Running Linux under Windows with Damn Small Linux
Posted by creining | Filed under Linux/BSD
Damn Small Linux (DSL) is a 50MB linux distribution, BBC (Bootable Business Card) style. You can use it as a bootable distro from a business card CD or a 128MB USB pen drive. It can even be run off that 128MB USB pen drive under Windows. I downloaded dsl-embedded.zip and unzipped it on a Windows 2000 box. After unzipping the file to a folder called dsl-embedded I ran the dsl-windows.bat file contained within. DSL then loaded in the same way as it would from a CD. It was a little slow running DSL under Windows but overall quite usable. It includes all major applications one would need: editors, web browsers, SSH, games, email client, XMMS, and command line utilities. A complete list of applications is here. A similar BBC is LNX-BBC, which is considered the classic BBC. Some may remember that Linuxcare BBC was one of the memorable giveaways at the earliest LinuxWorld Expo shows. LNX-BBC is simply a fork of that project, after the original creators of Linuxcare BBC left the company. Browsing theLNX-BBC website I’m reminded how much more it is geared for hardcore rescue operations. It doesn’t start up with X, just command line. I like the packages included much better as well. There are great applications in the /net section. I think both of these distros serve a certain purpose and keeping in mind their small form factor they would both be a welcome addition to anyones toolkit.