Самые маленькие дистрибутивы linux

Elive

It is quite the statement from the Elive development team.

The Elive desktop environment is a highly customized version of Enlightenment, offering a light and beautiful experience. (Check out the 12 best Linux desktop environments to rival Enlightenment.) It works well, even on very old hardware. The minimum requirements for Elive are a CPU speed of 500MHz and 198MB RAM, plus 700MB hard drive space.

Windows users must use Elive’s USBWriter to create a bootable USB flash drive. The Elive developer states that other programs make unintended changes to the ISO during the burn process. macOS and Linux users can continue using Etcher.

Download: Elive USBWriter for Windows (Donationware/free)

Что такое мини-ПК и с чем его едят?

Все в нашем мире относительно. Сначала я хотел написать о том, кто первый создал мини-компьютер. Но что такое «мини»? Например, в 1960-м году компания DEC разработала первый в мире мини-компьютер PDP-1, оснащенный клавиатурой и мышью, — размером «всего» с полкомнаты.

Сейчас мини-компьютерами считают одноплатные компьютеры весьма небольших размеров. В идеале хороший мини-компьютер должен занимать места не больше, чем USB-брелок. Кто был первым, проследить невозможно (а если и можно, то зачем?) — прежде чем появились одноплатные ПК для домашнего использования, была создана целая армия разнообразных индустриальных ПК, которые применялись в роли встроенных систем на производстве.

Вместо того чтобы ломать голову, кто был первым, разберемся, зачем нужен мини-комп сегодня самому обычному пользователю. Учитывая, что все мини-компы построены на базе ARM-процессоров, производительности у них не больше, чем у современных смартфонов. Поэтому на мини-ПК устанавливается или тот же Android, или легкие (во всех смыслах — и в плане системных требований, и в плане освоения) дистрибутивы Linux. Конечно, с Linux на борту девайс становится более универсальным, но от этого он быстрее не станет. Тем не менее производительности подобных устройств вполне достаточно для организации медиацентра и воспроизведения HD-видео. Подчеркивает мультимедианаправленность и наличие HDMI-разъема — девайс можно без проблем подключить к современному телевизору. На некоторых устройствах есть и DVI-разъемы, что позволяет также подсоединять их к не самым современным мониторам (на современных часто есть HDMI-разъем).

Итак, для подключения к телевизору/монитору имеется HDMI-разъем. Этот же разъем используется и для передачи звука. Но вот незадача: не на всех мониторах (не телевизорах), оснащенных HDMI-разъемом, есть акустика. В итоге, если на девайсе нет отдельного аудиовыхода, звук не услышишь, пока не подключишь комп к телевизору или монитору с акустикой. Этот факт нужно учитывать при выборе мини-ПК.

Подключить клавиатуру и мышь — проще простого. На любом компе есть минимум один USB-разъем, который можно использовать для подключения как одного устройства, так и USB-хаба. Я рекомендую обзавестись USB-хабом минимум на три USB-порта: один для клавиатуры, другой для мыши, третий для флешки. Можно пойти и другим путем: купить клавиатуру с двумя USB-портами: к одному подключишь мышку, к другому — флешку.

Связь с внешним миром, то есть интернетом, осуществляется или по Wi-Fi, или через Ethernet-порт.

Porteus

Porteus is a lightweight, but complete, Linux distro that is optimized to run from a USB flash drive. Don’t have one? Don’t worry! Porteus will also work on an SD card, CD, DVD, hard drive, or other bootable storage media. It’s small and insanely fast, allowing you to boot and get online while other operating systems are still thinking about booting.

Porteus runs on any Intel, AMD, or VIA x86/64 processor, requiring only 512MB of disk space and 256MB of memory. No hard disk is required, as it can run from removable storage media. If you use Porteus on a removable storage media device, you can take advantage of its «Persistent» mode, which saves data directly on the storage device.

It is available in both 32-bit (perfect for older PCs) and 64-bit. A kiosk edition is also available, which is a minimal system that is locked down for use by the public on web terminals. You can choose to download the Cinnamon, KDE, MATE, or Xfce version of Porteus.

Download: Porteous 32-bit | 64-bit

Before You Start: How to Create Bootable USB Flash Drives

The first thing you need is a tool to create bootable USB flash drives. There are numerous tools you can use to create a bootable USB flash drive. However, I would suggest Windows users try Rufus, while Linux and macOS users should try Etcher.

