Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

hi all

has anyone noticed that puppy is no longer listed on the distrowatch ranking list

or is it just my system

wanderer

https://distrowatch.com/index.php?distr ... l&year=all

Distrowatch only shows stuff that is actively clicked on from there (I believe).

No active clicks, then not a good rating.

Last official release on DW is from April last year, 18 months ago. That's virtually abandoned in distro world

Yeah, yeah. Really?? (*yawn...*)

Who honestly takes any notice of Distrowatch, hmm? I looked at it a couple of times, 9 years ago, when I first switched to the "dark side". Almost immediately, it struck me as utterly pointless; why should I need to be guided in my choice of distro by reviews of what other people decide to run?

In all honesty.......who cares?? (Though I take @wanderer 's point; there's a lot of people who seem to take it very seriously!)

(The reasons are probably two-fold, as I noted a little while ago. Puppy's original "raison d'être" has kind of fallen by the wayside; most people have access to more powerful hardware than ever before, so the need for ultra-lightweight distros is no longer of such pressing concern as it once was. And then there's the all-encompassing systemd; just about every distro-builder has bowed to the inevitable, and embraced RedHat's "vision".....and those that haven't, have been left "out in the cold".)

Puppy's always been something of an acquired taste.....now, more than ever, it seems.

Just my two-penn'orth, FWIW.

(*shrug*)

Mike.

Hmm

Distrowatch does NOT monitor the popularity of a distro.' as in USAGE.
Distrowatch monitors clicks and searches per distro on Distrowatch.

I went to
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=puppy
and saw this:

Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 0 (346), 6 months: 0 (324), 3 months: 0 (321), 4 weeks: 0 (332), 1 week: 0 (256)

Average visitor rating: 8.89/10 from 176 review(s).

(the zeros are ranking i.e. 0 (346) -> NOT ranked,346 hits per day in 12 months)
(346 hits per day should position puppy in the 20-ties )
Try a general search:
https://distrowatch.com/search.php?osty ... #simple

then scroll down and we will see Puppy with a (Not ranked) label.
----
My hunch is that Distrowatch has killed the counter for Puppy.

EasyOS ,FatDog64 are counted.

Puppy was on the hitlists about a month ago - dwelling at around position 30.

Anyway a few of us have been on Distrowatch recently - and perhaps having
searched for puppy or clicked a Distrowatch-site-puppy-link.
So we may watch the counting - and eventually ask some questions to
the new admins overthere.

Its probably in everybodys interest here - that puppy and the Forum has
some visibility outthere.

At https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=puppy it is written

Popularity: Not ranked

the hits per page data:

Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 0 (346), 6 months: 0 (324), 3 months: 0 (321), 4 weeks: 0 (332), 1 week: 0 (256)

Average visitor rating: 8.89/10 from 176 review(s)

I think this means

for example, I think 6 months: 0 (324) means that for the last 6 months
the Popularity rank is 0, calculated from 324 hits per day in that 6 month period.
Which does not seem to make sense.

Comparing it to archlinux: https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=arch
Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 34 (279), 6 months: 59 (173), 3 months: 56 (177), 4 weeks: 58 (185), 1 week: 60 (169)
which is a rank of 59 because it gets 173 clicks per day over the last 6 months.

By comparison MXLinux is #1

The problem seems to be Popularity: Not ranked

I think to fix that someone needs to contact Distrowatch

EDIT: the previous post seems to be similar to this post.

Reply from a question I sent to distro@distrowatch.com

>Someone pointed out in the Puppy Linux forum that Distrowatch has removed Puppy from the page ranking system on Distrowatch.

>That is odd as Puppy has been on Distrowatch since forever. The actual hits per page put it at about #30 for page ranking.

>I hope this is some kind of oversight and not a deliberate action?

Puppy Linux is now considered "dormant". Please see here for explanation:
 
https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resou ... strostatus
 
Cheers,
 
Ladislav

A bit more as an update.
A distro is considered dormant if there has been no release for two years.

I think they looked at the release date of FossaPup as the last release (September, 2020) when actually the latest release is Slacko 7.0 (January, 2021)

I replied asking him to reconsider based upon actual release dates and not on release name labels. If I receive an answer it will be posted here.

