Other Help Topics :: What am I suppose to download?

Quote (ke4nt1 @ May 04 2004,08:05)

Here is the link to the latest version....enjoy!
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub....6.3.iso

Don't forget to check the MD5sum of your download against this file
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub....md5.txt

You can find WinMD5 for windows at
http://www.blisstonia.com/shareware/WinMD5/

or simply run "md5sum damnsmall-0.6.3.iso" from most linux command prompts

73
ke4nt

What is MD5sum?

I opened this file and i can only see a see sequence of numbers and then the name of the latest DSL iso file!

"In essence, MD5 is a way to verify data integrity, and is much more reliable than checksum and many other commonly used methods."
from Unoffical MD5 homepage

Basically, that relatively tiny number is a unique "description" of a file, (in this case the DSL iso) so a program that understands the MD5 code can make sure that every single byte is as it should be. (the file has not been corrupted during the download)

E.g., you don't want to waste a CD by burning a corrupt ISO on to it, so you use the MD5 code to check.

Thanks a lot sjmelia for the info.

original here.