Recently, I began hunting for linux distros, hoping to find, not a LiveCD, but something that was capable of running off a USB pen drive. And then I found this particular distro, a download under 50MB in total for those of you still using dial-up :)
The best thing about this linux distro is that you can either boot it up to view a complete linux environment (as in a LiveCD) or you can run it directly within Windows (or even Linux for that matter!)
This is great for running at my college since the computers there can be unbelievably slow! Now I can simply plug in my USB pen drive and load up a complete operating system, on any computer (even on older machines!).
Here's a breakdown of what I did to make myself a pen drive capable of running Damn Small Linux, and I'm going to keep it really simple:
1. Downloading the file
There are several mirrors available on this site. Choose one of the mirrors from the list and I'll assume you'll be wanting the current version. Now look for a zip file - it'll be called something like 'dsl-embedded.zip'.
N.B. Make sure you download the embedded version!
Wait for the download to finish. You won't be waiting for very long if you're on broadband; mine finished in under 6 minutes.
2. Extracting the files
The files can simply be extracted using Windows Explorer or using a program like Winzip. Firstly I made a folder called 'Damn Small Linux' on my USB pen drive and then extracted the files into here.
3. Run DSL!
Inside the 'Damn Small Linux' file, you simply need to run the file 'dsl-base'. That's it!
N.B. Before you do this, it would be a good idea to check out the readme file for more detailed instructions.
Yes, DSL does look a little boring, but you can change themes by right-clicking the desktop, selecting Desktop and then Styles.
The main thing I love about DSL is that its incredibly fast even on old machines - it's extremely light on resources. Have fun!
