Dead Small Linux

megamaced

megamaced

Geek Geek Geek!
I've just been browsing the Linux magazines for sale, and one of them has a cover CD of Dead Small Linux.

It appears to be everything I need for my low end laptop (P1 200MMX, 96MB RAM & 2.1GB HHD). 'DSL' only requires a 486, 16MB RAM and 50MB HHD space. Another benefit is it comes on a CD, as opposed to a DVD, because the laptop only has CD.

I just wanted to know whether DSL is any good, is it stable, easy to use etc etc.
 
DSL is actually Damn Small Linux, ala http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ ... I guess the real name was too racy for the magazine. :) To be honest I haven't used it in a very long time, and I don't even remember the experience. I could use a good lightweight live distro anyway, so I've downloaded it and I'm going to re-evaluate it. I'll let you know what I think if it'll be helpful to you.
 
Anti-Trend said:
DSL is actually Damn Small Linux, ala http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ ... I guess the real name was too racy for the magazine. :) To be honest I haven't used it in a very long time, and I don't even remember the experience. I could use a good lightweight live distro anyway, so I've downloaded it and I'm going to re-evaluate it. I'll let you know what I think if it'll be helpful to you.
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Oops, i mean't to write Damn Small....

I'd like to read your opinions of it. On paper, it's exactly what I am looking for.

I gather it uses Fluxbox as it's GUI? If I don't like it, I can change it can't I? From what I've read, Fluxbox doesn't have a taskbar or 'start menu'.
 
megamaced said:
I gather it uses Fluxbox as it's GUI? If I don't like it, I can change it can't I? From what I've read, Fluxbox doesn't have a taskbar or 'start menu'.
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Fluxbox is a GUI, yeah. It's extremely fast and lightweight, coded mostly in C+ and assembly. It does support a taskbar and system tray, multiple desktops, wallpapers, screensavers, all the typical goodies. It does not support desktop icons or a "start menu" button. However, you can right-click to get to the equivilent of a start menu, see screenshot. Note that in that screenshot I have a program running which displays my log files on my desktop, that is not a feature of Fluxbox so don't be put off by that.
 
Anti-Trend said:
I could use a good lightweight live distro anyway, so I've downloaded it and I'm going to re-evaluate it. I'll let you know what I think if it'll be helpful to you.
Click to expand...

So.... any good?
 
megamaced said:
So.... any good?
Click to expand...
It's very impressive -- booted in seconds and ran flawlessly. DSL uses a Fluxbox desktop by default but with rox wrapper, so it actually has desktop icons and all that. It's debian-based so it's capable of running all kinds of apps and everything is layed out to be intelligent and easy to use. An excellent lightweight live distro, and it runs so blazingly fast on my system that I don't doubt it would run well on a 486.

Tip: start DSL with the dma option for best performance, like this
Code: 
dsl dma
 
DSL would make an excellent rescue CD. It's exceptionally quick, and provides all the tools you need to recovery lost/damaged files.
However, I don't think I could use this distro on a day-to-day basis! It's not exactly user friendly, which is a must considering i am still being potty trained on Linux! To be honest, it looks god damn' ugly! I couldn't work out how to get my sound card to work, and the control panel is very daunting for a newbie :confused:

I've spent two whole hours this morning looking for a suitable distro for my laptop (when I should have been working :) ). I have now found a light weight distro that uses Xfce, only requires 32MB RAM, and looks relatively straight forward to use. Not only that, but the downloaded ISO file fits on one CD :)

The distro I have discovered is VectorLinux 5.1 (not the SOHO editio). It appears to have all the tools I need. Do you have any experience with this distro?
 
megamaced said:
The distro I have discovered is VectorLinux 5.1 (not the SOHO editio). It appears to have all the tools I need. Do you have any experience with this distro?
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Yes, Vector is a Slackware-based distro which usually uses either IceWM or Xfce, plus the addition of the rox wrapper to add support for desktop icons. It is pretty user friendly, although not as much as many other distros; definately moreso than DSL though. I've got some experience on it as I used it for labs on some old HP Vectras.
 
I've found an easy step by step guide that gives help installing VectorLinux. Looks like I will need to download some kind of partitioning program first, before I install Vector.
 
megamaced said:
I've found an easy step by step guide that gives help installing VectorLinux. Looks like I will need to download some kind of partitioning program first, before I install Vector.
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It's been a while, but I think it comes with fdisk right in the installer (GNU fdisk, not that horrid MS one included with DOS). That's all you need to make and format partitions.
 
I think I know this already, but just want to make sure!

All I need to do is download the ISO file, and then burn it to CD using a program like Nero 6? What I am not sure about is whether this will make the CD bootable or not? Do I need to specify I bootable image for Nero to use?
 
megamaced said:
I think I know this already, but just want to make sure!

All I need to do is download the ISO file, and then burn it to CD using a program like Nero 6? What I am not sure about is whether this will make the CD bootable or not? Do I need to specify I bootable image for Nero to use?
Click to expand...

Please ignore - I 'Yahooed it' :)

I've been reading an excellent review of VectorLinux available here:
http://madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=4966

Here's an extract of the review - it hits the nail on the head :D

As you might be aware, PC recycling is fast becoming a hot topic and for good reason. Take a look at the Windows using world for instance (since they make up a lions share of the whole picture here). They're using an OS that requires an ungodly amount of system resources to function properly... and I use the term “function properly” very loosely here. Windows is designed in such a way that its users are forced into a vicious cycle of software and hardware upgrades that are, in most cases, unnecessary and wasteful. The sad part is that 99% of the people who run it aren't really aware of that fact. They accept the whole upgrade cycle as “just the way it is”. Well, as we all know, this couldn't be farther from the truth. Although Microsoft would have you think differently. Well, it's pretty simple math. Microsoft is driven by greed, not by the need to provide a quality product. That's been evident for years now.
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I've had a Vector Linux cd for a while, but never fully installed it. E window manager must be excellent, I'll probably put Vector onto an old Athlon 900MHz, or CentOS and use it as a server instead.
 
Addis said:
I've had a Vector Linux cd for a while, but never fully installed it. E window manager must be excellent, I'll probably put Vector onto an old Athlon 900MHz, or CentOS and use it as a server instead.
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Enlightenment is OK, it definately has potential but it is not stable enough for full-time use (at least in my experiences). It is, after all, still in Alpha release status.

As for CentOS, it's a great OS and I really enjoy it on my servers. That being said, I am very comfortable with the ins and outs of setting up and operating a *nix server. If you are not yet, you should definately look into SME Server. It is built on CentOS, but it is unique in that you can do every major aspect of system administration and configuration from a clean and simple encrypted web interface. Like any Linux system, it is capable of funcitoning in any or all of the following capacities:
  • Sharing of a single Internet connection between multiple computers
  • A network firewall to protect against Internet intruders
  • A robust email server, which includes virus and spam filtering and webmail
  • File and print sharing
  • Web application server, including support for MySQL, Perl and PHP
  • Secure remote access
  • Supported languages: Deutsch, English, Español, Français and Italiano, with more on the way
  • Complete binary compatibility with the leading Linux server distribution
  • and much more

The thing that really sets it apart is that you can set all that up with a few clicks from the web GUI.
 
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