Downloading Damn Small Linux
This tutorial will put Damn Small Linux on the desktop of your Windows computer.
Step 1 Create a folder called DSLFolder on your Windows desktop. Close everything and then start the Internet. In the Google search box Type Damn Small Linux Download. Click the link of the top response and then click on any of the sites such as ftp://ftp.oss.cc.gatech.edu/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/
Step 2 Click on the current directory and then click on the file whose name ends in embedded.zip (at the time of this writing dsl-4.2.5-embedded.zip) and save it to your desktop. The file size is less than 50 Megabytes and it downloads relatively rapidly depending on the speed of your Internet connection.
Step 3 As you can guess from its name the file is zipped (condensed) and the next step is to unzip it to the Windows Desktop. The exact procedure depends on the unzip software that you use. If you have never unzipped a file before you should get someone to walk you through this procedure. Unzip the downloaded file to the DSLFolder that you created on the desktop at the start of this tutorial.
Damn Small Linux Download Tutorial Figure 1
Your Linux environment awaits you.
Step 5 Note that your Linux window is called QEMU. Get to know the keystroke combination Ctrl-Alt to navigate across your computer desktop. Microsoft Windows is still active. You could open a Windows document on the desktop and start taking notes on the experience.
Step 6 Close the Getting Started With DSL window in your Linux environment. It’s a fine document but is too detailed for now.
Step 7 Click on the letters DSL in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. Select XShells from the ensuing menu and then select Light. You are now ready to enter a Linux command as shown in Figure 2.
Damn Small Linux Download Tutorial Figure 2
Ready to enter a Linux command.
Step 8 Most of our interaction with Linux will be via this command interface – the “professional way.” We are almost finished with this first, all important tutorial, but I want you to experience something that is anything but intuitive to Windows users – the difference between lower case and upper case (capital) letters. We will work with the command pwd that will be explained in the next tutorial.
Step 9 To the right of the $ type in the command pwd followed by the Enter key. Linux responds by displaying /home/dsl telling you where you are in the Linux file system. Then type in the command PWD followed by the Enter key. Linux, Damn Small or any other version, has no idea what you have in mind. Don’t ever forget this little lesson. The difference is shown in Figure 3.
Damn Small Linux Download Tutorial Figure 3
Don't ever forget the difference between lower case and upper case letters.
Linux always remembers.
Step 10 Most of our tutorials end with suggestions for stretching the lessons learned. Here we let you rest on your laurels. But not for long.