Rufus is one of the fastest, smallest, and easiest USB burning tools available to Windows users. It has decent customization options and can automatically detect your USB flash drive. Furthermore, Rufus can detect the type of ISO you are attempting to burn and apply a common setup.

Download: Rufus for Windows (Free)

Linux and macOS users should use Etcher, an open source USB burning tool. Like Rufus, Etcher is tiny, very fast, and comes with a great GUI that makes the tool incredibly simple to use. Etcher doesn’t have many settings, but it does work well the overwhelming majority of the time. Windows users who find Rufus confusing can also use Etcher.

Download: Etcher for macOS, Linux, and Windows

Now, onto the tiny Linux distros, all of which are free (unless otherwise stated)!

El sistema MyDSL

Las extensiones MyDSL y sus servidores están cuidados y mantenidos por Ke4nt y hospedado por varias organizaciones, como Ibiblio y Belgium’s Belnet. Hay dos áreas en los servidores MyDSL — regular y en pruebas. El área regular contiene extensiones que han sido probadas y consideradas suficientemente estables para el uso diario y está dividido en diferentes partes como Aplicaciones, Internet, Sistema, y UCI ( Universal Compressed ISO — extensiones en formato.uci que se montan en un árbol de directorios separado para ahorrar espacio en la RAM). El área Testing es para las extensiones recientemente recibidas que teóricamente funcionan, pero puede haber cualquier número de errores.

How can I use DSL Linux?

You can use the DSL Linux operating system in these ways:

• Using a bootable CD, and running the operating system from memory

  This method is in the spirit of most LiveCD distributions of Linux, basically a «try it before you buy it» arrangement.

• Booting from a USB pen drive (if your workstation supports it)

  That’s right, a Linux desktop on a stick! And with a USB flash drive of sizable capacity, you can use the remaining available space as data storage. This method gives you the most flexibility. In the event you ever wanted a «roaming» Linux experience, you can plug in your DSL Linux USB pen drive on your favorite system at home, work, or school — and thus transform any system into your Linux system.

• Booting from within Windows

  While this method is the most impressive, the operating system’s response times diminish quite noticeably. Despite its slower performance, you can boot your USB DSL Linux from inside a Windows environment using an emulation application called QEMU. No rebooting or shutting down first; just open the emulation window and fire away.

  QEMU is a fast processor emulator that uses dynamic translation to achieve a reasonable speed while being easy to port to new host CPUs. When emulating user mode, it can launch Linux processes compiled for one CPU on another CPU. In full-system emulation, it emulates the whole package, including a processor and peripherals.

SliTaz

SliTaz’s minimum requirements include an i486 or x86 Intel-compatible processor, at least 80MB disk space, and 192MB RAM (however, this can drop as low as 16MB RAM depending on the version of SliTaz you use).

One cool feature of SliTaz is that it runs largely in your system memory. Once you boot SliTaz up, you can remove your bootable USB flash drive for other tasks. SliTaz also has a «persistent» feature that allows you to store your data and personal settings to the removable media, ready to use on your next boot. (You have to keep your media in the machine for this feature to work, mind).

Download: SliTaz Universal Version (Free)

Final notes

You can also use DSL Linux as a means of system restoration. You are allowed controlled access to the host system’s hard drive in the event you need to offload pertinent data from an otherwise «dead» machine.

Or, if you simply want to give that old Windows 95 system that’s stored in your garage new life (or even set up a lightweight Web server), DSL Linux is certainly a way to go.

Related topics

• «Linux system development on an embedded device» (developerWorks, March 2002) provides an overview of scaled-down distributions.
• DSL Linux is a versatile 50MB mini-desktop-oriented Linux distribution. Grab a glimpse at the complete application list.
• Download or just learn more about these DSL Linux applications:
  • FluxBox
  • Firefox
  • Dillo
  • Xpdf
  • XMMS
  • BashBurn
  • Xpaint
  • SQLite
• With IBM trial software, available for download directly from developerWorks, build your next development project on Linux.

Версии

Версия для Xbox (X-DSL)

Damn Small Linux был портирован на Xbox. Это стало возможным благодаря низким требованиям DSL к памяти. Он может быть запущен как LiveCD на модифицированном Xbox или установлен на жёсткий диск. DSL автоматически загружает X-сервер, где можно управлять курсором при помощи контроллера Xbox и виртуальной клавиатурой для ввода текста.