The actual problem is DISTROWATCH and the methodology used in their so-called "rankings"...Distrowatch has mistakenly assumed
that Puppy Linux is a SINGULAR distribution, much like Debian, or Slackware, or Ubuntu...IT IS NOT, perhaps someone that cares
what Distrowatch thinks (I personally don't give a damn about them) should tell them that Puppy Linux is a large family of various
"flavors" of Linux, based on multiple parent distros in a fashion like Ubuntu being based on Debian. It is Distrowatch that has made
the error, therefore it is impudent upon them to educate themselves or continue to be relegated to non-relevance.
For the record, I consider many of these "ranking" sites to be nothing more than self-indulgent exercises in aggrandizement for their
own perceived importance. I'm reminded of a probably defunct site called Browserwatch, which attempted to capitalize on the
then ongoing browser wars between Netscape and MSIE. I was more often than not using plain old DOS, maybe BasicLinux, to browse
the web with Arachne web browser. On the Arachne mailing list one of the participants suggested we all visit the Browserwatch web
site multiple times per day for a month or so, and we did! Guess what...Arachne suddenly became the "3rd most popular browser
in the world" according to Browserwatch. Hehe...now you know why these type of sites really don't show ANY meaningful statistics!
(Yeah, that's just my opinion, you are of course allowed your own)
Wiz

32. Most Ratings
https://distrowatch.com/index.php?dataspan=votes

11. Average Rating
https://distrowatch.com/index.php?dataspan=score

puppy_apprentice wrote: ↑Sat Oct 22, 2022 8:40 pm

32. Most Ratings
https://distrowatch.com/index.php?dataspan=votes
11. Average Rating
https://distrowatch.com/index.php?dataspan=score

There, first on the list is Peropesis - PERsonal OPErating SYStem. It seems that Lithuania (it was once part of the USSR) has applied the old Soviet practice to abbreviations For example, there used to be such a leadership position at the bosses as Pozapepipupepapo. This abbreviation meant in Russian "Assistant to the head of the first feeding station of the Petro-Pavlovsky Consumer Society"

hi all

this is just a suggestion from a user not a developer

puppy used to be developed by barry k who put out editions very frequently
others contributed their own editions
but there was one primary edition
and this was easy for people not familiar with puppy to understand
and kept distrowatch happy

since then puppy has developed into puppyworld
with mainstream puppies and a whole world of puppy inspired projects
this is fantastic
but confusing to many people including distrowatch

why not make one community edition every year with input from the entire puppy community
not to be officially the best puppy
just an edition to showcase what puppy is all about
and what it can do

this edition can be posted on distrowatch to keep them happy
and can be easily understood by the uninitiated (which at one time we all were)
and lead them in to the whole puppy world on the forum

i think it is important to have as much exposure as possible to promote puppy
and distrowatch is an important part of that
in my opinion one of the most important exposure venues

just think if all of us did not even know that puppy existed
what a loss for all of us and the entire linux world

does anyone have an opinion on this

wanderer

hi all

since no one has immediately responded to this suggestion
i think i will run with it

i think we (that is to say the developers not me since i have no skills) should make a community edition AT LEAST 1 time per year
it can be multiple times per year if it is updated

we can call the first one puppy 2022

we can just start a thread and everyone can put in their input

it should have both a 32 and 64 bit versions

it would be nice to have a lot of cool wallpapers since that is what catches peoples eye

to speed things up we could just pick one of the mainline editions that have already been created
chosen by discussion and vote on the thread

i think it would serve a number of useful purposes

1. it would make the intro into puppyworld easier for the uninitiated
2. it would make distrowatch happy
3. it would give the whole puppy community something they can work on together and feel a part of
4. it would be fun

opinions anyone

wanderer

@wanderer I like the idea of a routine Community Edition as a starting point.

hi rockedge

would you start the thread since you manage the forum

wanderer

hi all

i just thought of a way to save everyone a ton of work and grief

why dont we have a thread where the puppy community
nominates one of the completed mainstream puppies
to be the representative puppy edition
for a particular month
(or whatever time interval is appropriate so that all completed mainstream puppies are included)

the one that is chosen for that month (or whatever)
is posted on distrowatch

this way no one would have to do any extra work
and the gurus who are putting all the effort into creating their puppies
would get recognition for their work

and this would still accomplish the goals of keeping distrowatch happy
and having a lead in edition for the uninitiated

opinions anyone

wanderer

and this would still accomplish the goals of keeping distrowatch happy

Seriously? Does anyone have such a goal here? Then we can go further , for example, create a government, no, a general forum commission that will investigate the causes of low ratings on news and information sites. It is necessary to determine the composition of the commission, the time of its work and the privileges of the participants (a special signature and avatar ). Just don't take @dimkr and @peebee on the commission - all work will stop.

And this is just the tip of the bureaucratic iceberg

Seriously? Does anyone have such a goal here?

I do not. Only time I go to Distrowatch is to see what names people choose to call their distro's and what specialty systems are out there. And when it's mentioned on this forum, otherwise Distrowatch is a lot like those who rank what music is top of the pop.

hi all

i know this is a pain

but i really think its important to stay on distrowatch

i think that is where i found puppy
300 hits per day is a lot of interest

cant we (the puppymaster) just put up a new edition once a year just to stay on the list

wanderer

maybe dogcat saved us

we are back on distrowatch

maybe they reconsidered

thanks dogcat

wanderer

@wanderer maybe the article just done about Puppy Linux in Linux Pro Magazine tipped the scales back in our favor..........

