What sort of users does TC have?

[ghar]

Hi,
I am a newbie here. I was wondering, what sort of users does TinyCore have? I mean, are they mostly advanced users who like experimenting with new features and are deeply into tinkering by themselves, or are there also users who merely use what is available?
I am asking this because in case a lot of tinkering is required at the end-user level merely to make things work, then TC is not for me. If, on the other hand, the stuff that is already available 'just works' (once it has been properly set up), then I am planning to settle for TC as my main Linux distro, because of its simplicity.
Please share your comments on the type of users in this community, and about the actual types of use for TC.
Thanks

ghar

[tinypoodle]

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,7495.0.html

[thane]

Tiny Core's main strength is its extreme customizability -- you don't have to download applications you don't need. That said, you will have to invest some time in learning which apps you DO need. I started using TC after being on Windows for several years, and rather belatedly realizing that 90% of my personal computing was web surfing, with some e-mail etc., so why was I on a $1500 box loaded with apps that I never used? When I tried TC I thought I could get by with just a web browser (e.g. Chrome or Firefox). Turned out I also needed Flash (e.g. for viewing YouTube), sound (OSS or Alsa), a PDF document viewer (I like to read really old archived books sometimes), and a few others. If you're coming from a (say) Windows environment and haven't had to install apps from scratch, it may not be immediately apparent what does what.

Hopefully once you get the above sorted out, you won't have to do much tinkering if you're on fairly modern hardware. Unfortunately I started with an old PC I happened to have sitting around, and although most things worked there were a couple of quirks that took me a while to figure out.

If you need something out of the box that generally works right away, may I suggest you look at Puppy Linux, which comes in various versions that offer different combinations of applications. I tried a couple of them before I came to TC. It wasn't really what I wanted so I moved on, but don't recall having any major problems with it.

[ghar]

If you need something out of the box that generally works right away, may I suggest you look at Puppy Linux

I am perfectly fine with TC's modular, install-as-you-need approach. Only, I would like to be sure that TC provides stability. That is, once I have installed something, configured it and it works, can I be certain that it will always work? That's what I am looking for.
On Windows, I found this stability in self-contained portable programs. From what I understand, TC has them too. This is what attracted me to TC in the first place.

[thane]

I suggested Puppy Linux only because some people have come here expecting TC to be that sort of system, and are disappointed when they find out it isn't. Since you understand what TC offers and are comfortable with installing and configuring apps, I think you'll find that TC is very stable and reliable.

[curaga]

A static TC installation will keep working indefinitely, barring hardware failure. The methods used for a pristine boot help you avoid any corruption.

That said, a dynamic system is at risk, we're humans still Anything broken by an update is usually fixed quickly.