Рабочий стол X-DSL основан на Fluxbox с приложениями для электронной почты, проигрывания музыки и многого другого. Также можно установить новые приложения, загрузив расширения MyDSL..

Другие версии

• DSL-embedded — версия для запуска внутри операционной системы при помощи виртуальной машины QEMU
• DSL-syslinux.
• DSL-pendrive usb — на носителях usb-hdd и usb-zip.
• DSL-N — самая большая версия, которая не ограничивается объёмом 50 мегабайт. В ней используются приложения, основанные на GTK+ 2, и она занимает около 85 мегабайт.

Bodhi Linux

Image Credit: Bodhi Linux

Your final tiny Linux distro to check out is Bodhi Linux. Bodhi Linux is an Ubuntu LTS-based fully-featured Linux distro that uses the Moksha Desktop. Furthermore, Bodhi Linux comes in three flavors: the Standard edition, the AppPack edition, the Legacy edition.

The Standard edition comes with a limited range of options and applications, whereas the AppPack edition offers more features, applications, and options out of the box. Of the three, the Legacy edition is the smallest, designed to work with older, less powerful hardware.

Bodhi Linux’s minimum specifications require a 500MHz processor, at least 128MB RAM, and 4GB disk space.

Download: Bodhi Linux Standard for x86_64 | Bodhi Linux AppPack for x86_64 | Bodhi Linux Legacy for x86_64

Features

As of July 2014 version 4.4.10 of DSL, released November 18, 2008, was current. It includes the following software:

• Text editors: Beaver, Nano, Vim
• File managers: DFM, emelFM
• Graphics: mtPaint (raster graphics editor), xzgv (image viewer)
• Multimedia: gphone, XMMS with MPEG-1 and VCD support
• Office: SIAG (spreadsheet program), Ted (word processor) with spell checker, Xpdf (viewer for PDF documents)
• Internet:
  • Web browsers: Dillo, Firefox, Netrik
  • Sylpheed (E-mail client)
  • naim (AIM, ICQ, and IRC client)
  • AxyFTP (FTP client), BetaFTPD (FTP server)
  • Monkey (web server)
  • SMB client
  • Rdesktop (RDP client), VNC viewer
• Others: DHCP client, SSH/SCP client and server; PPP, PPPoE, ADSL support; FUSE, NFS, SSHFS support; UnionFS; generic/Ghostscript printing support; PC card, USB, Wi-Fi support; calculator, games, system monitor; many command-line tools

DSL has built-in scripts to download and install Advanced Packaging Tool (APT). Once APT is enabled, the user can install packages from Debian’s repositories. Additionally, DSL hosts software ranging from large applications like OpenOffice.org and GCC, to smaller ones such as aMSN, by means of the «MyDSL» system, which allows convenient one-click download and installation of software. Files hosted on MyDSL are called «extensions». As of June 2008, the MyDSL servers were hosting over 900 applications, plugins, and other extensions.

What applications do I get?

So how much can you really fit into 50MB? By the looks of it, DSL Linux has optimized its virtual one-room apartment into a spacious and livable, four-bedroom, split-level, luxury Manhattan domicile (probably with an excellent view of Central Park). Let’s look at the available applications. (Find links to more information about these applications in the section at the end of the article.)

FluxBox: Lightweight, fast window manager

FluxBox is yet another window manager for X that’s based on Blackbox 0.61.1 and even looks like it. It handles styles, colors, and window placement. FluxBox features include configurable window tabs, wheel scroll changes workspace, configurable titlebar, KDE support, a new native integrated keygrabber (that supports Emacs like keychains), partial GNOME support, and extended Window Manager Hints support. Plans are in the works to support such features as session management, windows snapping, and a configurable toolbar.

Browsing for a solution

Rediscover the Web with Firefox 1.5. The Firefox browser, fast becoming a user favorite,

delivers Web pages quickly, has an intuitive interface, and blocks viruses, spyware, and pop-up ads. It comes with such useful features as tabbed browsing, Live Bookmarks, and an integrated Search bar. It sports support for open Web standards.

