[NCLUG] Little Lunuxes anyone?

[David Braley]

Chad Perrin wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 18, 2006 at 03:33:54PM -0700, David Braley wrote:
>   
>> What I mean by this is: when DSL boots, it sees everything (hardware).
>> DSL configs my wireless, configs sound, etc, right out of the box. Most
>> of the newer larger distro's do the same thing. I think the ability of
>> DSL to behave this way is because it is (I think) based on Knoppix,
>> which is based on Debian. And in my opinion, Knoppix is one of the most
>> bad-ass live CD's around because of its hardware detecting ability.
>>     
>
> Knoppix suffers some distinct issues when installing to CD, however.  My
> understanding was that DSL is actually built entirely using standard
> Debian archives, but it sounds like that understanding may have been
> incorrect to judge by what you say here.

Like I said before, I am not completely sure about DSL being built from
Knoppix. I have a vague memory of reading about it somewhere.

>> So, what are the benefits? From the viewpoint of being someone who still
>> struggles with getting things to work, I find DSL easier to get up and
>> running. I'm just a big wimp!
>>     
>
> All else being equal, I'm all for things being easier.  It sounds like
> all else is not equal, however -- in exchange for worse software
> upgrade, installation, and removal stability, you get better performance
> for a lightweight system and possibly less underlying cruft.  At least,
> that's the impression I get from what you've said.
>
> That being the case, DSL sounds like a great option to have, but one
> that must be weighed based on your needs and preferences for a given
> install.
>   
I do not actually "use" the old laptop. I only did all of this to learn
something. I wanted to be able to hand it to someone and show them how
cute I was by making something you would normally find in a dumpster useful.

As a serious desktop OS, I think DSL is best used as a Live CD in
combination with some kind of removable storage (usb thumb drive, or??)
for user data/settings. There does not seem to be any kind of pure DSL
"update/security path" other than the releases that come out about every
6 months or so. Software is very limited, and if you enable apt and try
to install something pure Debian, well, you know that bad things can happen.

It is a very cool distribution though. I have thrown it at a lot of
different systems for fun, only to find it seems happy just about
anywhere. That says a lot about the people behind it.

Take care.

David