GCompris, TuxPaint on puppy linux

These are fun for the kids, however, GCompris may be for 4+ not 2+ like advertised!

Here's the list of .pets you need to grab from here (reprinted from this forum thread):

Gcompris 8.4.13, and dependencies: 
gnucap + gnuchess + python + pysqlite + pycairo + pygobject +pygtk + SDL + SDL mixer +tuxpaint

And

+sqlite 3.6.12 
which you can get here

Also needed for TuxPaint: SDL_image-1.2.7-i486.pet + SDL_Pango-0.1.2-i486.pet + SDL_ttf-2.0.9-i486.pet + libpaper-1.1.23+nmu1-i486.pet from here as well :)

Note all the other goodies from the same site: Klavaro, Enigma, Childsplay, TuxMath.

Puplets: NOP, TEENPup, UPup

Since my review of "Pup-It-Up" Puppy Linux Music Lab, I have tested a number of other puplets. I will give my best recollection and overall impressions of each.

NOP:
Probably my favorite puplet for general use would be Nearly Office Pup (NOP). Although I find it runs a little slower on my hp pavilion ze5600 laptop, that is probably due to a number of useful changes to the base Puppy, specifically xfce as a window manager and Opera for the browser. However, it is these two additions that make it a slick, user friendly system. Once adding the openoffice.sfs to the boot-up options, NOP is a clear winner for a desktop environment that even Grandma could use.

TEENPup:
My second favorite puplet as an all-purpose desktop would be TeenPup-legacy2009. Although about as "fat" as they come, this distro has a tremendous amount of applications with a "windows-like" feel and usability. I would keep it off of most old laptops, but it is a great choice to get the most out of an older desktop.

UPup:
Perhaps the most cutting edge of the puplets is UPup which is the current "pet" project of Barry Kauler (Puppy Linux originator). It is listed as "experimental" and in fact I remember finding some basic applications were broken. Simply put, UPup is a Puppy platform which readily installs debian (.deb) packages from Ubuntu repos. This makes it one of the most extensible, flexible of any puplets for a linux newbie like myself. My guess is this will be the future of Puppy Linux.

ChemPup-0.1.5 ready for beta testing

I now have a ChemPup "full" version that I am happy enough to beta test. The .iso is 454MB which is kind of in the middle for a puplet based on my survey of the official puplet page, though most attempt to be smaller than 100MB. However, I decided to leave devx.sfs which adds some extra but will facilitate growth for now, and of course as mentioned previously the "full" version comes default with openoffice3.0.

Notes on making the puplet:

I had difficulty figuring out how to retain most of the aesthetic settings like desktop wallpaper and icons, and additions made to the menu. I sort of cheated and simply renamed the puppy-fun module to "Chemistry" in /etc/xdg/_root_.jwmrc and /etc/xdg/menus/jwm.menu but I left the rest of the settings pointed to puppy-fun.menu. Then I simply edited puppy-fun.menu to read name "Chemistry" I removed all categories listed and replaced with "Chemistry." Afterwards I needed only generate appropriate .desktop files for each new program added (just like with ubuntu/debian) and I was in business with all my chemistry programs added to the main menu.

During the "puppy remaster" process I then had to make sure to copy /etc/xdg over to the /tmp/etc/ folder at the appropriate time. Likewise, in order to preserve the rest of the desktop configurations, I copied any files I thought would be "config-like" from /root to /tmp/root at the appropriate time. By this procedure, I save all desktop configurations but do not jeopardize any Xorg, keyboard, video, mouse settings for the next user who will likely have a different hardware configuration.

I played around with burning a multi-session DVD or CD and although initially successful, it seems that I only can change the settings once and save to the disk which then closes the session. So now I believe I will offer ChemPup on a CD or a 2GB ext2 flashdrive and encourage CD users to save the personal file and ChemPup.sfs to a flashdrive as well. As such, I took my own 2GB flash drive, dual-partitioned into a 1GB vfat32 and 1GB ext2 to which I installed ChemPup-0.1.5. I selected mbr.bin for the master boot record step since I had done a complete reformat.

I am now working to set up www.chemtoolbox.com to be a mostly functional site that will at least a) not look hideous and b) host the ChemPup-0.1.5 .iso file as well as a few other support documents.