The gtk+-based Dillo browser is completely written in C with a source of less than 365KB and a binary of about 300KB. The DSL version support SSL, tabs, and frames. Oh, and GNOME is not required.

The Links text-based browser, quite handy for browsing from an ssh session or terminal, runs on most flavors of UNIX and OS/2, supports tables, runs in color or mono modes, and can be configured to automatically invoke graphics viewers (console and X) and other applications.

Get a message in an instant

Naim is a multi-protocol, console instant messenger that supports AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), AOL I Seek You (ICQ), Internet Relay Chat (IRC), and The lily CMC. It includes unique features like zero-configuration peer-to-peer encryption, automatic message queueing, and incoming message modification, as well as powerful dynamic module support. It can be extended by third-party plug-ins for use in embedded monitoring clients and for use as host to automatic clients (or ‘bots).

Make mine media

When it comes to media support applications, there are quite a few nice ones:

• Xpdf is an open source Adobe Acrobat viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files (because so much online information is sitting in pdf, a pdf viewer is almost like a second browser).
• XMMS for CD, MP3, and MPEG media file support (yes, music and video!).
• BashBurn, the CD burning application who’s motto is «It just works!»
• Xpaint is a color image-editing tool that features most standard paint program options and lets you edit multiple images simultaneously. It supports such formats as PPM, XBM, and TIFF.

And there’s more!

Besides SQLite, a small C library that implements a self-contained, embeddable, zero-configuration SQL database engine, DSL Linux is packaged with other applications:

• VNCviewer/RDesktop is used to control and manage other Windows or Linux operating systems remotely.
• A host of networking services are available right out of the box, including SSH/SCP, FTP, HTTPD, DHCP client, and NFS.
• Sylpheed is an e-mail client and news reader based on GTK+.
• DSL Linux supports USB, PCMCIA, and just recently, wireless support for some WLAN cards.

Plus, Vim (an enhanced Vi), assorted Xbase utilities (like Xcalc), betaftpd (a very small FTP daemon), Nano (a Pico Clone), Microsoft Office Viewer, and the Monkey Web server.

Puppy Linux

Puppy Linux is a very lightweight Linux distro that you should only install on and run directly from a USB flash drive, SD card, CD, DVD, or other bootable storage media. You can install Puppy Linux on your hardware if you want. But there isn’t really a need if you have your bootable USB flash drive with you.

It is also worth noting that Puppy Linux isn’t a single distribution, nor is it a Linux distribution with numerous «flavors» (for instance, Ubuntu variants include Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, and so on). Rather, Puppy Linux is a collection of Linux distributions built using the same shared principle, using the same tools, using a specific set of «puppy» applications.

Check out the below image to see the various Puppy Linux paths, in the official Puppy Linux family tree.

At the time of writing, there are four official Puppy Linux distributions. All require 300MB or less hard drive space but do have varying CPU and RAM requirements.

To find out more, and choose the right version for you, head to the official .

Aplicaciones

A pesar de su tamaño, Damn Small Linux contiene un gran número de aplicaciones, incluyendo el reproductor XMMS, un cliente FTP, un navegador web, un cliente de correo electrónico, una hoja de cálculo y un procesador de textos, tres editores (Nedit, nVi, Zile), Xpdf, Naim (AIM, ICQ, IRC), VNCviewer, un servidor y cliente de SSH/SCP, un cliente DHCP, PPP, PPPoE, Servidor Web, Servidor ftp, etc.
La siguiente es una lista de aplicaciones que usa:

• Editores de texto: Beaver, Nano, Vim
• Administradores de archivos: DFM, emelFM
• Gráficos: MtPaint, xzgv (image viewer)
• Multimedia: gphone, XMMS with MPEG-1 and VCD support
• Office: SIAG (Hoja de cálculo), Ted (Procesador de texto) con corrector de ortografía, Xpdf(visor de documentos PDF)
• Internet:

Navegadores: Dillo, Firefox, Netrik

Sylpheed (Cliente)

naim (AIM, ICQ, y un cliente IRC)

AxyFTP (cliente de FTP,, BetaFTPD (un servidor FTP)

Monkey (servidor web)

Un cliente SMB

Rdesktop (cliente RDP), visor VNC

Otras: DHCP client, SSH/SCP cliente y servidor; PPP, PPPoE, ADSL support; FUSE, NFS, soporte SSHFS; UnionFS; generic/Ghostscript soporte de impresora; PC card, USB, soporte Wi-Fi; calculadora, juegos, monitor de sistema; muchas herramientas desde línea de comandos…

También permite instalar nuevos paquetes mediante synaptic o bien se puede activar apt de manera que podemos añadir cualquier aplicación que sea necesaria.

