Why Linux Sucks

I've posted here many time with my observations and critiques.

I wanted to post something positive, to balance things out a little.
There is one distribution which I think gets things RIGHT. It is a shining beacon of how to package Linux. To be fair, rather than write a post about what Linux should be, I thought I would create one about a distro which has actually addressed many concerns. For those in the Linux community who actually care about people adopting Linux, give this distro a spin and pay attention to HOW it is used and how it interacts with the user.

That distro is PUPPY LINUX.
www.puppylinux.com

I've dabbled with it before, and just now been trying the latest version, v4.1. From memory, I was impressed with earlier versions, and while the bigger distros are nowadays too bloated, puppy remains slim.

Firstly, its only a 90 something megabyte download. In that little ISO image, is a distro with a word processor, spreadsheet, web browser (with flash), email cleint, messenger/chat programs, sound/video playing software (with many codecs, it played videos I had OK and mp3s immediately), text editor, blogger software, a few small games, CD ripping/burning software plus many more. It runs from CD and can run entirely from RAM. I have 512M ram and a 700MHz processor, and it ran lighting fast with 350M RAM to spare. I was able to load the browser in merely a couple of seconds. Its FAST! MUCH faster than Ubuntu or Fedora was.

But here is the best thing. My hardware was supported. It recognised my AWE 64 sound card (something Ubunto and the Fedora 7 didn't), set up my network cards and placed icons on my desktop for ALL my partitions, ext2 and fat32 on my hard drives. From what I've read, hardware support in Puppy is phenomenal. Whats even better, is everything was done with the GUI. I was able to set up networking and sound through the configuration utilities provided. Those config programs are easy to follow and understand. They explain everything clearly and are COMPLETE. From the GUI, you can remaster a live CD, install software from the repository (or from your hard drive), mount and unmount everything, configure your graphics, firewall, printing, etc. I was quite surprised that I did not ever, ever have to drop down to the command line to do something. I think its the first time I've been able to set up a Linux installtion to this level and not have to do this.

The puppy community is really helpful, but what sets this apart is the thought put into the documentation, the dialog boxes and into the set up of this. There is documentation straight right when you first boot which is very helpful and relevant. When saving your session, what is happening is explained. When mastering a new live CD, puppy Linux explains each step, and gives those with the wherewithal and ability, the knowledge and opportunity to get under the hood and tweak in between steps. This is what users want, not having to guess or have prior knowledge, but an OS which tells them what they need to know. Having the ability to 'go under the hood' if they want, but not having to do basic admin tasks.

And it runs well. Its very stable, and fast, even in really old PC's and its the easiest installation ever. There is no 'if you cant get this working, you're too dumb' attitude at all. The creators of this OS have thought of it all and made an OS which gives the user all the information and explanation they need. There is no assumption that you are willing to learn to do things the hard way. Only great care in making sure that this OS is easy, runs wells and is usable. I think puppy comes closest to being what Linux should be. It's just a shame that its not as 'complete' as other distros. Documentation and dialog boxes in many Linux distros are scant, incomplete or spartan, but here everything the user needs to know is explained, carefully guiding them.

There is a 'completedness' that rarely exist in other distros and definately a performance which doesn't. I think a lot of lessons could be learned from this distro (maybe except not supporting different users) because I really do think this is one which addresses many shortcomings (except for binary compatibility) in the Linux OS for your average desktop user. It really does fulfill the 'runs on older hardware' advantage because you can run this on older hardware and not have to compromise by only having a command line, or an outdated distro, or use the 'outdated' machine only as a firewall, etc.

My only criticisms are GTK2 is visually kind of displeasing (I dont like the open/save file dialog boxes). Till recently, puppy used GTK1 + Tk, the default background should have been of the puppy and that it's not recommended by the community to new Linux users enough. This is one distro I feel I can recommend to others and not have to worry about them getting stuck trying to use the command line, or getting this or that working or being stonewalled because of soemthing they dont understand.