New Puppy Linux Released today on Version 3.01

Puppy version 3.01 released. Puppy 3.01 is a bug-fix upgrade of 3.00. If you are currently using 3.00 (or have tried to use 3.00 and have encountered a show-stopper bug), please read the blog first to find out if your particular problem has been addressed -- if not, it may be addressed in 3.02.

The purpose of 3.01 is simply to fix the most urgent bugs and niggles in 3.00, not apply any major changes or package upgrades.

"This Puppy (3.00 and 3.01) is a massive upgrade from the previous (v2.17.1). I decided to aim for close binary compatibility with Slackware 12, with the objective of being able to install Slackware packages and have all or most of the required dependencies already in place. To that end, I used all the building block packages from Slackware 12, such as glibc 2.5, GCC 4.1.2 and GTK+ 2.10.13. Most of the libraries in Puppy are now from Slackware."

True flushing to Flash drive

If you install Puppy to a USB Flash drive, Puppy will run in RAM and save periodically (every 30 minutes) to the 'pup_save' file. This batch saving is to limit writes and thus prolong the life of the Flash drive.

The saving is copy-down meaning that the RAM does not get flushed -- so if you have a PC with say only 128MB RAM, no swap partition or swap file, and say a 512MB 'pup_save' file, you can only fill up the free RAM space, then you have to reboot -- at shutdown the RAM is flushed to the 'pup_save'. The free space is shown in the taskbar so you will always know when space is running low.

However, Puppy 3.00 and 3.01 have something new. PETget, the PET package manager installs packages direct to the 'pup_save' file, not into RAM. Thus, you can install big packages and they will not chew up RAM space and you won't have to reboot.

Other package installation systems (such as for DotPup packages) do not yet have this feature.

Upgrading from earlier version of Puppy

No problem. If you run Puppy from live-CD, just boot the new CD and Puppy will automatically perform any required upgrading of your personal storage file/partition (usually pup_save.2fs file).

For USB or frugal-hd installations, just copy the latest files (vmlinuz, initrd.gz, pup_301.sfs and zdrv_301.sfs) to the USB or hd boot media.


For who don't know Puppy, here are some its features:

• Easily install to USB, Zip or hard drive media.
• Booting from CD (or DVD), the CD drive is then free for other purposes.
• Booting from CD (or DVD), save everything back to the CD.
• Booting from USB Flash drive, minimise writes to extend the life indefinitely.
• Extremely friendly for Linux newbies.
• Boot up and run extraordinarily fast.
• Have all the applications needed for daily use.
• Will just work, no hassles.
• Will breathe new life into old PCs
• Load and run totally in RAM for diskless thin stations

Download

If you want to obtain the latest Puppy live-CD, or the "devx" module, that turns Puppy into a complete C/C++ compiler environment, or the patched 2.6.21.7 kernel source, please go to the Puppy download page.