What is the smallest POSIX operating system that has a live CD and can be installed?
⠀It must support wifi.
⠀I only need a CLI interface.
2 Answers
Damn Small Linux weighs in at just 50MB, and there is a list of Verified Wireless Cards. It is ideal for business card CDs or old 64MB flash cards.
From the Damn Small Linux website:
Damn Small Linux is a very versatile 50MB mini desktop oriented Linux distribution.
Damn Small is small enough and smart enough to do the following things:
- Boot from a business card CD as a live linux distribution (LiveCD)
- Boot from a USB pen drive
- Boot from within a host operating system (that's right, it can run inside Windows)
- Run very nicely from an IDE Compact Flash drive via a method we call "frugal install"
- Transform into a Debian OS with a traditional hard drive install
- Run light enough to power a 486DX with 16MB of Ram
- Run fully in RAM with as little as 128MB (you will be amazed at how fast your computer can be!)
- Modularly grow -- DSL is highly extendable without the need to customize
Tiny Core Linux wireless version, called CorePlus, weighs in at 72MB and can be run live from a live CD or a USB flash drive. It is recommended by Tiny Core Linux for new users who only have access to a wireless network.
For more information about Tiny Core Linux including screenshots visit the Tiny Core Linux website. CorePlus can be downloaded from the Tiny Core Linux Downloads webpage.