On the website of the distribution, they have published a guide to install DSL on a USB stick but it does not work, so I have posted this guide on how to install a DSL pendrive that does work and can be useful for you.
Prerequisites:
1. Pendrive USB 128 MB minimum
2. ISO image of Damn Small Linux 4.X
3. And a machine running Linux
Steps to take to install DSL 4.x in a pendrive.
1. Format the pendrive. (Click here to see how to Format pendrive)
2. Create an EXT3 partition 100 MB USB memory to install the system
3. Create a FAT32 partition with the extra space (this partition is only for use on Windows)
4. Mount the ISO image downloaded to any directory
$ mount imagendescargada.iso /mnt/iso -t iso9660 -o loop=/dev/loop
5. Mount the USB drive
6. Copy the contents of / mnt / iso to / mnt / usbdisk
7. Install GRUB on USB stick
$ /sbin/grub-install –no-floppy –root-directory=. /dev/sda1
where sda1 is, in my case, with Linux installed the USB drive.
8. Configure the ext3 partition as bootable
$ /sbin/parted /dev/sda set 1 boot on
9. We are moving to /mnt/usbisk and create the file ./boot/grub/menu.lst and edit the following parameters:
Damn Small Linux
root(hd0,0)
kernel /boot/isolinux/linux24 root=/dev/sda1 ro lang=us toram noeject frugal
initrd /boot/isolinux/minirt24.gz
boot
10. Unmount the USB drive
11. Reboot the PC and remember to enter the BIOS to change the boot sequence to use USB HDD as a boot device.
12. Save the changes and restart the PC with the USB connected.