KluNine

I use mostly MS Windows XP, but have been checking out other operating systems ever since MS Windows 98SE gave me one BSOD too many and I tried BeOS R5∞; a 50MB download that gave me a gorgeous operating system (with no partitioning required!) that installed in minutes and booted in 17 seconds flat!

I didn't stick with BeOS (no sound or broadband on my laptop) but it introduced me to the Opera∞ web browser (which I've stuck with ever since and use on every platform I can) and it got me experimenting with non-MS OSes.

I can't remember how I found out about Puppy (maybe Distrowatch?) or exactly when; sometime in 2004 I think. I love its small-light-fast philosophy even if there were always issues that kept me from going into it fulltime (usually multimedia issues: I've got to have my BBC radio and P2P-downloaded vids). (Wait, I think for a month I did have only Puppy on my hard drive! 2.02?)

I keep trying & coming back to Puppy, and occasionally dip into Wolvix, Zenwalk and other smaller Xfce-using distros. (I guess that's why I'm so enamoured with Gray's PuppyNOP puplet: Xfce + Opera + Puppy= :-D ). Also I keep trying PC-BSD and Linux Mint. Even though I don't use Puppy full time, I still have it on a USB key and CDR for machines at work when the restricted, slow and crashy Windows boxes they have there drive me nuts.

I've tried god-knows-how-many Linux distros (from DSL to Mandriva), but also *BSD-based ones and even non-*nix OSes like Syllable, ReactOS, Menuet and Kolibri (an entire GUIfied OS on one floppy!!!).

But I guess I'm really waiting for the final release of Haiku∞, the open-source resurrection of... BeOS!

Until then ;-) I keep trying Puppy and puplets, and try to help out by (as I'm not a coder) updating the puppy wiki and expanding download options for the puppy ISOs: BitTorrent, MetaLink and eDonkey (in eMule right now I'm sharing official Puppy, Grafpup, NOP and Hacao). And regularly visiting Distrowatch and OSNews to stay up to date on what's happening in operating systems.

Hardware

Computers
Baby
Compaq Presario V3117 LA, laptop bought in 2006

• AMD Sempron 3400+
• 512MB RAM
• Nvidia Geforce, shared RAM
• 1280x800 native resolution
• Broadcom wireless
• 60GB hard drive - NTFS partition for Windows XP
  - FAT32 partition for my stuff, to be easily accessible & writable by both XP and other OSes I play with
  - ext3 partition for playing with *nixes
  - NTFS partition for XP recovery
  
• DVD+R/W CDR/W combo

Primo
Dell Inspiron 7500VT UK, laptop bought in 2000

• Intel Pentium Mobile III 450MHz
• 128MB Ram (now you know why I got interested in Puppy!)
• ATI Rage Mobile, 8MB RAM
• 1400x1050, when the screen was still attached to it!
• ESS sound
• Ethernet via PCMCIA card
• 6GB hard drive - NTFS partition for Windows XP
  - FAT32 partition for my stuff, to be easily accessible & writable by both XP and other OSes I play with
  
• DVD-ROM/CD-ROM
• Floppy

Printer/Scanner/Copier
HP PSC 1315

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CategoryUsers