ChemPup-0.1.2

I recently had the idea to assemble a Puppy Linux "Puplet" that would be configured with software useful for an undergraduate chemistry student. Considering I know nothing about programming and I am still very new to Linux, this is proving to be a challenge...but I have had success so far.

ChemPup-0.1.2 has been developed from Puppy Linux 4.21 running with 512 MB ram in a VBox machine on Ubuntu-9.04 and so far includes most of the packages I have envisioned in this first generation build. The following is the list of added packages:

Office Productivity Suite:
OpenOffice.org-3.0

General Chemistry:
GElemental - a gtk+ periodic table of the elements with loads of information on each element
MoleCalc - a molecular weight calculator (runs in WINE)

Organic Chemistry:
BKChem - a 2D structure editor with .mol and .odt (openoffice) export capabilities
OpenBabel - a command line molecular file-type converter that handles over a dozen formats
WinDNMR - a dynamic NMR simulator (runs in WINE)

Need:
A suitable 3D molecular viewer (I want Avogadro which includes a force-field minimizer)

Plan to Make:
A slick spreadsheet template (OOCalc) that has useful conversions (mole to gram etc) and equations
Detailed documentation to maximize usage of the system (since most US Students don't know Linux)

Additionally I need to figure out what programs I should cut out to save space, if any, considering OOO is adding most of the extra weight. I will probably remove devx.sfs.

Building in the existing packages (listed above) was fairly straightforward....I needed to install Python, WINE (which I found as a .pet on the Puppy Forum) and a few other package dependencies that I cannot recall.

Update: In order to run BKChem it needs python 2.3 or later and after checking with > python --version <> ./configure; make; make install. Unfortunately these programs must be installed before python so I had to reconfigure python and went ahead and downloaded the upgraded 2.6. Python is a bit large so I removed the old version...2.6 also took several minutues (10 ish) to compile and install. Afterwards bkchem.py runs from command line with > python bkchem.py < in the working directory. I then easily created a bash script to start the program, made it executable with chmod 777 and added it to the desktop with a logo icon to make a simple point and click execution.

The real trouble has been with Avogadro. This is a nice, intuitive 3D molecular viewer and force-field minimizer program that I test-ran on Ubuntu and was quite happy with, however, unlike with Ubuntu, I do not have a prepackaged .deb (.pet) for Puppy and will have to build it from source. Avogadro has several package dependencies, some of which I am having trouble with building as well: Qt4, Eigen2, CMake, and OpenBabel are all required before you can compile and install Avogadro. I installed OpenBabel and CMake okay (I think), and Eigen2 supposedly only need to be unzipped and it is ready to go (although they don't say to which directory it belongs so I stuck it in /usr/local/bin). Qt4 on the other hand has proven very difficult and I also found that I had the wrong version of CMake!! These programs (OpenBabel, Qt4, and even CMake) took a long 20-30 minutes of compiling time each. So long as I can get a user-friendly 3D molecular viewer I will be satisfied with this first release.

Puppy Rescues Windows

At a family get-together, I was recently asked by a war veteran who saw me tinkering with my hp pavilion laptop whether or not I knew "how to fix them things?" I asked what his problem was and he noted the last time he tried to boot his laptop it wouldn't start. His was also an hp pavilion. I told him to drop it off and I would see what I could do.

Upon initial investigation I found that the laptop would POST and the XP logo appeared as the OS began start-up, but then it suddenly would reboot...just as he indicated. So I decided to boot up Puppy Linux and see if I could access his hdd. I found I needed to boot with puppy pfix=ram (or something like that) since the Puppy startup script would hang when searching for the pup_save.sfs file. This was the first indication of a problem with the hdd. Once booted, I clicked the sda1 icon at the bottom left of the desktop and found (after futzing things up and a few reboots due to impatience) after about 120 seconds an error box indicates a problem with the drive and then after (no exaggeration) 20 minutes the ROX window finally opened and displayed the contents of the drive. After this initial wait, it took a mere 2 to 5 minutes for subsequent directories to open. It seemed as if the drive was spinning at only 10x or so.

