Welcome to Puppy version PUPPYVERSION, released PUPPYDATE
 PLEASE READ: Release Notes for Puppy PUPPYVERSION

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

Systems-level programs documentation

# 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.


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.

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.