Carry Linux in your pocket
As a follow-up to the post about the current problems with Linux, it’d be negligent of me not to plug my very favorite Linux distribution. I hardly ever use it, but I have the greatest respect for it.
Damn Small Linux (DSL) is a complete version of Linux with many useful utilities that comes to a grand total of 50 Megabytes. It’s small enough to fit on a credit card-sized cd. As I type this there is a Damn Small Linux cd in my wallet. I can go to any computer anywhere, pull it out, restart the computer and have full control.
Damn Small Linux is a ‘live CD’ (see the Linux Live CDs post) which means that I don’t have to go through the installation process - it just runs. It’s not the full and weighty kind of Linux that I’m used to but it runs a window manager, networking stuff, a browser, an email client, various other utilities, and because each one is designed to take up only a little space they run very quickly.
Even if you have no use for it now, I highly recommend buying a copy for $5.50 (you could download it but you’d have to buy a special credit card-size blank cd) of Damn Small Linux and carrying it with you. The power to take over any computer you get near is good. The fact that you carry Linux in your wallet is great.