Revive Your Old Hardware With a Tiny Linux Distro

You can bring your old PC or other hardware back to life with any of these super small Linux distros. These lightweight Linux distros are a great way to provide a single computer for a relative who doesn’t need the bloat of a more complex operating system.

1. ArchBang
2. Tiny Core Linux
3. Elive
4. Porteus
5. Puppy Linux
6. SliTaz
7. WattOS
8. Bodhi Linux

For other distributions, have a look at our Mint vs. Ubuntu comparison or our recommendation of Debian Linux. Also, why not check out the changes Windows users need to accept when moving to Linux. It certainly makes switching easier!

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About The Author

Gavin is a Senior Writer for MUO. He is also the Editor and SEO Manager for MakeUseOf’s crypto-focused sister site, Blocks Decoded. He has a BA (Hons) Contemporary Writing with Digital Art Practices pillaged from the hills of Devon, as well as over a decade of professional writing experience. He enjoys copious amounts of tea.

More About Gavin Phillips

Возможности

Последняя версия Damn Small Linux — 4.4.10 (17 ноября 2008). В него входит:

• Веб-браузеры:
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Dillo, к которому были применены патчи для поддержки вкладок, SSL и фреймов
  • Netrik
• Sylpheed — клиент электронной почты
• Monkey — Сервер HTTP
• AxY — Клиент FTP, основанный на GTK+
• Сервер FTP
• Клиент и сервер SSH/SCP, клиент DHCP, PPP, PPPoE (ADSL), калькулятор, поддержка принтеров GhostScript, UnionFS, игры, приложения для слежения за системой, утилиты командной строки, поддержка USB, wireless LAN и PCMCIA, поддержка NFS, FUSE, и SSHFS
• Офисные приложения:
  • Siag — электронные таблицы
  • Ted — текстовый процессор
  • проверка правописания (английский язык)
• Текстовые редакторы:
  • Beaver
  • Vim
  • Nano
• Работа с графикой:
  • Xpaint
  • xzgv
• Xpdf — просмотр PDF
• XMMS — аудиоплеер
• emelFM — файловый менеджер
• naim (AIM, ICQ, IRC)
• VNC
• Rdesktop
• Оконные менеджеры
  • Fluxbox
  • JWM
  • Small Windows Manager

Также у DSL есть скрипты для скачивания и установки менеджера пакетов Debian APT и Synaptic, графический интерфейс к APT.

Другие китайские устройства

Среди китайских устройств можно выделить три самых достойных:

• Amlogic AML8726 — архитектура ARM Cortex A9 (65 нм), частота 800 МГц, кеш L2 128 Кб, графический чип Mali-400 GPU с частотой 250 MГц, поддержка декодирования видео 1080P.
• Rockchip RK2918 — архитектура ARM Cortex A8 (55 нм), максимальная частота 1,2 ГГц, но пока устройства работают на частоте 1 ГГц, кеш L2 512 Кб, графический чип GC800 GPU на частоте 600 MГц, поддержка декодирования видео 1080P.
• Allwinner A10 — архитектура ARM Cortex A8 (55 нм), максимальная частота 1,5 ГГц (пока устройства работают на частоте ~1–1,2 ГГц), кеш L2 512 Кб, графический чип Mali-400 GPU на частоте 300 MГц, поддержка декодирования видео всех форматов 2160P.

Аутсайдер — Amlogic, несмотря на продвинутое ядро Cortex A9. Причина в урезанной частоте (всего 800 МГц) и скромном кеше.

Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Linux is an extremely small Linux distro developed by Robert Shingledecker, lead developer for former-distro, Damn Small Linux. (The Damn Small Linux site is now dead, but you can find active ISOs online.)

The Tiny Core Linux «TinyCore» installation is a minute 16MB, including the base distro and a decent GUI. The base installation requires at least 46MB RAM to run, but you will need a little more if you want to run additional applications and other software. Note you’ll need to use an Ethernet cable to get online with TinyCore as there is no out of box wireless support.

