Nick Myra writes on OS.NewsForge.com about how his main desktop runs Damn Small Linux. DSL started as a pocket-sized CD distro but has evolved into something entirely cooler. As Gary (featured columnist here at Distro Jockey) would probably agree with, Damn Small Linux is as damn powerful as it is damn small.

It can be used to run on a tiny partition on an older computer and can compete with almost any other system for productivity. It can’t actually make the processor go any faster, but it can run programs that together require far less computing to do the same task as other, larger programs. At its base DSL has Fluxbox as a window manager which provides very low overhead for very nearly as much functionality as KDE or Gnome. DSL also comes with a control panel that lets you really mess with your system.

DSL’s control panel is one of its coolest features. It lets you easily start your Web, FTP, or SSH server, back up and restore your LiveCD settings and files, set up and configure your Ethernet, modem, and printer hardware, and more. Of course, you could do all this configuration from the command line, but the GUI makes it so easy. DSL has great support for wireless LAN cards too, including wlanconfig, ndiswrapper, and Prism2 support.

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.