Best of Small Distros
The small distro offers advantages you won't find in the bloated mainstream Linux variants. Small distros are useful tools for testing and troubleshooting, and a new generation of mini Linux is aimed squarely at the desktop user. You can fit a whole small distro on a single CD or USB stick, along with word processing documents and other files you'll need for a completely portable environment. Small distros are also useful for keeping old hardware in business. Some of the distros on this DVD are as small as 50 MB, and they run with much less RAM than a bigtime Linux and Windows system.
This month's DVD provides a collection of 8 bootable live distros. Just plug in the DVD, boot your system, and choose from the convenient menu. Also include are three additional bonus distros stored as ISO images.
What's Inside
On this month's DVD, you'll find the following small Linux systems:
- BackTrack 2 - a distro designed for penetration testing. This sharp security tool offers a modular design for easy customization.
- Damn Small Linux 3.1 - DSL was originally created as an experiment to see how many desktop apps would fit in a 50 MB distribution. This versatile Linux comes with a nearly complete desktop, featuring tools such as Firefox, the XMMS multimedia player, Sylpheed email, and other common Linux applications.
- GoboLinux 013 - According to the developers of this innovative distro, GoboLinux "...doesn't need a package manager because the filesystem is the package manager." GoboLinux provides a unique structure for organizing the system, allowing you to easily determine what software is installed and which files belong to which program.
- grml 0.9 - This admin-oriented distro provides text tools and other utilities. grml is a popular rescue CD. You can also use grml for analysis and testing.
- GParted 0.3.2 - GParted is a Linux utility for managing disk partitions. The GParted Live distro is a scaled down Linux system used for configuring and troubleshooting disk partitions.
- Puppy Linux 2.12 - This puppy is bred for speed and comfort. You'll also find good hardware detection and many convenient desktop features.
- SabayonLinux 3.2 mini Edition - Sabayon is a Gentoo-based distro designed for performance, versatility, and stability. Because Sabayon is based on Gentoo, it comes with the powerful Portage package manager.
- Zenwalk 4.0 - Zenwalk offers the latest stable software optimized for high performance. The Zenwalk creators strive to deliver a system that is equally suited to development, desktop, and multimedia tasks.
In additional to the preceding bootable Linux alternatives, you'll also find three bonus distros stored as ISO images:
- IPcop 1.4.11 - A small Linux designed as a firewall system.
- Slax 5.1.8 - A Slackware-based distro that is easy to customize and includes support for unionfs.
- VectorLinux 5.8 - Another Slackware-based Linux with good hardware detection and easy package management.
Conclusion
Our single-DVD format lets you try each of these distros to decide which is best for your environment. Keep this DVD by your side and change systems whenever you like with the convenient boot menu. We hope you enjoy this month's Best of Small Distros DVD.
Figure 1: Choose a distro from the custom menu.
Figure 2: Put the playful Puppy Linux on your desktop.
Figure 3: Use BackTrack for penetration testing.
Figure 4: Sabayon is Gentoo tuned for speed and a small footprint.
