[ILUG] Damn Small Linux

[Bryan O'Donoghue]

I followed a link on OSNews the other day in one of my few delirious
moments of non-frenzied work..., which pointed to a website, that sold
USB Keys, that allowed you to run a virtual Linux desktop.

However, before rushing right out and buying such a magic trinket, I
decided it might be a good idea (tm) to try it out first.

I went and downloaded

http://ftp.belnet.be/packages/damnsmalllinux/current/dsl-1.3-embedded.zip

unzipped.

I was surprised to find that dsl comes packaged with qemu for Linux (x86
the freeware version) and Windows, my thinking had been that to spur
sales of the USB keys, the whole qemu stage of running DSL would be a
roll-your-own job...

However after fixing a few trivial bugs in the startup script (lowercase
knoppix should have said KNOPPIX), I was astounded to find that Damn
Small Linux + qemu, booted first time, hassel free .

To add to my incredulity, I donned protective gloves and took the file
linked above, unzipped it on a Redmond box... clicked the link that
said... idiot-proof-windows-start.bat (dsl-windows.bat) and am currently
(I think... this all might be hallucination) staring at a fluxbox
desktop, running inside an emulator on x86..

I still don't think I can believe how easy/well it works... and... it's
not even Red Hat 7.0 !

If you haven't tried this little distribution up until now, could I
encourage you to do so now ?

One thing I haven't figured out in my <=60 seconds of actual DSL usage,
is how to exit out of the virtual desktop under Linux.

This package set is _so_ amazing, I'm thinking of parting with my
company's money to buy myself one of the USB sticks available on the DSL
website !

-- 
Bashir: The point is, if you lie all the time, no one is ever going to
	believe you.
Garak:	Are you sure that's the point?
Bashir:	What else could it be?
Garak:	That you shouldn't tell the same lie twice.

Topic, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in "Improbable Cause"