During the time when so many Linux distributions throw everything and the kitchen sink into a DVD, it’s nice to use a product like Damn Small Linux where the focus is on keeping the system compact. Do you need 6 text editors and 11 e-mail clients? Most people really only have one favorite app for a particular task anyway. So how does Damn Small Linux measure up? Read on to find out.

Background
Damn Small Linux (DSL) is based on KNOPPIX, so anyone who has used KNOPPIX or Debian in the past will feel right at home. The entire system is around 50MB so it will fit on small, business-card CD-R’s and cheap USB memory sticks. DSL is a live CD, meaning it will run completely from a CD without having to install it to your hard drive. This gives you several good scenarios: Let’s say that you need a “clean” environment to rescue your friend’s virus and spyware infected Windows machines, or you don’t have the luxury of carrying around your own laptop but rely on using other people’s desktops. Simply boot from a CD-R of Damn Small Linux and you’ve got an entire, fully functional Linux desktop at your fingertips. When you’re done, reboot the system and your friend gets their Windows system back (although they may not want it back).

Under the hood, DSL features the 2.4.26 kernel compiled with SMP support. The system had no trouble recognizing the hardware on our test laptop and booted to the desktop in around 30 seconds. DSL is committed to remaining useable on older hardware. In fact the minimum system requirements for this distro are just a 486DX with 16MB of Ram.

From the DSL website:
“DSL was originally developed as an experiment to see how many usable desktop applications can fit inside a 50MB live CD. It was at first just a personal tool/toy. But over time Damn Small Linux grew into a community project with hundreds of development hours put into refinements including a fully automated remote and local application installation system and a very versatile backup and restore system which may be used with any writable media including a hard drive, a floppy drive, or a USB device.”

The default Window Manager is fluxbox which is very light and responsive. For users who are used to Beryl, it will look dated. However, the default theme is colorful and isn’t distractingly old. The desktop icons were chosen very well chosen and even though you may not have heard of “Siag”, you can see that it’s a spreadsheet program. In fact, I didn’t have any problems at all using any of the alternate, lightweight programs included with Damn Small Linux 3.2.

DSL happens to be my favorite compact OS. ~LC

Source: original post by rmorgan @ Open Addict