"Puppy uses Joe's Window Manager (JWM). More traditional Linux
distros use a less compact desktop interface such as GNOME or KDE
Latest News about KDE. By comparison, JWM is much simpler with
fewer user options. It is configured with a clock, sound, a battery
level indicator for laptops, a memory indicator and a CPU
utilization graph.
"Unless it is installed on a hard drive, the Puppy Linux OS runs
piggyback on the host computer. This gives it easy access to user
files from other platforms or other inserted USB drives. In
addition, since the operating files are copied onto the USB drive
and into memory at each bootup, you can remove the boot CD and get
full functionality out of the CD/DVD drive for other purposes, such
as playing music files, viewing movies or burning files."