I have a computer that is turning 10 years old in a couple of months. It uses a Pentium MMX processor overclocked to 200 MHz. It has 256mb or so of RAM and a 4 GB HDD and 1 GB free. It runs WindowsME and I am thinking of keeping it. My question: Which distribution of Linux is small and fast and does not need a lot of system resources? Would DSL (Damn Small Linux) be a good choice?

Thanks,
Chris

Almost any Linux distribution should do, as long as they support the CPU (some new ones are for Pentium III and newer only, for example).

You should be able to choose what to install, so 4 GB or even 1 GB could be enough.

256 MB is enough for lightweight window managers as well.

Puppy sounds like an awesome choice. I love puppy.

Damn Small is pretty good, but I reckon you'll be happier with Puppy.

i was wondering the same thing.i'm totally new to Linux,the comp i'm trying to put it on has Dual 800 Mhz processors,96 meg of ram,60 gig HD.i've tried like 7 different Linux distros and still can't get any of them to install (no i don't want to keep running it from the cd).the issue i have with DSL is i can't get it to recognise the partition and i can't remember how to get to fdisk.anyone able to help?i'm about to throw the comp out the window!,oh and not to mention,if i don't move the mouse or press any keys for a few minutes,the mouse freezes and number/caps/scroll lights all start blinking and the keyboard quits working.it's done that with every OS i've tried to install on it

Which Linux distros did you try?

96MB? Ninety-six megabytes? With this little RAM, you can pretty much forget about advanced desktops like GNOME or KDE. A lightweight desktop will be OK until you try to run some "bigger" programs like a web browser. A modern browser displaying a 21st century webpage will pretty much kill the system.

Unless you shove some more RAM in there, then you would be better off using this as a text-only machine.

What kind of a keyboard do you have? USB or PS/2? Maybe it is something with power management? Try disabling such fancy stuff in the BIOS and the OS.

yes 96 MB but heck,i was able to run Win XP Tiny Beast Edition on it with only 32 MB of ram!.i've tried DSL (Damn Small Linux),Fedora,Ubuntu,PCLinuxOS Junior,Ark Linux,and i think one or 2 others but can't think of the names.My mouse and keyboard are both PS/2.I have 2 more Meg sticks and 1 empty DDR slot but every time i try to put one of the sticks in,it makes this beeping sound and it won't load.

Running an OS is not the problem.. Actually using it is

Hum.. Try Xubuntu (You need the "alternate" install CD), Slackware, Debian if you insist on Linux. Any BSD should install on that box no problem.

ok ty.btw what about MepisLite?i found it and it seems pretty easy to use bu do you think it'll run on mine?

P.S i am building my own comp but just having to save up to get all the stuff i want to put in it.the comp i'm using now is just to get me by until then.i know once i get it built it'll run anything i want

You can check the system requirements of any OS on their homepage.

Well i went ahead and installed it lastnight and it actually runs rather good.i used it for maybe a couple of hours and fell in love with it! =).it seems very easy to use and as many programs that came with it,i doubt i'll ever be able to learn them all LOL.right now i'm just trying to learn all the Linux extensions