Linux distribution for old pc

[goutam]

I have a very old pc with 256 Mb of RAM and 20 GB hard disk with 1.2 Ghz Intel Celeron processor.

Please suggest me which distribution is best for me? I only want to surf internet , watch youtube video.

Goutam

[jayd512]

The RAM looks like it would be the limiting factor.
antiX or SliTaz should do well for you, though.
You may also want to look at Puppy or Vector.

[hazel]

My machine has an identical spec and I run Crux on it. It used to run Debian quite well too, but Crux is a lot faster. It isn't an ideal distribution for novices though. I'd suggest something like Puppy or a net install of Debian (that's a type of minimal install to which you then add the packages you want). I'm sure other people will have other suggestions. This is just the kind of situation that Linux handles well.

[elija]

Crunchbang which is based on Debian should suit that machine. It idles using 55MB ram on a Pentium 4 laptop

[jayd512]

Since the door was opened to CRUX and Debian-based, I'll go ahead and mention Slackware as well.

[MASONTX]

You can go to distrowatch.com and search for older computers. That will bring up a list of distro's suitable for older hardware, though some might need 512 instead of your 256 MB ram.

[rokytnji]

Ram usage in Antix running Iceape browser while responding to post

150968 =151MB

This is a

           Desktop IceWM 1.3.7 Distro: antiX-M11-686 Jayaben Desai 01 May 2011
Machine:   Mobo: IBM model: 2628TWU Bios: IBM version: KXET33WW (1.06 ) date: 09/05/2001
CPU:       Single core Pentium III (Coppermine) (-UP-) cache: 256 KB flags: (sse) clocked at 1000.00 MHz 
Info:      Processes: 103 Uptime: 47 min Memory: 151.1/501.2MB

Which translates as a P3 IBM A22m with 512MB of ram (some of the ram goes to the kernel)

For Youtube. You will be better off downloading the you tube video and watching it (the file) in like gxine,gnome-mplayer,vlc while browser is closed on 256MB of ram in my experience.

Don't forget to make a 512MB or greater /swap partition when doing install also. I run a 700MB /swap on this box.

[goutam]

Thanks all for your response.
I tried puppy . It supports 3g usb win modem. Do other distributions support this?

Goutam.