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Thanks for the testing James, I appreciate it.  I emailed Ladislav and he was kind enough to change DSL's status.  I'll investigate the error in the forums, it could be Dillo or this sub-forum settings.

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Added:
Looks like that error message was a result of how SMF works.  It actually has that error in the html and then relies on rendering to block it out.  I did a quick hack to keep it from showing.

Here's the first Release Candidate for DSL 4.11

The changes in this release are a step toward making DSL a friendly alternative for older hardware.  I've fixed some bugs, updated some applications, and replaced others.

Applications:
Updated JWM to v2.1.0 (now supports rounding)
Updated Dillo to 3.0.2 (much improves CSS support)
Added xChat 1.8.9 (the last version that supported gtk1.2)
Added sic 1.1 IRC client
Added XCalc-color

Removed Applications:

flminicalc (http://buskersdiary.blogspot.com/2009/02/vie-de-merde.html)
gphone (crashes)
naim/nicq/nirc (naim & nicq not updated to new protocol)

Fixed:
wallpaper.lua so that it works with color selection.
getman
updated links that have changed (mydsl, forums, etc.)


Modified Desktop Functionality:

It is now possible to switch between JWM & Fluxbox without shutting down X; I had to modify and add a few scripts to accomplish this.
Added menu items to switch between DFM & xtdesk icon engines or use none at all.
Added JWM menu to display or not display icons in menu.
Added menu items for backgrounds and theme fetch & display for both JWM and Fluxbox so that one does not need to launch and navigate DFM to select.
Added option to load the default background to native themes while allowing wallpaper.lua to override.
Coordinated default JWM & Fluxbox themes; they have the same color scheme and mood.
Used "orangetheme.thm" by Lucky13Linux for JWM, as well as modded the taskbar, menu and window decor so that they all take up less space.

Thank you to GPedde (http://gpedde.deviantart.com/) for letting DSL use Maintenance (http://gpedde.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2qdfvr).  I think it fits quite well with how I see DSL working on vintage hardware.

Please test away!  The kernel and hardware detection will be the exact same as 4.4.10, and obviously this release will not work with the latest hardware technology, but that isn't my intention here.  I see this version of DSL (what will probably be called "classic" eventually) becoming dedicated to bringing a usable and friendly desktop in the smallest package possible.  "Classic" DSL will remain ultra-portable, can be downloaded and run virtually quickly, and most importantly, will run on hardware that the rest of the world is leaving behind.

md5sum:  ca1b7a3199d6f143818aab1e73478cac  dsl-4.11.rc1.iso
Download: http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/release_candidate/dsl-4.11.rc1.iso

Hey davec60, DSL is not equipped to handle USB 3g at this point.  You may  want to try the latest puppy?

Hi Jerry,
The difference is probably the use of Xvesa vs. Xorg.  Xvesa is small and will work on a lot of hardware, but it does so be being a generalist and not always a good fit for all hardware.   You could try the extension system on the distro of your choice and upgrade to Xorg.

The pendrive and the CD are both compress.  You would have to uncompress the KNOPPIX file, make your mods, and then re-compress.  Probably your best bet is to use the mydsl system to grab the applications you want.  But I have to say that its going to be a chore to get a new version of FF to run on DSL at this point.  All the libs in the repository are quite old, even the GTK2 stuff. 

I've successfully compiled the latest Dillo in DSL, and it runs nicely.  But to get a newer build of a more full-featured browser in the system will take a lot of lib updates.   I've actually been hacking a webkit based browser that I'd like to get into DSL eventually.

Thanks guy!  I'm getting close to coming out with an rc.  I've been fixing bugs, updating some apps, and replacing a few that didn't work so well. 

I am hoping to increase the user-friendliness of DSL.  One thing I've been working on is better integration between JWM and Fluxbox, you'll be able to switch back and forth between the window managers without having to kill and relaunch X.  I've also added some options for customizing the look and feel of JWM.  There's going to be a menu option to have the taskbar auto-hide, and one to remove the icons from the JWM menu.  You will also be able to choose between DFM, xtdesk or no desktop icons via the menu.  The idea behind these changes is to let people quickly get the layout they want without having to mess with the config files.

You could mount a floppy a few different ways.  If you are using JWM + the DFM icons you could right click on any icon and navigate to the mount menu then click on \mnt\auto\floppy.  You could also use he file manager to navigate to the same directory and mount it by right clicking and then "Mount".  There is also the mount app in Fluxbox, and the mount tab at the bottom of JWM.

jre_1.5 is available as an extention, but you will be hard pressed to get anything newer to run on the current release of DSL.  Its the same situation with the browser, anything past FF2.0 requires GTK2.  I am currently working on a release of the classic DSL with some user enhancements and some updateed software, but it will still be <50MB and will be dependant on much of the old (small) libs.  I'll be coming out with a testing iso soon.

Hi Davec60, it has been a long time since I've used a modem with DSL.   I don;t have access to a computer with a modem at the moment.  I've noticed that the pppconfig crashes when being used after a HD install.  You may want to see if it works from the live CD. 

Also, please try this version of pppconfig.  It seems to run ok and put the settings where they are suppose to go, but I am not able to test it right now with an actual dail out.

Try booting with "nousb" and see if it boots, if not, try "failsafe".

The wiki documentation on cheat codes may be helpful.
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/cheat_codes.html

CSS is much improved!

After a long hiatus I am bring this project back to life.  The first step was to bring this site back to working order.  We now have a functioning forum (this).  The old forum is now static HTML and it available here (http://damnsmalllinux.org/static/). 

Next I'll be doing a release of DSL to fix some bugs and time-bugs and get the distro in proper working order.  For now I do not see the scope of the project changing much -- the goal will be the same, pack as much utility and applications into 50 MB as possible.