neat article

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: neat article
started by: ptmmatssc

Posted by ptmmatssc on Mar. 04 2006,14:15

Was looking around news/blog sites and ran across this article . Just thought it might be interesting to read.

< http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/02/13/1854251 >

Damn Small Linux

Damn Small Linux (DSL) is a damn fine Linux distro. This was the first time I used DSL for any period of time, and I was impressed by what the DSL developers have managed to fit into a 50MB download.

You can run DSL as a live CD distro, or install it to the hard drive, USB media, or even run it inside Windows or Linux. See the DSL FAQ to find out which image you want to download.

After burning the CD, I whipped it into Igor's drive and took DSL for a spin. Even when it's running as a live CD, DSL's performance was really good on this tired old machine.

DSL includes SSL in the Dillo Web browser, so you can surf HTTPS sites using Dillo. (This isn't the default, SSL support is considered alpha in Dillo.) Sites that require JavaScript, such as Yahoo! Mail, may not work with Dillo, but I was able to check my bank balance online. DSL includes Firefox, though Firefox's performance on Igor was less than stellar.

Installing DSL to a hard drive or other media is easy. DSL includes scripts to install directly to a hard drive, but it isn't an installer in the sense that most Linux users are used to; instead, it's pretty much a one-shot deal. Even on an old machine, the install only takes a few minutes.

You can use APT with DSL, or you can use the MyDSL application to download apps ("extensions") for use with DSL. MyDSL is intuitive, and allows you to install new apps even when you're running DSL as a live CD. If you download new apps, you'll need to restart the window manager for them to show up in the application menus. DSL packs a lot into 50MB, but MyDSL provides a lot more.

If you're interested in this type of operating system, DSL has spawned a number of similar distros, though many seem to be inactive at this point.

DSL should be one of the first distros you consider for putting older hardware to work.