DSL began as the quest of one man to see how many Linux desktop applications he could fit inside a 50MB Live CD. Over time it has grown into what it is today, a nearly complete desktop system that can run fully in your computers memory, requiring as little as 128MB of RAM. I highly recommend this distribution if you intend on using your Linux USB Key on older hardware and/or prefer a simplified GUI.
Puppy Linux was first released in 2003 and takes pride in the fact it has no formal structure or agenda. You are given the freedom to, pretty much, do what you want with the OS (Operating System). Isn’t that what Open Source is all about?
With Puppy Linux you are able to remaster our own version of the OS, aptly called a Puplet, and then use that customized Puppy Linux as your OS. We will not go in-depth about these customization options, as this is not the main focus of this article, but once we have you up and running on your USB Key I recommend taking a closer look at what Puppy Linux has to offer in the area of customization. Like DSL (Damn Small Linux) Puppy Linux has a simplified GUI but offers a slightly better visual experience.
Ubuntu Linux was not designed from the ground up to be a “small” Linux distribution, unlike DSL and Puppy Linux, but does contain a straight forward graphical interface to assist you in installing it to a USB Key. The main difference between Ubuntu Linux and the other distributions we have discussed is size and popularity. Ubuntu Linux has a huge community to draw upon should you have any problems with your USB Key install or any other issues you may come across.
Now that we’ve taken a cursory look at each, lets address the big question!