Welcome to Puppy version PUPPYVERSION, released PUPPYDATE
Hi, I am Barry Kauler, the original developer of the Puppy Operating System, and you can find a complete
introduction to Puppy on the web at: http://www.puppylinux.com/ and http://www.puppylinux.org/.
You are going to be amazed at the quantity and quality of
applications in such a tiny Linux 'distro', as well as blown away by
the speed and stunned by the ease-of-use. Despite the small size, the
live-CD is chock-full of documentation -- see the links below.
My aim is for Puppy to become a no-brainer to use (ie, no need to read
the
manual!). Just turn on the PC, and off you go... we're not there yet,
as some
configuration files may have to be edited, plus various apps have to be
"tweaked". Maybe some of your PC hardware doesn't work --
in that case, first browse through the online documentation, then
search the Puppy Discussion Forum -- as a last resort, post a question.
I would like to very briefly acknowledge all the guys whose programs I have
used in Puppy. Truly, I am standing on the shoulders of many others to reach
this new pinnacle that is the achievement of Puppy Linux. I have acknowledged
people throughout the documentation and on the web, and my profuse gratitude
goes out to all you guys who code just because you love doing it. I would
also like to send out a special thank-you for the help received from the guys
on the Puppy Discussion Forum.
Puppy help
All Puppy's local documentation is in HTML or plain text format and located in
/usr/share/doc/.
This page is the master index. Note, the "man" program works with this
documentation!
Puppy-specific help
Applications documentation
- cdplay, cdp, console audio CD player
- chat, automated conversation with a modem
- ppp/pppd, Internet access by point-to-point protocol
- Pudd, Puppy universal dd
- QIV, console image viewer
- sftp, console secure FTP
- ssh, console secure telnet
- TkPPPoE, GUI for Roaring Penguin PPPOE
- wavplay, console WAV audio player
- Xcalc, scientific calculator
Systems-level programs documentation
- Ash, the shell available in Busybox
- Busybox, low-level programs
- Cdialog, console dialogs
- cfdisk, similar to fdisk, ncurses interface
- date, date/time management #
- dhcpcd, DHCP client daemon
- disktype, reports filesystem types on disk drives
- Dnotify, security directory monitor
- e2fsprogs, ext2 or ext3 filesystem utilities (e2fsck, mke2fs, resize2fs)
- fdformat, low-level format a floppy disk
- fdisk, hard drive partition management
- find, find files #
- fsck, frontend for filesystem check programs
- gawk, (awk) pattern matching
- grep, search for pattern in a file (see reXgrep)
- gtkdialog, a GTK2 GUI for shell scripts
- gtkdialog2, a GTK2 GUI for shell scripts
- hdparm, get/set hard drive parameters
- hwclock, control hardware clock
- ifconfig, configure network interfaces (Busybox)
- ifplugstatus, test if ethernet interface alive
- Isolinux, create bootable CD
- lame, create mp3 audio files from wav, aiff
- modem-stats, send hayes commands to a modem
- modprobe, and associated apps, module management #
- Nenscript, text file to Postscript converter
- netstat, query network status, statistics.
- picocom, tiny serial port terminal emulator
- Pxelinux, part of Syslinux package
- Samba, client suite
- setserial, query/set serial port parameters
- setvol, console app to set/get sound volume
- squashfs, compressed read-only filesystem
- stat, display file or filesystem status
- Syslinux, create bootable Puppy disk
- Tinylogin, Login/password management
- wget, commandline download
- xcut, cut to and paste from the clipboard
- xcutsel,
- Xdialog, GUI console display from scripts
- xhost, restrict access to X server (see Gxhost)
- xinit,
- xmessage, GUI display from scripts
- xprop, view window properties
- Xserver, XFree86 X servers
- xset,
- xsetroot,
# Note that although Busybox has modprobe and associated apps in it,
these
are not used as they lack functionality. Instead, the fully-featured
equivalents were installed. Ditto for cat, cp, gzip, gunzip, mkdir, mv, rm, sed, sort, tar, wget,
date,
find, grep, fgrep and egrep.
Note that Puppy applications are open source, however there a couple
of exceptions. Version 0.9.8+ has Planmaker Free Edition spreadsheet
editor, which
is closed source freeware. Later versions of Puppy have Planmaker Free
Edition (and Textmaker Free Edition) as PupGet packages. The licence
document is here (if Planmaker is installed).
We need to be able to open
and edit Excel-format spreadsheets, which Planmaker does admirably, and
the
Free Edition is just that, free, no embedded adverts, no usage
restrictions (except for a limited maximum size that can be edited).
I would like to do the right thing by the developer, Softmaker
Software,
though, and recommend that you consider the full edition if Planmaker
is to
be used for serious commercial purposes.
Some releases of Puppy have the Opera web browser, which is closed source but free.

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Some releases of Puppy include
the Macromedia Flash plugin for the web browser. This is closed source
but free. The distribution licence requires that I include the logo and
a link to the Macromedia site.
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Legal notice:
I, Barry Kauler, established the
'Puppy Linux Project' in January 2003, first website and product
release 18-June-2003, and I have trademark claim to the name and typed
drawing of 'Puppy Linux', 'PuppyOS' and 'Puppy' as it relates to
"computer operating system software to facilitate computer use and
operation", under Federal and International Common Law and Trademark
Laws as appropriate.
Programs in Puppy are open source (except where noted above), and
licences of individual products
are duly acknowledged. The creation of the composite product named
"Puppy", also known as "Puppy Linux" and "PuppyOS", is
copyright (c) 2003,2004,2005,2006 Barry Kauler and all rights are
reserved if not in
conflict with other licences. Puppy-based distros must have a name that has sufficient "product
differentiation", and Barry Kauler and www.puppyos.com must always be
acknowledged -- further details in the online FAQ.
Disclaimer:
Very simple, use entirely at your own risk. Barry Kauler accepts no liability
or responsibility whatsoever, and you use Puppy with this understanding.