The best option for most people is the «CorePlus» installation, which comes in at 106MB. CorePlus has wireless support, support for non-US keyboards, plus installation tools for alternative window managers, and other handy setup tools.

Download: Tiny Core Linux «TinyCore» for x86 | Tiny Core Linux «CorePlus» for x86

The MyDSL system

MyDSL is handled and maintained mostly by Robert Shingledecker and hosted by many organizations, such as ibiblio and Belgium’s BELNET. There are 2 areas of MyDSL — regular and «testing». The regular area contains extensions that have been proven stable enough for everyday use and is broken down into different areas such as «apps», «net», «system», and «uci» («Universal Compressed ISO» — Extensions in .uci format are mounted as a separate filesystem to minimize RAM usage). The «testing» area is for newly submitted extensions that theoretically work ‘as advertised’, but may have any number of bugs.

So, how do I get DSL Linux working on my machine?

It’s as easy as one-two-three:

1. Download the proper .ISO image from the DSL Linux repository mirrors. You have three options:
   • dsl-x.x.x.iso is the image that most downloaders use. According to DSL Linux’s Web site, the rule of thumb is to use this image when your host system was manufactured recently, like within the last five to six years.
   • dsl-x.x.x-syslinux.iso is for older machines. For its bootloader, this image uses SYSLINUX, which works better with older, more outdated machines.
   • dsl-x.x.x-embedded.zip is for running DSL Linux from within the Windows or Linux environment.
2. Booting from a CD is fairly straightforward, and since booting from a USB pen drive appears to be the most enticing, I will assume that most adventurers will want to use DSL in this way. So the next step is to burn the dsl-x.x.x.iso to CD and boot your system with it.
3. The default window manager is FluxBox, which has no real taskbar; the menu options are revealed when you right-click on the workspace. Select Apps > Tools > Install to USB pen drive and choose USB-ZIP emulation or USB-HDD emulation, whichever is boot-compatible with the host system.

Opciones de Arranque

Las opciones de arranque (Boot) también son conocidas como códigos de trucos (cheat codes). La detección automática de hardware puede fallar, o tal vez el usuario desee usar algo diferente a la configuración por defecto. Por este motivo, DSL permite al usuario introducir una o más opciones en el prompt antes de iniciar el sistema. Si el usuario no introduce ningún código, o ninguna tecla es pulsada antes de que se acabe el tiempo, DSL se iniciará con sus opciones por defecto. Estas configuraciones pueden afectar la auto-detección y opciones de hardware. Varias opciones también afectan al GUI. La lista de códigos está disponible en los mirrors de Knoppix, y pueden ser vistos en el momento previo al boot.

Versions and ports

Release timeline

Flavours

The standard flavour of DSL is the Live CD. There are also other versions available:

• ‘Frugal’ installation: DSL’s ‘cloop’ image is installed, as a single file, to a hard disk partition. This is likely more reliable and secure than a traditional hard drive installation, since the cloop image cannot be directly modified; any changes made are only stored in memory and discarded upon rebooting.
• ‘dsl-version-embedded.zip’: Includes QEMU for running DSL inside Windows or Linux.
• ‘dsl-version-initrd.iso’: Integrates the normally-separate cloop image into the initrd image; this allows network booting, using PXE. As a regular toram boot, requires at least 128mb ram.[citation needed]
• ‘dsl-version-syslinux.iso’: Boots using syslinux floppy image emulation instead of isolinux; for very old PCs that cannot boot with isolinux.
• ‘dsl-version-vmx.zip’: A virtual machine hard drive image that can be run in VirtualBox, VMware Workstation or VMware Player.
• DSL-N: A larger version of DSL that exceeds the 50 MB limit of business-card CDs. DSL-N uses version 2 of the GTK+ widget toolkit and version 2.6 of the Linux kernel. The latest release of DSL-N, 0.1RC4, is 95 MB in size. It is not actively maintained.

One can also boot DSL using a boot-floppy created from one of the available floppy images (‘bootfloppy.img’; ‘bootfloppy-grub.img’; ‘bootfloppy-usb.img’; or ‘pcmciabootfloppy.img’) on very old computers, where the BIOS does not support the El Torito Bootable CD Specification. The DSL kernel is loaded from the floppy disk into RAM, after which the kernel runs DSL from the CD or USB drive.