Distro for old desktop?

I have an old desktop that has XP home on it and since it's so sluggish i want a light Linux distro for it so some family members can use it for daily use. What I'd like to begin with is finding out which distro is good for it so here are the specs:
Hewlett-Packard
Pavillion
AMD Athlon XP 1800+
1.53GHz, 480 MB of RAM (Actually 512mb physical)

 

What GPU? Thats very important.

 

It's something integrated, lemme put GPU-Z on my flash drive and check it out.

 

PC Wizard 2008 Version 1.84
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Owner: ***** *********
User: Owner
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.01.2600 Service Pack 2
Report Date: Saturday 26 April 2008 at 17:00

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<<< System Summary >>>

> Manufacturer : Hewlett-Packard

> Mainboard : Unspecified KM266-8235

> Chipset : VIA P4M266/KM266 (VT8375)

> Processor : AMD Athlon XP @ 1533 MHz

> Physical Memory : 512 MB (1 x 512 DDR-SDRAM )

> Video Card : S3 Inc 86C420 ProSavage DDR

> Hard Disk : SAMSUNG (40 GB)

> CD-Rom Drive : CyberDrv CW058D CD-R/RW

> Monitor Type : Hewlett Packard MX70 - 16 inches

> Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RT8139 (A/B/C/810x/813x/C+) Fast Ethernet Adapter

> Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.01.2600 Service Pack 2

> DirectX : Version 9.0c (September 2006)

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***** End of report *****

 

I'd say start off with Xubuntu. It's an ubuntu distro with Xfce instead of Gnome (Ubuntu) or KDE (Kubuntu), and it's lighter on resources. One thing about linux is that once you install Xubuntu, you can download and install Gnome, and/or KDE if you feel like it. But for all intents and purposes at this time, shoot for Xubuntu.

 

I think Ubuntu would run fine, but Xubuntu will be more speedy.
Compiz is not a good idea.

 

Yeah, Xubuntu's the one i have my eye on. Just wanted to know if there was anything else before i continue.

 

Nope, everything should be detected.

 

You'll be fine running KDE3.5. It's much the same spec as my usual desktop machine(Athlon XP @ 1600mhz, 1gb, 2x 160gbv hard drives(OS uses less than 10gb), my video card is better(GF4) but that'll make little difference realistically, unless you're trying-out funky desktop managers and whatnot). I experience no issues with speed - I do have 1gb, but TBH it made naff-all real difference when I did upgrade.

KDE or Gnome should both work fine. I find KDE far more complete, the last time I compared, but that's a different discussion. Ubuntu or Kubuntu should see you straight.

Try both.

 

I've decided to go with Xubuntu, now here's my main question. Will i be able to do Internet Connection Sharing from this computer (Vista home premium) to Xubuntu? What are the disadvantages of this over getting a router? If it's too cumbersome I'll just buy a router.

 

You might be better off with a router.

 

Samba works really well over a router.

 

Just booted into the Xubuntu LiveCD without problems thanks to Thomas, I'm amazed. I love it, just have to deliberate a little on whether or not to fully get rid of XP so i'll dual boot for a little while.

 

You could also dual boot with Ubuntu on your main computer. I just did... Amazing.

 

I've asked(over IM) and he's ok with vista.
We have a really long IM session.

 

I'm pretty comfy with vista on my main, if it fails me or w7 isn't as good as promised then I'll switch completely to Ubuntu, otherwise i'm fine.

 

Same here.

 

I don't see a reason as to why you shouldn't dual boot. If you have enough disk space, then it's really the way to go. Not all apps work on linux, and even if there are ports, you might feel like they are gimped in some regions. I know there's wine, but emulation never gives the full experience. And since you're new to linux, I'd say make it a point to only boot into Xubuntu and try to get different things working for you. Imagine yourself in different situations and you only have linux to work with, and think about what you would do to find a solution. Things like that go a long way in learning. Also, spend time in the file browser - knowing where things are will pay off later on.

Oh and if you're hard wired to the internet, you should be online right out of the box. I prefer Gnome over KDE because I just don't like the hueg menus in KDE - and so many bold fonts, egad .

 

Vista has all the apps i need working fine and dandy, i like Linux but on my main machine i see no reason to switch to Linux. If vista fails me you can be sure the first thing I'm doing is grabbing Ubuntu and install it. The only/main reason i stick with windows on my main is because i paid for it and it hasn't failed me as it has all the apps i want on it.

 

Same here Calvin.

 

Exactly what I did. Coz when I tried to repartition my hard drive, for some reason it failed and my C: got nuked along with all my files. So I was like "**** it" and installed Ubuntu without a second thought. I'm still on 8.04 RC, and haven't moved on to RTM. I should, actually.

 

Irony strikes again as in my old desktop, when i was trying to partition the xp drive it kept on giving me errors even though it worked but it messed up my progress so i said "**** it" and I'm installing Xubuntu as my main OS on it now. =]

 

LOL, that was funny over IM.

 

Xubuntu is fully installed now, all that's left is tweaking and getting used to it. =] Thanks to everyone!

 

Your Welcome