Original thread by the author -> viewtopic.php?t=6898

here is the set of questions -> viewtopic.php?t=6959

Hi Wanderer, we get about two months now before Puppy Linux goes dormant again.
You are correct in expressing concern, maintaining a distribution on Distrowatch requires a proactive effort by some official representative of the community.

https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=submit

Distrowatch has a good history of Puppy Linux and links to Puppy related web sites and information.

https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=puppy

All of the puppy links on Distrowatch seem to be http, is this done on purpose?

rockedge wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:13 am

All of the puppy links on Distrowatch seem to be http, is this done on purpose?

Probably how the account owner entered them. I see some https but most are old style. They seem to work ok for me.

dogcat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:46 am

I see some https but most are old style. They seem to work ok for me.

Our sites are configured to accept http requests to remain compatible.

rockedge wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:49 am

dogcat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:46 am

I see some https but most are old style. They seem to work ok for me.

Our sites are configured to accept http requests to remain compatible.

This is what I found at https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resou ... noannounce

"Is the information on your site accurate?

It is our objective to provide correct and accurate information. At the same time, we cannot guarantee that every number and every dot is in the correct position, however hard we try. As you can imagine, it is quite tedious to collect all the information and it takes a lot effort and time to wade through busy FTP servers and extract the facts from sub-directories of ISO images. Many errors were fixed soon after the site was first made public (Slackware users were the most active in correcting them) and most of the information should be correct. Do not be shy to point out any errors you find; just send us an e-mail and we will fix them immediately. "

rockedge wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:49 am

dogcat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:46 am

I see some https but most are old style. They seem to work ok for me.

Our sites are configured to accept http requests to remain compatible.

@rockedge
Even so, you should have a .htaccess file to convert http:// requests to https://
I have this .htaccess file at top of my bkhome.org and other sites:

RewriteEngine On
 RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
 RewriteRule ^.*$ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]

Many people will have their browsers configured to put up a warning if the site is only http://, or even rejecting the site. The above .htaccess fixes that.

@BarryK,
https: is the primary connection protocol but the system still can accommodate those systems that can only do http:

We have users that requested continued http access. I believe that this involves those using older browsers mostly that do not do https well or at all.

Eventually we will depreciate the http access but for now one can just add the "s" to "http" in the URL if a warning pops up that discourages http. Since the site does both one has a choice.

The majority of users come through in https:

hi all

to belabor a point

i think it is important for the puppy community and for the greater linux community
for us to remain active on distrowatch

if one visits the puppy forum
one sees that there are new editions being put out constantly

why are these not being posted on distrowatch

i feel that all of (at the very least the mainline) editions
(and in my opinion all the puppy inspired editions)
should take their turn as the representative puppy edition on distrowatch

it does not require an extensive bureaucracy to choose one of the many completed puppy editions
and post that edition on distrowatch for that month (or whatever time period is determined)

posting just one edition forever is neither a fair nor an accurate representation of the puppy community

so i propose that

1. we should have a thread to discuss and recommend what editions should be posted on distrowatch
2. all completed editions should take their turn as the representative edition on distrowatch

wanderer

https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=puppy

There is a XXX Linux Summary section under each distro. There's the right place where something like the Editions section should be.

Well, among the European sites, only French, Polish and Hungarian variants are listed. Residents of one big country do not complain and find what they need.
@rockedge has more democracy on the island than on the whole known mainland

So, what prevents from creating the Editions section in the designated place? There you can give links to all the variants of Puppy and not make a list as long as a sheet, as in the case of Ubuntu.

hi all

my suggestion is very simple and easy

at least once each month (or whatever time frame is determined)

one of the completed editions of puppy (Bionic, DpupStretch, Fossapup64, LxPupSc, RaspianBuster, Slacko etc)
is chosen to represent puppy linux on distrowatch

it is posted to distrowatch as the new edition
and the picture is changed to the new pup

each month a different edition is selected
until all the different editions are cycled through

no real need to vote
just ask the developer if his edition is complete

i think a thread for this would be a good thing
a developer could announce that his pup was complete on the thread
and it would be a fun place for everyone to discuss this issue

that way everyone doing the work would get the recognition they deserve
and the entire puppy community would be better represented

i also think it would be very interesting and fun for the people who use distrowatch
to see the constantly changing flavors
and would thus generate more interest in puppyworld

the only work would be that someone would have to submit the new pup once a month

wanderer