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Focusing on ease of use and minimal memory footprint, Puppy Linux OS is a lightweight Linux distribution. It enables the removal of boot medium after the start of operating system by running it from the RAM with current version, usually utilizing around 210 MB.
Read What Is Puppy Linux? Everything You Need to Know.
Specs
Pros
Pro Designed to run as a live USB/CD
A portable version, that can be carried on a thumb drive without requiring installation, weighs less than 100MB; a Live CD - less than 150MB. You can even save your settings and files for Puppy on the external device/media.
Running off a live CD also has security benefits, as your system will reset to the known config after each boot.
Pro Designed to run as a live USB/CD
A portable version, that can be carried on a thumb drive without requiring installation, weighs less than 100MB; a Live CD - less than 150MB. You can even save your settings and files for Puppy on the external device/media.
Running off a live CD also has security benefits, as your system will reset to the known config after each boot.
Pro Different distro based versions available
Puppy Linux offers a few different releases.
The first is an Ubuntu based release called Tahrpup, by using this version the user is able to take advantage of all software and support from Ubuntu.
The second version is called Slacko, which is built upon the Slackware binaries.
The third is called Wary and it is built to support older hardware than the rest.
And the fourth is called Quirky, which is used as a base to explore new ideas.
Pro Quickpet and load, unload, applications on the fly
Quickpet presents all the popular applications for install quick and easy. The ability to load and unload applications via SFS-Load on-the-fly is a real plus for space and memory management as well as making applications quick and easy to find, download and install.
Cons
Con In danger of becoming obsolete; from tablets, android devices and other distros
For old desktop PCs, Puppy is great. But since laptop hardware is not only more difficult to upgrade, but also to maintain; reviving old laptops is less possible or useful. Also the rise of cheap tablets, 2 in 1s, Android devices generally and even Chromebooks makes Puppy increasingly ONLY useful for old desktop PCs. For portable USB distros, more secure and and better updated distros seem like better alternatives.
Con Limited software
Any software you use has to be specially compiled just for Puppy and just for the exact version of Puppy you are running and only that version.