Recommend a very light Linux distribution for very old computer 449

Which distro you use won't matter that much ;-)

Your 500 MHz (Pll or Plll?) won't be a hindrance for most things. I'm connected now with an old Pll-350 and it's quite adequate if not snap-your-head-back fast for 95% of "normal user" needs. Video codecs and sound may show the age of your box.

If the box components are in good shape and you think you might want to use this thing for some time, your best investment will be more memory. This one I'm using has 256 MB and the difference from 128 (as I recall) was amazing. The memory these things use is outdated and the prices will not go down most likely. Btw, this box also is dual booting to Win98. World of difference there two.

If more memory is out of the question, I would try a distro that looks appealing from your perspective, ie., features, usability, whim, etc., and try it out. Knoppix or some other live CD can give you some idea which window manager-desktop you might prefer.

And that's the real crux. Window mangers and desktop environments like KDE and Gnome are what show in the "last mile" when running in graphics mode and marginal memory. You may be more than satisfied with KDE or Gnome or you may want a lighter weight WM for a "simpler" interface and increased speed. Some others may be able to give advice on which distros include the lightweight WMs as some "mainline" distros no longer do. After that, the only way to know is to try 'em out.

You can check this out as well:

Whatever you do, don't try to get by with an older, unmaintained, distro version thinking that you'll be better off. You won't be, IMHO.

good luck, prg