PUPPY LINUX: For the slower machines

I have a Pentium IV (6 years old) machine on which I usually try new linux distros and versions. Over the years the newer and newer linux versions of Ubuntu and Fedora have been becoming bulkier, specially the GUI (Gnome and KDE), making my system slower and slower. Even the XFCE desktop doesn't help much. So I decided to try one of the "lighter linux versions" - PUPPY LINUX.



Their new 4.2 version is out and the whole distribution is < 150 MB in size. The LIVE CD can load into the RAM of almost all machines making applications load much much faster. There is a huge improvement in the system response time compared to UBUNTU and FEDORA versions. I have to say that the GUI is not very polished or sophisticated compared to Gnome or KDE, but is more than enough for any average computer user.

The most impressive feature was the huge list of applications they had packed within 150 MBs. Everything works out of the box. They have an application for every need - browser, audio codecs, video codecs, pdf viewer, etc. Even the flash plugin for the browser worked out of the box. I also tried the live CD on my laptop and the wireless driver worked flawlessly. There is also a package manager through which you can install many other common applications including Firefox, Mplayer, xpdf, Open Office, etc.

Overall, it is a brilliant light weight linux distribution which is worth consideration for your older machines. Many linux fans might also like DSL (Damn Small Linux), but its GUI was very crude compared to PUPPY LINUX. PUPPY is my personal choice.

A quote on PUPPY's website reads "I must say I think Puppy is more amazing than the initial impression you get" - which is probably true.