Welcome, woof, woof!

As this is the first time that you have started Puppy, he is running totally in R.A.M. (random access memory)!

R.A.M. space A read-out in the taskbar (bottom-right corner of the screen) shows how much working space is left in R.A.M. If it is less than 5MB, space is critical so do not run big programs like SeaMonkey. Instead, shut down Puppy and you will be asked to create a permanent storage file which can result in you having more space.

Internet connection
Click once on the connect icon at the left of the screen. This results in a window opening where you are given four methods in which to connect to the Internet. Read each of them carefully and click on your preferred one. Once you have set up the Internet connection you may click on the connect icon again to set up the firewall.
'connect' icon

I need help! Lots of help and assistance is available via 2 principal ways:

1. click the help icon, either on the menu or on the desktop, to open the Puppy Help Page. From that page you may also access the Release Notes for this version of Puppy Linux - well worth checking out! When you get online, the web browser home page has many hyperlinks to provide you with the information you may need.
2. click the chat icon on the desktop for online help
Saving a session When you first shut down you will be asked where you want to save your personal data and settings to. This can be to any FAT/FAT32, NTFS, or EXT2/3 partition, either on a hard disc drive or USB flash drive.* In addition, your personal data and settings can be saved to the same multi-session CD/DVD optical disc that you may have booted Puppy Linux from. For an old computer with little R.A.M., we recommend re-booting now so as to create more working space.


* A partition is designated by a drive letter in DOS/Windows, such as A:, B:, C:, D:, etc. But Linux uses a more rigorous naming convention, such as /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, etc. If you are unfamiliar with these different types of partitions or naming conventions, do not worry, as Puppy will automatically detect and offer you a choice of suitable partitions in which to save your session. Puppy will only create a single file in your chosen partition and this will not affect your current installation of Windows or other operating system. But of course we have to make a full disclaimer of any responsibility should something go wrong. Next time you boot Puppy Linux from CD/DVD you will get automatic access to your personal storage file. So there is really no need to install Puppy onto the hard drive, and you can just keep booting Puppy from CD/DVD indefinitely.

With best wishes,
Puppy Linux "Deep Thought" Team