Damn Small Linux Not So Small

An anonymous reader writes "According to DistroWatch, Damn Small Linux (DSL) is currently the most popular microLinux distribution. Linux.com (Also owned by VA) takes a look at why this might be the case, and how you can best take advantage of it. From the article: 'What began as a toy project to stuff the maximum software inside a 50MB ISO file has matured into a refined community project known for its speed and versatility. DSL includes the ultra-lightweight FluxBox window manager, two Web browsers, Slypheed email client and news reader, xpdf PDF viewer, XMMS with MPEG media file support for playing audio and video, BashBurn CD burner, XPaint image editing, VNCViewer and rdesktop to control Windows and Linux desktops remotely, and more. If they could do all this in 50 megs, imagine what they could do in more space. Last month the DSL developers released DSL-Not, a.k.a. DSL-N 0.1 RC1. It's 83.5MB of DSL coated with GTK sugar. Yummy!'"

Begun,

[giorgiofr]

the bloat war has.
(bloat war/bloatware? get it? get it?! ah I am teh funny :D)

Re:Begun,

[scenestar]

You are going to die alone.

No Firefox ?

[Anonymous Coward]

just give me Firefox, a net connection and leave the rest to extensions

missing the point?

[thelost]

"If they could do all this in 50 megs, imagine what they could do in more space."

stop calling it Damn Small Linux for one.

Re:No Firefox ?

[stjobe]

Nah, just give me emacs.

But then it wouldn't be Damn Small, now would it? ;)

Re:It's popular because..

[suffe]

Yeah, I hate trying to boot up windows on those pesky pentium 0.5 things. Bogs down the entire setup. And to think they were all the rage before the Pentium and Pentium Pro came out.

50 megs?

[AC-x]

Pfft, I remember playing with a bootable floppy [toastytech.com] containing QNX with a complete GUI, web browser, texteditor and full network support.

Ok, it had absolutely _nothing_ else but it was still damn cool.

Re:Bloatware

[Mathiasdm]

Ah, that's nothing!

In my days, we didn't have those fancy 'computer' thingies.

We only had good old Turing Machines!

Me and my 27 brothers would sit along an infinite line of paper for 27 hours a day, and we'd constantly move the pointer, change 1's into spaces and the other way around.
Then, we barely had time to go home, get a spanking from hour father, rape our oldest sister and run back to work, where we had to arrive the day before!

Ah yes, those Turing Machines. They don't make 'em like they used to!

Re:Not that big Linux

[Reverend528]

50 megs is a tad arbitrary. I think that 200~ish would be a better number,

Plus, with the extra 150 megs, they could ship EMACS.

We move from Damn Small Linux to

[bdwoolman]

Not Too Big Linux and from there to Won't Fit on a DVD Linux.

Re:No Firefox ?

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Who says you can't make monet from free software !"

Well.. I suppose the GIMP's good enough these days to create a monet, but you'd stil be far better off springing for Photoshop.

Re:How the times change

[slide-rule]

Moderation:

+1: Respected elder

-1: Up hill both ways...

Re:Not that big Linux

[geminidomino]

OpenOffice is now the king of slow startup and bloat.

Yeah, but at least OO.o has a text editor!

Re:PuppyLinux with 2.6?

[kobolt_115]

My Commodore 64 goes from power button to booted in 2 seconds, beat that!

Re:Not that big Linux

[OverflowingBitBucket]

Dude, "that penguin itch"? I think you may have a problem.

I can quit any time I want to. *clutches DSL business card CD and looks around nervously*

Reminds me of that MS advert

[Lord Graga]

I can just imagine Steve Ballmer going "With DAMN SMALL LINUX, you can get TWO WEBBROWSERS, a PDF READER, a MPEG PLAYER, a PAINT PROGRAM, a CD BURNING TOOL, and MUCH MUCH MORE!... in how much do you think? HOW MUCH? 500 MEGABYTES? A THOUSAND? NO! It's just 83 MEGABYTES! 83 MEGABYTES!"

Re:PuppyLinux with 2.6?

[Random Destruction]

My slide rule won't even shut off!