New "official" Puppy: Slacko

Of course we have many puplets, builds of Puppy that get announced on the forum. However, currently only two are "official", Wary and Lucid -- these are the ones we list at distrowatch.com and that get promoted as "Puppy Linux". Normally, newcomers would try one of these first.

Lucid is currently at version 5.2.5, and as announced recently there won't be another release, at least not in capacity as an "official" Puppy:
http://bkhome.org/archive/blog2/201108/upup-spup-dpup-drake-wary.html

However, there is another flavour of Puppy that has been coming along nicely, "Slack Puppy", or just "Slacko" (or even Spup), developed and coordinated by 01micko. This is currently at alpha, coming up to first beta soon:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=69798

Playdayz and Lobster contacted me independently, recommending Slacko. I then asked 01micko (Mick) if he wanted to go for it, and he is keen.

Mick is a disciplined coordinator I think, from what I have seen so far, and has made sure that his Slacko releases have synchronised with the latest Woof. I don't recall him getting embroiled in any fights -- I mean discussions of a heated nature -- in the forum. He has also been around for quite a while and contributed regularly, some really good stuff -- script patches and apps (see recent blog posts, and pupRadio for example).

So, what we have to look forward to in the not-to-distant future is Wary 5.2 and Slacko 5.x "official" Puppy Linux releases. I started Wary at 5.0 as it is fifth-generation, so I suggest Slacko will also start at 5.something.

For Ubuntu fans, there probably will be another official Upup sometime. Apparently though, Ubuntu is becoming increasingly weird, and we might choose to back Debian instead. I intend to bring out another "reference" build of Dpup or Upup sometime soon. Probably another build of Drake Pup is also on the horizon.

---

Comments

What about Dpup "Squeeze"?
Username: BarryK
I am so pushed for time, haven't got around to reading the thread, but a quick look at what Iguleder is doing with "Squeeze" Dpup looks really good: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=70333 Should we ask Iguleder if he wants to make it a threesome? Recommendations welcome... Iguleder states that he will stay synced to latest Woof and feed improvements back to me, which I appreciate.

Multiplicity of versions
Username: tronkel
"There are so many Puppy main development threads in existence now, that it's becoming a task in itself even for Barry to keep up to date with it all. No single developer could possibly take on responsibility for all of this. The time will surely come, when Barry will want to at least throttle back to a more leisurely pace - maybe even completely let go of the reins. Having these three main Puppy versions i.e. Slacko, DPup and DrakePup will at least ensure that there is adequate scope for main version developers to hone their skills to levels where they can realistically step into the space eventually to be vacated by Barry. Hopefully though, not anytime soon!

well done 01micko
Username: scottman
"Congrats to 01micko, as Barry says, he is a great coordinator, very thorough, with loads of patience, skill and dedication. Spup is looking good as a result. But yes, let's not ignore the fact that Puppies built with a Debian base are excellent - fast, light and stable. Iguleder and pemasu are doing great work - at the moment Dpup is not really a 'standard' puppy release, with experimental app selection, kernel config, WM, etc.. But the Debian base is widely reported to be very solid, and quick! Spup, Dpup, Upup, Mpup - sounds like a good team!

Great News
Username: playdayz
"IMHO, this is wonderful news. For many reasons I think Slacko is going to be the most amazing Puppy yet. There have been 6 releases of Lucid in the last year and a half--that is a great run, but it is getting a little long in the tooth. With the release of Wary and the upcoming release of Slacko, there is, to my mind, no reason to officially release the project to update Lucid 5.2.5. It originally designed to be a bug fix release but it assumed a life of its own--imho we made more changes and innovations than we had time to test. [b]But Lucid will not disappear.[/b] Rather it will gracefully retire from center stage by becoming a Puppy Derivative. All of the changes and innovations from the project to update Lucid have been released as [b]Two-Headed Dog[/b] http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=70688 Additionally, all of the changes and innovations plus a newer kernel, 2.6.37.6, the same one used in Slacko, have been released as [b]Three-Headed Dog[/b]. Using the same kernel as Slacko will allow us to leverage some of the work 01micko has done in Slacko--in particular, the ATI Catalyst and Nvida proprietary video drivers are already available. http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=70736 [b]These new dogs will be maintained[/b] (albeit at a more relaxed pace than the hectic development of the Lucid releases) because Lucid is, after all, an LTS (Long Term Support) release.

Just a question
Username: playdayz
"How will the Slacko and Dpup releases be distinguished?

