Recommend a very light Linux distribution for very old computer 450

Mark South

Trying to respond to what the OP suggests is likely to be desired -- ie., a distro for his sister that neither one will likely be prepared to "master". Besides, I do believe that the "weight of window manager or desktop environment" was explicitly addressed, and suggested that OP might want to consider alternatives and distros that offer alternatives without additional downloads. In the general case, not the specific case, I agree with you fully.

They may or may not "stagger along" depending on how his sister uses the box. I know from personal experience that 128 MB is at the edge of what most users would consider "suitable" performance for distros running KDE or Gnome. With 256 MB as suggested they are adequate for most peoples' (read "plain folks's") uses. Others will run "faster" but I don't think mostest-out-with-the-leastest-in efficiency is what the OP had in mind.

And because of what I imagined were the likely "starting points" I stand by the statement that the distro "... won't matter that much." I did not say they would not matter at all, did I? But hey, I could have figured wrong so gave the OP some ways he might investigate his options to find a solution that fits hisand sister's needs, not our perceptions of what they need.

cheers, prg