Only 3 or 4 hours later (yes I was working on other stuff also) I had transferred the files that the owner cared to save to my external hd and started the reformatting and installation of my copy of XP. An hour after that I had XP installed and later at home I finished up with transferring his important data back. Success!

installing debian packages to puppy

For the first time, I installed a .deb package (a space adventure game called epiar for my nephew) in puppy 4.2.1. I had to use the tips found in this puppy forum thread. I haven't figured out how to add a menu entry yet... but I would think it to be similar to how I can do it in ubuntu. It is after midnight so I reckon I'll tackle that another day.

OpenOffice for Puppy?

This is still a work in progress.

OpenOffice for puppy is distributed as a .sfs "squashfile." I found a list of available versions at this Doku Puppy site. It seems that the easiest implementation is to place the .sfs in the appropriate /mnt directory and on reboot OpenOffice will run. However this is only true for a frugal install as noted here. I spent some time trying to figure this out, and then more time to determine what to do if you have a full install? I finally got a great tip from an IRC puppy channel member on xchat who gave me this link to using a .sfs with a full install.

So I'm still waiting for the .sfs to download and then to see how it all goes.

Added gtkPod to Puppy Linux

gtkPod is an ipod-ready app to manage your music list from your mp3 player. Here are the useful web pages I found to install gtkPod. First I installed all the "lib" .pet files from here, then I installed the main gtkPod.pet from here.

That's it!
Note the inquiry began with this thread

WikiWikiSandbox

I had a little free time this morning to explore the applications in puppy4.2 and found one called DidiWiki - a personal wiki app. Like most, I have had nothing but positive experiences using wiki sites for valuable [surprisingly] accurate information and thought it would be nice to learn a little more about using it and editing myself. The introduction gave me some places to visit to get started, one of which was the sandbox. I added some text and wanted to save but they require you enter a code word. The 'help' on this explained that if no code word is given, there is a community word used and to try peer-to-peer...whatever here:

"We created the code words to discourage robotic attacks. Both the code words and the code word mechanism are subject to sudden change. Our code word policy is to not have a policy. Should the site become subject to systematic abuse, the code word mechanisms will become more stringent. Announcements appear on WikiWikiSystemNotice. When a code word is presented, you may use it to save edits. This serves the role of a very simple CaptchaTest which probably only works because the rewards for breaking it are so small. There is a MozillaFirefox plug-in that will type the code word for you. When no code word is given, you may use an alternative code word that floats along among trusted users. There is no way to apply for this code. Try your friends-of-friends network. Remember that this code and the mechanism itself will change if abused. This server employs a number of self-protection mechanisms which are summarized in MoreAboutWikiAccess. -- WardCunningham."

Okay so if anyone knows the floating code word among trusted users I would appreciate the tip. I already tried "open sessame."

TuxType on Puppy 4.2.1

I have been trying to get a fun typing program to teach my nephew how to type on the panasonic toughbook running Puppy4.2.1 that I gave him. I had previously tried an older version of TuxType that was readily installed on DSL using the DSL apps utility and it worked straight away. Nevertheless I wasn't too happy or surprised that this wasn't equally as easy on Puppy4.2.1. I guess I'm still discovering the "paths of least resistance" for configuring my puppy. At one point I found this great review (here) of 3 different typing tutors where the author/father subjected his 13 y.o. to each one and asked him to spend time testing them and then report his observations. In the end, TuxType was found to be fun, but too advanced for teaching from scratch and another app. called Klavaro was the favorite. Well I could only get Klavaro as an i386.deb file and I spent a bunch of time trying to get my puppy to install it and have yet to succeed. From the puppy package manager I found pb-debianinstaller which I had tried out on an earlier puppy and got to work, however, now on Puppy4 there's problems with the web-server configuration....which I know nothing about.

So I finally found a TuxType.pet from this site (http://pupweb.org/desktop/) which I was hyperlinked to off the Puppy Jumping off page stored locally at file://localhost/usr/share/doc/home.htm. However, this newer version is a significant enhancement over the one I used on DSL and required the SDL libraries... so after a bit more searching I found a .pet for those at the almighty puppy forum. Finally I at least have a working program to encourage my nephew to learn....when he's not too busy playing online flash games, building bionicals, pokemon card games...wishful thinking on my part.

