Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to SafariWhen comparing Puppy Linux vs Archcraft, the Slant community recommends Puppy Linux for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux distributions for desktops?” Puppy Linux is ranked 10th while Archcraft is ranked 68th. The most important reason people chose Puppy Linux is:
Puppy Linux requires 128MB of RAM and 333Mhz of CPU, although 256MB of RAM is recommended.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Extremely low minimum system requirements
Puppy Linux requires 128MB of RAM and 333Mhz of CPU, although 256MB of RAM is recommended.
Pro The whole OS runs off of RAM
Since Puppy Linux is completely loaded and run off of RAM instead of HDD, it's read/write speed is not a factor.
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 Linux distro designed for this exact purpose
Pro Offers a long term support release
Puppy Linux offers an LTS release called Precise.
Pro It can be the only distro that works
Sometimes, Puppy Linux is the only distro that works on an old machine: all other distros are more demanding.
Pro JWM used as window manager
JWM is a low resource window manager that is used in most Puppy Linux installs.
Pro Minimal & beautiful
One of the prettiest distros out there IMHO.
Pro User friendly install guides on site
Easy to follow guides for newbies or those who want a little guidance.
Pro Pacman more stable
In my opinion, Pacman is a better choice than apt. Perhaps Linux Distros should consider migrating.
Pro Active & responsive dev
The dev is very active & is constantly improving the distro. New ISOs released regularly.
Pro Well organized
The dev made this one of the best Distros and easy to add/remove deesktops or wm without breaking the system.
Pro Worth the Donation
The effort and work put in is evident, doesn't look finished half way
Pro Lovely UI Design with an Attractive menu
The developers made sure this distro was crafted well. Really nothing I would change, and the default ensure you won't be installing malware.
Pro Not just a Website with some Ghostfiles
The Site is informative and gives a nice insight into what you can expect from this beautiful distro. For the first time ever for me no customization needed everything is perfect.
Cons
Con A bit ugly
Using puppy makes you feel like you just jumped 20 years into the past. Being that the purpose of Puppy Linux is to run or really low resource machines the software used is often on the older side, which is precisely why it has a 20 year old look.
Con Not as light as it used to be
It's light, but not as light as it was 1-2 years ago.
Con Smallest software library ever
You can barely find any precompiled packages for Puppy.
Con No built in compositing
Being a low resource distro there is zero built in compositing for the JWM window manager. Though one can be added through a bit of work.