Managing Official Puppy Development
Username: GCMartin
"The product, Puppy, is a very interesting effort as it demonstrates that people of the world can come together to cooperate and craft a usable helpful solution for the world Barry attempted to further that contribution when earlier this summer, he demonstrated to an Indian Education Leader a useful solution that freely, could have helped millions in India alone Our focus is a humanitarian one, yet is very specific and technical in its presentation The future development of official PUPs could take a 30 day PAUSE and via the forum [b]ANALYZE[/b] how best to proceed PUP development for ANY given official PUP Here's what may be addressed[list][*]Packaging within the WOOF scope [*]Additional Packaging via any package manager [*]Development of objects [*]Development of applets [*]Development of new Applications [*]Official feedback to build process [*]User friendly website to generate an ISO from ??? [*]User friendly internal web-desktop application for turning a desktop into an ISO [*]Feedback on system behavior [*]Bug management and feedback [*]Documentation, documentation, documentation that is generated for process, product, and subsystem procedures[/list] Now, all of this has been going on for many years. But, its not necessarily apparent to many. For example, how can a "team" of people collaborate? How can a team member take over a project should something happen which hampers the team leader?..."officially" 30 days of open discussion, should provide feedback to document the direction for a foreseeable future. The expectation: Guiding the maturing and expansion of quality PUPs via a newer documented,teaming framework [u][b]This DOES NOT MEAN TO STOP ANY ON-GOING WORK[/b][/u] This is about collective collaboration to address how much more effective would development of official PUPs be, if done with a newer framework Should this be forum discussion? If yes, should Barry, or who, should kick it off?

Iguleder, dpup and a bit more
Username: scsijon
"From comments in topics and his blog http://www.iguleder.info/wordpress/ he seems to be having fun and working towards a minimalist dpup, something like a bare-bones but a bit more so, maybe towards something like how barry does it with quirky. Having a prebuilt basic system that I know is right at that point, and expanding it myself to what I want is a joy! There was also a comment somewhere on the bbs from him about prefering to leave the main-stream building to others and providing / working on things like kernals. He certainly has proved that he has the capabilities to do so. At least that's what I understood. ------------ Now on the other hand GCMartin's comments make me wonder if we should consider having a few of the "puppy-seniors" (not necessarily in age but experience) act as Theme Monitors, of the bits that puppy is, and to assist in tracking and idea fruition. One of the prime groups I believe, should consist of those that are the "coding experts" and take one of our long-term problems up at a time, calling in / releasing others as necessary, and brainstorm / workshop it until fixed or "written-out-of-the-equation". We do seem to leave a few between releases, not really a satisfactory action. any way that's my thoughts

pppoe in slacko
Username: wuwei
"Barry would you mind checking the slacko thread here http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=69798&start=375 It's about pppoe and a very strange behaviour in Slacko. rcrsn51 thinks you had fixed this, but I can't find any relative post on your pages here. Could you please answer in the slacko thread? Thanks and a good day to you wuwei

Thanks
Username: Iguleder1
"Hey, thank you, guys. I feel I can't maintain an official Puppy release on my own, but I do have the guts and the willingness to be a "core team member". Pemasu proved to be a great puplet maker, so he's the guy for an "official" dpup branch, I can work on the kernel, Woof fixes, package building framework stuff, etc' - I like to focus on the core. scsijon - I worked on my own distro called Calf Linux for some time, even reached a fourth alpha but decided to give up on it because I felt it could harm my involvement with Puppy, which is by far my favorite :) At the moment I want to pull back a 'lil bit and let others build on the base I'm working on - a barebones dpup that is a solid base. A good kernel and a minimalistic package selection that work on a 100% vanilla Woof, plus Window Maker as a desktop - that's my initial goal and Next Puppy (my current effort, a dpup puplet) is an effort to bring that to the table. To sum it up - if you need me for an official release, I'm here, I'll do my best, but I cannot be a project leader. I lead a very busy lifestyle and I'm not the right person for that. btw, Barry - I have a bunch of fixes waiting for mainline inclusion into Woof, they fix CUPS, fonts in Mozilla browsers and ntfs-3g under dpup.

PDFwriter save as...
Username: BarryK
"wuwei, I just looked at that thread, I don't recall ever solving it -- perhaps I did, I just don't remember.

Slacko, Dpup Squeeze, Lucid Puppy
Username: Raffy
"Great to see Micko taking on the reins of Slacko Puppy. Here's wishing him the best. Micko has been a lead dev since Lucid Puppy. But before we get absorbed by Slacko, let us give playdayz much compliment for coordinating the Lucid Puppy releases. It's been a great treat, playdayz! Pemasu has been building an application-rich Dpup "squeeze" and working closely with stu90 and Iguleder. He has called his latest build "Dpup Exprimo", while stu90 kept building a smaller "Squeeze D-Lite". Iguleder is leading the "squeeze"-ing with his "Next Puppy" and building alternative kernels. These are all fun developments, and my (original) eee 701 4G is virtually leaping with joy. :) Ooops, not to forget kirk with Fatdog64 520 (now at RC stage). FYI, I just bought a cheap eMachines laptop (with AMD E-350 dual core) so that I can share some 64-bit fun!

Redundant Storage
Username: Raffy
"Talking of development and need for online storage, please check on this "redundant storage grid" http://www.tahoe-lafs.org/ installation guide http://www.cryto.net/guides/tahoe-debian.html bash upload script http://www.cryto.net/projects/tahoe.html Please PM me if you want the access code. Thanks.

New "official" Puppy
Username: ttuuxxx
"Hi Barry, You mentioned maybe bringing out another Debian version, I think that would be great to have a "Official Dpup and Slacko versions" Micko has done a standup job with the slacko version :) great stuff guys ttuuxxx

Tags: puppy