Fatdog64 64-bit GNU/Linux Operating System
Fatdog64 is an all 64-bit version of GNU/Linux built from source
packages for Intel/AMD systems. Despite its 'fat' name (and a
'fat' dog icon), Fatdog64 is a small, fast, yet versatile
operating system targeted for the desktop home users.
Run it in
LiveCD mode,
LiveUSB mode, install it
'frugally' to
your harddisk or SSD, or run from and
save
changes to a multi-session DVD. Use it in '
throwaway mode'
(no persistent data is kept - all things are wiped out after you
reboot), or
persist your personal settings and
configurations across reboots using savefile or save directory.
Fatdog64 installation requires
no dedicated partition.
Fatdog64 will happily use existing partitions of other operations
systems to store its system files and savefiles - it can even use
existing NTFS partitions.
What's the obsession with 'Fat'? Why the name 'Fat' dog? Fatdog64
was originally derived from
Puppy
Linux, yet another fast, small and versatile Linux operating
system for 32-bit Intel/AMD systems. Fatdog Linux (the precursor
to Fatdog64) started as an "extended" or "fatter" derivative of
Puppy Linux, including extras such as the complete Xorg, inclusion
of large packages such as Firefox, Pidgin, Gimp, Kino, etc that
made it larger (in terms of size) than Puppy Linux. Over the time,
Fatdog migrated to support 64-bit platform (hence Fatdog64 name)
and grew became an independent distribution of its own - while
striving to keep the original spirit of Puppy Linux of being
small, fast, and versatile. For a fuller history
click
here.
Fatdog64 700 series - the latest iteration of Fatdog64 - is
hand-built based on recipes from
Linux From Scratch,
version 7.5 (the latest when the Fatdog64 700 alpha1, the first
public release of Fatdog64 700, was released).
Additional Software
Additional software for Fatdog64 comes in two forms: regular
software packages that needs to be installed to your system, and
bundled prepared 'SFS' packages that you can load/unload on
demand.
Regular packages
Starting from version 700, Fatdog64 regular software packages are
packaged in Slackware-style tarballs, in fact, we use Slackware
package management system (pkgtools) for handling local packages.
Fatdog64 uses Gslapt from www.jaos.org as the user-friendly GUI
front-end for easy access to package repository: viewing,
downloading, and and installing packages (Gslapt replaced
custom-brewed Fatdog Package Manager (FPM) and Puppy Package
Manager (PPM) used in earlier versions of Fatdog64).
You can of course download packages directly from
here
(ibiblio), or one of ibiblio's many mirrors.
Note: Do not use Puppy pet packages in Fatdog64, Puppy's 32bit
packages won't work.
SFS Packages
An 'SFS' package is a collection of packages, pre-installed in a
'SquashFS compressed filesystem' which will be 'merged' with your
filesystem when you use it. SFS packages are usually
commonly provided for a collection of software that are tightly
integrated to each other; or packages which are very large (SFS
helps because the packages in it are compressed. With regular
packages, they get expanded during installation). There are common
packages that are
always provided in SFS format, for
example the fd64-devx_xxx.sfs package is the "development" package
and contain GCC compiler, perl, python, headers, version control
systems (git, svn, etc) - everything you need to compile stuff.
Fatdog64 kernel sources are provided in kernel-source-x.y.z.sfs
(where x.y.z denotes the kernel version) - so you can build your
own custom kernel (and kernel modules) too if you need to.
To use SFS packages, download it from
here (ibiblio)
(or its mirrors) and put it in /mnt/home, then launch
System
SFS Loader (from
Fatdog64 Control Panel, the
System
tab). From there, choose the SFS you want to load. The loading can
be done for just one time, or permanently at each boot time. Or
you can use
SFS Manager (also from Fatdog64 Control Panel)
to download and activate the SFS at the same time.
Source packages used to build Fatdog64 can be found
here.
Internet
Wired internet is automatically configured using dhcp.
Wireless internet can be configured by by clicking the

icon.
If you need to use static IP, use the Network Wizard in the
Control Panel (and remember to disable WPA GUI)
Useful Links
Puppy Linux
Discussion Forum.
This is the main forum for Puppy Linux. Fatdog was initially
derived from Puppy Linux and thus were part of the Puppy Linux
family and community. Fatdog64 posts are usually found in the
Puppy Projects sub-forum.
Frequently Asked
Questions
Info on
the latest Fatdog64 release.
Contributors
While Fatdog64 is primarily maintained and developed by "kirk" and
"jamesbond", there are many people who have contributed packages,
ideas, applications, scripts, bug testing, artworks and many other
things over the years. The following list is just a small,
non-exhaustive subset of the contributors, in no particular order:
01micko, rcrsn51, billtoo, WillM, zigbert, L18L, SFR, and
many others.