and sda3, plus we have one USB flash drive with one partition sdb1.

If you click one of the icons it will open in the default file manager, named Rox. Opening a drive partition this way does two things, first it “mounts” the partition and second it shows the contents in the file manager. This brings us to the next topic.

Mounting/Unmounting drives:
When a drive is mounted the operating system sets up communications and creates a location in the file system that shows and accesses the contents. Windows and some other Linux’s automatically mount drives when they are attached. Puppy recognizes drives when they are attached (the icon will appear), but they are not mounted until you open them. USB drives must be unmounted before removing them (same as with Windows). Right clicking the drive icon will let you unmount it.

Need more help? Join the forum and post your questions in Beginners Help.

[Clarity]

In your 220228 Draft: You might want/care to mention, ALSO, that

--run completely from a CD or DVD drive
--run completely from a USB flash drive
--run completely from its ISO file directly
-- o
-- o
-- o
--run completely within a Virtual Machine

[keniv]

@wizard

Drive Identification:
Let’s start by defining drive partitions. Most computers have one internal (also called fixed) physical hard drive or solid state drive. Partitioning is when you divide the physical drive into separate spaces. It’s like taking a box and putting dividers in it to make separate compartments.

Windows uses letters to identify drives and partitions, if you have one physical drive with only one partition it will be C:, two partitions, C: and D:. If you plug in a USB flash drive it will be assigned letters accordingly.

Linux identifies drives with letters and numbers, which gives the user more information about the actual drive. If you have one physical drive with only one partition it will be sda1, two partitions, sda1 and sda2. If you plug in a USB flash drive with one partition it will be sdb1.

Puppy displays icons for the drives and partitions it finds in the lower left of the desktop.

drive_icon.jpg
drive_icon.jpg (4.13 KiB)

Here we have one hard drive with three partitions, sda1, sda2, and sda3, plus we have one USB flash drive with one partition sdb1.

If you click one of the icons it will open in the default file manager, named Rox. Opening a drive partition this way does two things, first it “mounts” the partition and second it shows the contents in the file manager.

Hi wizard,
I thought I might comment on this as it's something that has caused me some confusion. I think I am correct in saying that in linux sda1 can also be represented as (hd0,0). I have required to use this representation in grub4dos. Sometimes this type of representation does not work and the UUID for the partition is required. I have also found that the path to a directory to save downloads in a browser on say partition sda2 outside of the OS can be represented as say /mnt/sda2/downloads but sometimes it has to be shown as /initrd/mnt/dev_save/downloads. I, as a simple user, find these different representations confusing. I think a new user, coming from windows, if presented with these other representations might also be confused.
I think the possibility of seeing different representations is at perhaps worth a mention.

Regards,

Ken.

[wizard]

@keniv

Hi Ken,

represented as (hd0,0)

Me too when I started editing grub, that notation is part of the grub syntax and not what a new user/beginner will be faced with.

sometimes this type of representation does not work and the UUID for the partition is required. I have also found that the path to a directory to save downloads in a browser on say partition sda2 outside of the OS can be represented as say /mnt/sda2/downloads but sometimes it has to be shown as /initrd/mnt/dev_save/downloads. I, as a simple user, find these different representations confusing. I think a new user, coming from windows, if presented with these other representations might also be confused.
I think the possibility of seeing different representations is at perhaps worth a mention.

Confusing, yes. We have to keep focusing that our Primary Goal here is to supply the new user/beginner with just enough information to get a booting Puppy Linux that can do the simple setup task. Same thing with "give them one way that works". At this point presenting them with all the combinations and idiosyncrasies that exist only makes it look too difficult to use.

Your points probably fall under "Need more help? Join the forum and post your questions in Beginners Help".
or should be covered in separate topics in an Advanced category.

Thanks
wizard

[keniv]

@wizard

Confusing, yes. We have to keep focusing that our Primary Goal here is to supply the new user/beginner with just enough information to get a booting Puppy Linux that can do the simple setup task. Same thing with "give them one way that works". At this point presenting them with all the combinations and idiosyncrasies that exist only makes it look too difficult to use.

I take your point above.

Regards,

Ken.

[Phoenix]

Should also mention that the puppy (kernel) itself needs to support sd card boot. (I think mmc and sd cards are very similar but not precise about that)