| Puppy (at least 2.01 SM) has one major advantage over other distros incl. DSL when it comes to older hardware: it doesn't try to detect the hardware, but rather burdens the user to supply the details, then allows you the save the setting back to the CD when you get it all working.
Why is this an advantage? How many times have you tried to load a live CD on a computer just to have it lock up in the hardware detection phase? I've had that happen over a dozen times, some computers just will not set up correctly when configuring automatically. I have always been able to run puppy with full hardware support (after manual configuration) on machines where every other live desktop linux distro has failed to boot (even in failsafe).
Sure there are some "recovery" distros that always assume vesa video, no sound, and maybe basic networking support, but those are not what I call desktop distros and not what I'm referencing. Though not really the easiest to use, Puppy has always been reliable when and where I needed it to be. |