DSL was originally developed as an experiment to see how many usable desktop applications can fit inside a 50MB live CD. It was at first just a personal tool/toy. But over time Damn Small Linux grew into a community project with hundreds of development hours put into refinements including a fully automated remote and local application installation system and a very versatile backup and restore system which may be used with any writable media including a hard drive, a floppy drive, or a USB device.

DSL has a nearly complete desktop, and many command line tools. All applications are chosen with the best balance of functionality, size and speed. Damn Small also has the ability to act as an SSH/FTP/HTTPD server right off of a live CD. In our quest to save space and have a fully functional desktop we've made many GUI administration tools which are fast yet still easy to use. What does DSL have?

XMMS (MP3, CD Music, and MPEG), FTP client, Dillo web browser, Netrik web browser, FireFox, spreadsheet, Sylpheed email, spellcheck (US English), a word-processor (Ted), three editors (Beaver, Vim, and Nano [Pico clone]), graphics editing and viewing (Xpaint, and xzgv), Xpdf (PDF Viewer), emelFM (file manager), Naim (AIM, ICQ, IRC), VNCviwer, Rdesktop, SSH/SCP server and client, DHCP client, PPP, PPPoE (ADSL), a web server, calculator, generic and GhostScript printer support, NFS, Fluxbox and JWM window managers, games, system monitoring apps, a host of command line tools, USB support, and pcmcia support, some wireless support.
Change log:
* New Lua/Fltk refactored for enhanced performance.
* New Fltk library now available for C/C++ programs.
* New fldiff - File Diff GUI Viewer.
* Update to rsync to v3.0.2
* Updated mydslBrowser - new feature "Download Only"
* Modified "X Window Snapshot" to save image file with date.
* Added dfm association for easy display of "X Window Snapshot" images.
* Updated .torsmorc for more consistent "used/free/total"
* Restored Firefox default search engines.
* New low resource background & theme.
* New font added smoothansi - used in jwm menu.
* New .luafltkrc for Lua/Fltk theme and defaults.
* Updated dmix.
* Updated man script, new -o -b options and site.
* Fixed permissions on fusermount.
* Fixed cpanel bug to turn off ssh daemon.
* Modified nfs-common to also start portmap when needed.
* Patched kbdconfig to properly select keymaps.
* Modified .bash_profile to eliminate an extra login shell.
* Updated cgi example test.lua to call proper cgi.lua
* Removed stray line in Fluxbox menu.
* Updated "Getting Started" document with Wiki link and wireless info link.


Files and directories that have changed and likely in your backup:
.Xdefaults
.dfminfo
.dfmdesk/Apps/Tools/
.fluxbox.inc
.fluxbox/menu
.jwmrc
.jwm.inc
.jwmrc-theme
.luafltkrc
.torsmorc
opt/jwmThemes/default
opt/.dfmext

Note: Use the new tool fldiff to see the differences in these files.
Apps->Tools->fldiff