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Hints and Tips for LighthousePup

If you already have Puppy please reboot in LiveCD or 'clean boot' from the Puppy CD-Rom by typing at the boot menu 'puppy pfix=ram' and make a back up copy of your pup_save file before booting LighthousePup.

 Acronyms
lhp or LHP == LighthousePup PuppyLinux derivative    IceWM == Ice Window Manager       JWM == Joe's Window Manager
KDE == 'K' Desktop Environment                                   XMMS == Cross Platform Multimedia Player
Installation
No installation is required, just enable booting from CD-Rom in your bios/setup menu. Reboot with the Lighthouse CD-Rom disc in your drive, typing 'ram' or 'lhp pfix=ram' or 'puppy pfix=ram'. This is the Live-CD or 'clean boot' mode.

At reboot/shutdown you'll be prompted to save your personal files and settings in a pup_save.2fs file. If you choose to let puppy save your files and settings, the boot (startup) time can be reduced.

After rebooting into your newly saved Puppy environment, click on the Pmount Drives icon on the desktop or KDE Quicklauncher, and the 'Mount' button for your CD/DVD drive. A window should open showing the files below. Then click on the File System icon on the desktop, click on 'mnt' and 'home'. Drag and drop the following files from the Lighthouse CD-Rom to this /mnt/home folder (where the pup_save.2fs file is located.) When prompted to copy or move the files, select copy. This is the recommended Frugal Install: Note: A traditional full hard disk install is usually not necessary. It can make backups, upgrades and customizing more difficult or impossible.
Switch to Previous System, e.g. other Linux, MS Windows®, etc.
There is a command line option at the boot menu to boot from the first hard drive by typing 'h' or 'lb0'. Or just remove the LIghthouse CD-Rom from its drive and reboot.

Troubleshooting

If Lighthouse doesn't respond, first try Ctrl+Alt+Backspace. This will restart or shut down X Windows to the command prompt. From the text mode prompt, type 'xwin' to return to Lighthouse. If you've changed window managers try 'xwin startkde' or 'xwin starticewm' or 'xwin jwm'. On the outside chance that doesn't work try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to reboot, or just hit the power, wait about 8 seconds and hit the power again.

You can verify the core Lighthouse base files on the CD-ROM or Frugal Install drive by clicking on 'verify-md5-lhp'. This checks the md5sum on the first 4 files listed above. If this returns an error, restore the file(s) from your original  ISO or CD-Rom (including verify-md5-lhp) and re-run 'verify-md5-lhp'. If it still gives an error, re-download the ISO from www.lhpup.org/download. What is MD5?

Comments and questions are welcome at Puppy Derivatives Forum. Look for the thread labeled LighthousePup NNN, where NNN is the version you are using or interested in.

Uninstallation/Clean Upgrade

Reboot in LiveCD or 'clean boot' from your Lighthouse CD-Rom, typing at the boot menu 'ram'. Click on Pmount Drives and mount the drive where your pup_save.2fs is located. Delete or move to another folder all of the frugal install files listed above and rename 'pup_save.2fs' to pup_save.2fs.save or similar. Remove the CD-Rom from its drive and reboot. If desired, insert a new Lighthouse CD and continue with a frugal install as described above.
Desktop Icons and User Interface
Internet/Network Connections* -- Right-click on the 'Browse' desktop icon and choose 'Connect to the Internet/Network'. Choose 'Connection Wizard' and 'Apply'. You will then see two buttons, to choose the Dialup or Network Wizards -- click the latter if you have a wired or wireless broadband Internet connection. Once you are connected, you can click on the dark blue network graph located on right side of taskbar in IceWM. From here you can see current network status & IP Address, Enable or Disable connections or open the Connection Wizard. (*v3.xx in KDE just click on 'Connect to Internet' icon in Quicklauncher on taskbar.)

KDE Autoraise and focus settings--see Control Center | Desktop | Window Behavior

(Icewm only) Autoraise windows after delay and sloppy pointer focus are enabled by default. Let the mouse pointer do some of the clicking for you and give your index finger a rest! The delay keeps in-between-windows from raising when you're just gliding over them. Try to keep the pointer inside the window you're working in, so that another window won't cover it up. If that happens, left-click on the desktop, then click on the window you were in. Occasionally a window won't autoraise because IceWM has focused another window. Just zip the mouse away from the window you want raised and right back to it. If you prefer no autoraise and click-to-focus, then:
(Taskbar 'Rocket Icon') QuickLaunch | Advanced Settings | IceWM Settings | Edit Preferences
Put a '#' before AutoRaise=1 like this: #AutoRaise=1.
Save the file and you'll probably also want Start | Settings | Focus | Click to focus.

To change startup and shutdown sounds, open /usr/share/audio folder.
    Change login.wav symlink to point at desired login sound.
    Change logout.wav symlink to point at desired logout sound.

Xonclock autoruns and displays analog clock with day and date at upper right corner of screen. (v2.15 only)
    Double click Xonclock to restore alpha blending (eliminate surrounding artifacts.)
    Right-click twice to stop.
Many settings and custom skins possible. See QuickLaunch | Advanced Settings | Edit Desk Clock Setup. Click on taskbar date to start and stop, also displays minixcal calendar.

Autostart Items (v2.15)*
(Taskbar 'Rocket Icon') QuickLaunch | Advanced Settings | Open Autostart Folder. Move items to and from 'DisabledItems' folder to disable or enable autostart.
QuickLaunch | Advanced Settings | Edit X Windows Init Script
QuickLaunch | Advanced Settings | IceWM Settings | Edit Startup Script

*v3.xx KDE Autostart Items in /root/.kde/Autostart (Click the blue folder icon 'File System' | Autostart.)
  X Windows Init Script /root/.xinitrc (File | Recent Files in Geany Text Editor.)
XMMS
XMMS will autostart and play with IceWM if you move 'xmms-p' to '/root/autostart' folder from the 'DisabledItems' folder inside it (/root/.kde/Autostart for KDE.)
Move, minimize or maximize or resize the Blursk visualization window as desired. Closing this window will disable Blursk.
    To re-enable Blursk, right-click on XMMS | Options | Preferences | Visualizations tab | Blursk 1.3 | Enable.
    Close XMMS to save your changes.
Also see QuickLaunch | Advanced Settings | Open Autostart Folder and right-click on XMMS-p and Open As Text.

IceWM Keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys)--for KDE see Control Center | Regional & Accessibility

Release notes for LighthousePup version 215

www.lhpup.org

www.puppylinux.org