14 DAY TRIAL // Barry Kauler is back at the helm of the Puppy Linux project, and he just released version 4.3 of the popular lightweight Linux distribution. Puppy Linux 4.3 is a massive upgrade from the 4.2 series, with almost all the components updated or replaced. Also, the whole system through which this Linux distribution is being built has been replaced with a completely new one, called Woof. The switch imposed the creation of a new package management system, called Puppy Package Manager, which supports the use of packages from any distribution within Puppy.
"After I released Puppy 4.1.2, I "kind of" retired and WhoDo (Warren) took over coordinating 4.2.0 and 4.2.1. WhoDo did a superb job, but he then decided he had enough, so I have stepped back in to coordinate 4.3. There are various reasons why I have taken on this role again, one of them that I have developed a whole new system for building puppies, that I name Woof. This replaces the Unleashed build system. I also designed a new package management system, called the Puppy Package Manager, or just PPM, needed to cope with Woof's ability to build a Puppy from the packages from any distro (Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, Slackware, T2, etc.)." - said Barry Kauler in the official release announcement.
As expected, Puppy Linux 4.3 is powered by the 2.6.30.5 Linux Kernel, which is configured to support multiprocessor systems, EXT4 filesystems and is patched to work with Aufs2. Legacy dial-up modems are well supported, with drivers included for Agere, ESS, Lucent, Conexant, Smartlink, Pctel and Intel chipsets. More up-to-date methods of connecting to the Internet are also supported, including the use of 3G modems.
Many applications have been added or updated, like SQLiteManager, Hiawatha (a minimal web server used to configure CUPS, PPLOG and QUISP), the Aqualung music player, NicoEdit, Viewnior and the list could go on. A lot of distribution-specific utilities have been included in Puppy Linux 4.3, like an application that controls CPU scaling, a JWM theme maker, Psync for clock synchronization to on-line time servers, Pmirrorget and Pwsget to handle downloads and website mirroring, Xdelta GUI, Pictureviewer, EmbeddedBookmarks and PuppyBrowser. PuppyBrowser is a complete web browser based on the 'gtkmozembed' library in SeaMonkey.
There are many more changes that I won't list here, but if you want to check them out just download Puppy Linux 4.3 right now from Softpedia.