I recently built an in car computer. I am looking for help in finding the best linux distro for this application.

The system specs are as follows:
CPU: AMD K6-2 500mhz
Motherboad: Gigabyte GA-5SMM
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 80GB (IDE)
Optical drive: 16x DVD rom
RAM: 256mb PC100
Video: SIS integraded graphics
Sound: ESS integrated sound

The linux distro must have a good GUI since I'm useing a touch screen which would make a command line based OS unuseable. I will also need to be able to play audio and video.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Normally, if you're not very experienced with linux, I would suggest Mandriva, Ubuntu or openSUSE. They are all very easy to use, but I'm not sure they will all work with the low specs you have.

You'll probably need to look for a distribution, that has fluxbox as an option for the Window Manager. Gnome and KDE take too many resources.

Keep in mind, no matter what distro you choose, you will at some point need to use the console for troubleshooting and other stuff. You cannot avoid the console completely.

I have a good amount of experience with linux. (Mostly command line based server distros). I was considering Ubuntu and SUSE due to their GUI support. I think I will try Ubuntu first and go from there.

Thanks, any other recomendations would be helpfull.

I'm not too worried about the hardware specs. I put Fedora with all the options on a computer for a friend. He has a Pentium III 400mhz with 128mb ram and although instalation was slow (took about 6 hrs.) it ran fine once installed.

Well everybody has a different perception of "fine".

I put fedora on a 600Mhz Celeron with 192MB of ram and it ran "fine", but the desktop was kinda sluggish.

If you want a bare bones setup, try Gentoo and use fluxbox. It's a very light weight distro if you set it up right, but it's a lot more technically involved to set up than all the other distros with GUI setup programs.

ubuntu should run ok with the setup..
maybe just add a USB port on the side (or front panel) for keyboard-needed emergencies lol..

I tried Ubuntu but it had problems recognizing my integrated video and install would just lead to a blank screen. I ended up useing Fedora which runs wellon this system.