The New DSL 2024 has been reborn as a compact Linux distribution tailored for low-spec x86 computers. It packs a lot of applications into a small package. All the applications are chosen for their functionality, small size, and low dependencies. DSL 2024 also has many text-based applications that make it handy to use in a term window or TTY.
DSL 2024 currently only ships with two window managers: Fluxbox and JWM. Both are lightweight, fairly intuitive, and easy to use.
DSL has four X-based web browsers:- Firefox-esr (Extended Support Release, fully HTML5 compatible)
- NetSurf GTK (quick, easy on RAM, good HTML4 and CSS support)
- Dillo (super-light GUI browser)
- Links2 (text and light GUI browser)
For office applications, DSL has:- AbiWord word processor
- Gnumeric spreadsheets
- Sylpheed email client
- Zathura PDF viewer
For multimedia applications:- MPV (video and audio)
- XMMS (a lightweight audio player)
Other applications:- mtPaint (graphics editing)
- gFTP (FTP, SFTP, and SCP)
- Leafpad (quick editing)
- zzzFM (file manager lifted straight out of antiX)
There are three GUI-based games picked because they are fun and relatively light.
DSL 2024 is also loaded up with a whole bunch of handy term-based applications:
- Ranger file manager
- VisiData a powerful CSV and spreadsheet tool
- FZF fuzzy finder
- Tmux terminal multiplexer
- Mutt email client
- Cmus music player
- CDW CD burner
- Htop, an interactive process viewer
- SurfRaw (with wrapper) to search from the term
- Weather App
- MPV video/audio player with wrapper
- Vim and Nano for editing
- Five term-based games
- Two term-compatible web browsers: W3M and Links2
...and much more
Why make a new DSL after all these years?Creating the original DSL, a versatile 50MB distribution, was a lot of fun and one of the things I am most proud of as a personal accomplishment. However, as a concept, it was in the right place at the right time, and the computer industry has changed a lot since then. While it would be possible to make a bootable Xwindows 50MB distribution today, it would be missing many drivers and have only a handful of very rudimentary applications. People would find such a distribution a fun toy or something to build upon, but it would not be usable for the average computer user out of the gate.
Meanwhile, in 2024, nearly everyone has abandoned the sub-700MB size limit to run on computers old enough to not have a DVD and cannot boot off of a USB drive. This is completely understandable because applications, the kernel, and drivers have all mushroomed in their space requirements. Hats off to Puppy Linux for staying one of the few that still offer a full desktop environment in a small size.
Visit the Damn Small Linux website here:
https://www.damnsmalllinux.org/Support the Damn Small Linux Developers here:
https://www.damnsmalllinux.org/support.html