Damn Small Linux (also known as DSL) is a Linux distribution originally conceived as an operating system to run on lower specification systems, including computers which would otherwise come out of use. The distribution contrasts to most other GNU/Linux distributions by ranking hardware requirements of programs above other considerations.

According to the distrowatch site (which measures comparative popularity of GNU/Linux distributions based on page views) as of Nov 06 DSL ranks 8th. This provides evidence of strong enthusiasm for operating systems capable of running on lower-end hardware.

Due to the small size of the complete distribution, it will run on smaller storage devices than most other OSes, including bootable business card, 64Mb USB Flash Drive, CompactFlash card (through IDE connector) and ZIP drive.

DSL is a very versatile 50MB mini desktop oriented Linux distribution.

Damn Small is small enough and smart enough to do the following things:

• Boot from a business card CD as a live linux distribution (LiveCD)
• Boot from a USB pen drive
• Boot from within a host operating system (that's right, it can run *inside* Windows)
• Run very nicely from an IDE Compact Flash drive via a method we call “frugal install”
• Transform into a Debian OS with a traditional hard drive install
• Run light enough to power a 486DX with 16MB of Ram
• Run fully in RAM with as little as 128MB (you will be amazed at how fast your computer can be!)
• Modularly grow — DSL is highly extendable without the need to customize

[sources:'wikipedia'-'damnsmalllinux.org']