Getting Started

When reading this article, please refer to the tutorial guide at http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/f/topic-3-26-8732-0.html. Below illustrates my setup:

The following step(s) are not mentioned in the tutorial URL book. I learnt them from this experience.

Creating VM for DSL

Because, I built DSL on Virtual Machine (VM) and I used VMware Player, so the first thing to do is to create the VM. Along the way, I found that building it on VM also has some challenges, therefore I show the process here. The following is the VM settings I used for my setup

• Guest OS: Linux
• Version: Other Linux 2.6.x kernel
• Virtual machine name: DSL_frugal
• Maximum disc size (GB): 0.1 (note: DSL only requires 50MB, I assigned 100MB)
• Memory: 128MB
• Network Adapter: Host-Only

Note: By choosing Host-Only on the Network Adapter, the guess VM is connected to VMnet1 adapter of host machine

Network Connectivity Between Host & Guess VM

When using VMware Player, choosing 'Host-Only' for the Network Adapter will setup the host & guess VM on IP subnet 192.168.79.x. In other word, they are always in a deterministic setup.

I need the network connectivity between Host & Guess VM for copying and pasting purpose.

Copy & Paste

I experienced that mistyping was the most common mistakes when dealing with Linux for newbie, hence the best way to avoid it is by enabling the copy & paste ability. By establishing network connection between Host & Guess VM, and installing SSHD/Telnetd on DSL, I could use PuTTY to access DSL and the copy & paste function.

Creating VM With VMware Player

1. Downloaded DSL iso here ( I chose dsl-4.11.rc2.iso from /release_candidate directory)
2. Launched VMware Player
3. Clicked Create a New Virtual Machine
4. Clicked I will install the operating system later for Install from
5. Clicked Next >
6. Clicked Linux for Guest operating system
7. Leave the default for Version
8. Clicked Next >
9. Typed DSL_frugal (or any other name you like) for Virtual machine name:
10. Clicked Next >
11. Leave the default for Maximum disk size

note: this default HDD is SCSI, which is not recommended by DSL and will be removed on coming step. (Choosing this option failed me on my first attempt)

12. Clicked Next >
13. Clicked Finish
14. Clicked Edit virtual machine settings
15. Changed the Memory to 128MB
16. Clicked Hard Disk (SCSI)
17. Clicked Remove
18. Clicked Add...
19. On Add a hard disk, clicked Next >
20. Clicked Create a new virtual disk for Disk
21. Clicked Next >
22. Clicked IDE for virtual disk type
23. Clicked Next >
24. Typed 0.5 for Maximum disk size

note: I only need 500MB HD for DSL.

25. Clicked Next >
26. Leave the default for Disk file
27. Clicked Finish
28. Clicked CD/DVD (IDE)
29. Clicked Use ISO image file for Connection
30. Clicked Browse...
31. Browsed to my DSL iso location and clicked Open
32. Clicked Network Adapter
33. Change the Network connection to Host-Only

note: I remove Floppy, Sound Card, and Printer on the following steps, as I don't need them for my DSL. You can keep them if you need.

34. Clicked Floppy
35. Clicked Remove
36. Clicked Sound Card
37. Clicked Remove
38. Clicked Printer
39. Clicked Remove
40. Clicked OK
41. Ensured DSL_frugal VM was selected, clicked Play virtual machine

Once the VM was boot up with DSL liveCD, I got the boot: prompt



At this point, I continued with the step mentioned on the tutorial

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