What version of Linux should I use, and where can I get it?

I have a machine with a 433MHz processor, 384MB RAM, and a 6.4 GB hard disk. I'm wanting Linux, OpenOffice and Firefox on it, but I have no real experience on non-Windows yet so I need some advice on where to start.


For more specifics on the machine it's a Club 65 Packard Bell with, as far as I know, only the memory upgraded.


Please message me with any questions or queries before answering.

What version of Linux should I use, and where can I get it?
if you have a cd burner, download the iso for xubuntu linux and burn it. try this link... it will start downloading when you click on it...


http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releas...
Reply:Try here ... http://freshmeat.net/projects/linux/
Reply:For windows-feel but still very much Linux, Kubuntu is hard to beat. It's certainly got the largest 'friendly' support network. There are forums for all the distros, but Ubuntu being the most popular means it's got the busier forums. And being based on a long standing distro (Debian) means that there's plenty of nearly-the-same advice around also.


The project is Ubuntu, and it's available in a few guises - Ubuntu uses the Gnome window manager, Kubuntu uses KDE and Xubuntu uses XFCE.





Of those, KDE is the most windows-like, and XFCE is the most lightweight.


If you're doing this to mess around with Linux, i'd go with XFCE. It's no harder than KDE, but it's more different from windows than KDE. Being lightweight is a bonus, too.





Damn small is a nice lightweight distro, but it's not designed for a hard drive install, which shows - someone new to linux may well feel a bit lost in the install process, and in general use.








If you've got the time, and are willing to experiment, try them all. And the BSDs, too (though they're a little trickier to install, and there's less documentation, but it's generally of a higher quality). Whatever you do now, if you end up liking Linux and switching to it, you'll go through a phase of trying out all that you can get your hands on before settling on one that 'feels right'. We've all either been there or are still doing it - you don't always come out the other side...
Reply:These linux distros will run on old hardware:





Damn Small Linux: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org





Deli-Linux: http://delili.lens.hl-users.com





Puppy Linux: http://www.puppylinux.org





Xubuntu: http://www.xubuntu.org





As far as wanting to run firefox/openoffice I think they would both run but would be very slow, consider something like Dillo as the browser and Siag for Office suite.





Hope this helps.





Cheers!





Caulski
Reply:There are several linux distributions available for download. If you have access to a fast internet connection you can download all of them to try out, since it doesn't cost anything but you time. good luck.
Reply:Puppy Linux from Puppylinux.com Samall but has everything including DVD player, burner software great word processor, good graphics program. Its my primary OS.