Pupdate: Back to 2.16 on Dell Latitude

Okay, so it is true what they say..."it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all." Unfortunately I was unable to solve the problem of getting sound on my Dell Lat. CPi with Puppy 4.21. I probably spent close to 6 hours on dealing with this set-back, and was a bit disappointed when I couldn't figure it out. I need to remember that I am still very new to linux and to cut myself a little slack. It's not like I have nothing else going on...3 kids in diapers under age 2, writing a dissertation...blah, blah, blah. I need to remain somewhat practical and focus on my discrete goals: I wanted to revive this ancient machine with a fast, light, practical OS that lets me surf the web, blog, listen to music, make simple edits to images and other light-duty work. Puppy 2.16 seems to manage this fine and should give me a bit more life out of this machine.

I recently handed off a Panasonic Toughbook to my 11 year old nephew and today swapped out DSL-N for Puppy 4.21. With only 64MB RAM it is a bit too sluggish, but I have a $15 128MB module on its way in the mail which should give it the boost it needs. Fortunately, the sound module worked immediately, requiring no configuration so he should be in good shape. My goal here is to catch him early to get positive exposure to linux in general. DSL-N was a little too challenging with its basic configuration to navigate the file-system and run progrmas so for him Puppy should be much more enabling...I definitely want to keep him excited about his new toy and not get overwhelmed or discouraged.

I Think I'm in Puppy Love

Puppy 4.2.1 is rocking my world!! I had originally chosen 2.16 based on a review that suggested it would be easier on a low-spec laptop. My Dell Lat. CPi definitely qualifies with 233MHz Pentium 2 and only 128MB RAM. However, I was struggling with getting my Linksys WPC55ag wireless network adapter running and thought, maybe its drivers would be included with Puppy 4.2. Well not only is this true, but this install is only slightly lagging in speed compared to the previous version.

Overall the benefits are far out-weighing the marginal slow-down. The desktop manager is enhanced by a widget toolbar, a useful 'disappearing' top toolbar and a menu refresher that manages newly installed apps. I suspect when Puppy 5.0 comes out with 'woof' package manager that will supposedly rival mature managers like synaptic, this light-weight portable distro will really start to make waves. I already can't wait and I don't really know anything about linux!

How Much Is that Puppy in the Windows?

Impressive...Very Impressive...

I'm of course making reference to 'Puppy Linux.' Right now I am posting this blog from an old refurbished Dell Lattitude CPi with a 233 MHz Pentium 2 and 128MB RAM. My wife bought it "refurbished" for $300 way back in 2004 and it was preloaded with Windows 2000. She could only use it for about 2 years before she couldn't stand its speeds any longer and has mostly sat by the wayside until I recently started tinkering with linux and computers in general. In my hunt for a lightweight OS I found only a few contenders. Obviously DSL and DSL-N were among the first I discovered. Although I liked both of them, they were not without their troubles. First, I couldn't get DSL to work with an 'acx' driven pcmcia network adapter that I had or a WCA55ag Linksys adapter. It had plenty of features to what I wanted out of a basic portable setup, but I don't even have a network adapter of any kind on the Dell and didn't want to shell out $$ on a new pcmcia just yet. Second, I had lots of difficulty getting it set up to save my desktop configuration and install to the hard drive. It was pretty fast however. DSL-N has a more mature 2.6 kernel with better driver recognition and sure enough the Linksys ran right away. I found the system to be just as fast and the boot times better once I did a HD install. I still had a bit of trouble saving my desktop configuration and although the MyDSL apps installer is a great idea and has a few gems, the lack of a proper package manager is a significant downside. Furthermore, it seemed like it would be a chore to install synaptic.

Then I discovered Puppy and so far it is a big winner...and I'm mostly talking about speed here. Barring boot times, it is much faster than the DSLs. I'm completely amazed, especially since it is running entirely from RAM. Right now I am running 2.16.1 which came with loads of network adapter drivers including the acx series. Strangely, where DSL worked with my Linksys adapter immediately, Puppy will not, and so far, I'm struggling a bit to get it functioning.

Puppy's desktop is nicely configured. Slick graphics for icons, a very fast desktop manager, and loads of useful apps. I have just started with it so I am sure I'll have a follow up on functionality soon. My final thought is that...oh yeah, it saves a configuration file to a location you specify and then searches for it on boot so everything is just as you left it. The only trouble so far is I haven't been able to install it to the hard drive, but it moves so fast, I'm not sure I should bother...so what if I need to keep a cd in it to boot?