Damn Small Linux (DSL) Forums

Hello, I'm curious about something. Can you take and install DSL on a SD card of 16GBs and use it like a DSL install on a hard drive? I've tried to create it but I run into not being able to boot it and "files missing" Error 15 I believe.

I've looked online but I have found nothing so far and I figured I'd ask here. Thanks!

The problem to contend with here is whether the PC/s you want to use the SD card with use a BIOS that supports booting from SD cards. I've got no idea whether many or even any do.

With an uncooperative BIOS, you might be able to find a bootloader that could sit on a PC's HDD or other more normal booting medium, then offer a choice of whether to boot from the HDD or the SD card. Again most won't support SD card booting.

One option that is risky and convoluted enough to class as ridiculous is to install CoreBoot (http://www.coreboot.org/) (if your chipset were supported), then use its ability to load a Linux kernel from the BIOS ROM which could then have support for an SD card and load the rest of the OS from one. Of course you'd have to use the 2.4.31 kernel from DSL and probably re-design the booting process. Also, if it didn't work, the PC would be unbootable (unless it had a backup BIOS system).

So basically, look up whether the BIOS will do what you want, and if it doesn't, I'd say go and buy a USB memory stick (as long as that is supported by the BIOS).

No worries, it does support booting from an SD card. The only problem I keep running into is when I try to install it on the SD card. Hence why I asked the question. I tried to take and put Raspberian on the little laptop (PC EEE 600) but that had little luck as well. I read that DSL was meant to be a CD boot environment only to be used for short term. I'd like to install on the little laptop as it can't handle much. Windows CE sucks and I much rather have a powerful DSL installed instead. Thanks!

OK, the error is from GRUB, the program that loads DSL after the BIOS loads it. Is the error displayed after you select the DSL boot option in the GRUB menu on startup?

Assuming it is, check that on the SD card you have a file named "linux24" in the folder named "boot" located in the top directory of the card. i.e. "/boot/linux24".


Also, as you probably know, Raspbian is a Linux distro designed for the Raspberry Pi. The problem is that the Pi uses an ARM processor, these processors aren't compatible with PC x86 processors for which DSL is designed. DSL won't run on an ARM machine and (unless there is a PC version that I haven't seen) Raspbian won't run on a x86 machine. Looking up the EEE PC notebooks, I believe they have x86 processors, though if you know otherwise then DSL will never work.

Please forgive me for the time it has taken to get back here. Been busy as heck.

Of course I forgot about the Pi using an ARM processor. Thanks for that. As for the GRUB it is after I select the boot option for DSL. I found a way around it by burning the image to the SD now it acts like a liveCD and I just save the session to a pendrive. Thanks though!