which Linux for old machine (from 2006)? just basic web use

[giantbucket]

I have an old (old!) machine, from around 2006. it used to have WinXP on it but the drive has been formatted a dozen times and I can't find my WinXP CD or keys. so, no Windows. so, Linux! this machine is going to just sit in my office server room as a completely separate "do whatever" box. if I need to check modem connections, or download something, or try something. whatever, it'll be used for that.

it's an old Asus mobo, Athlon 64 X2 4000+ processor with TWO gigs of ram. yes, TWO. not one. DDR2-800. nothing else - just using onboard VGA graphics to whatever monitor I can find (maybe even an old CRT).

i'll need to be able to use web browsing on it, and read from a floppy drive, and burn CDs or DVDs if I have to. but 99% of the time it'll sit idle.

what Linux should I dump on it? Red Hat? Xubuntu? which version? newest stuff, or go back a few generations? It's old hardware, so... I dunno.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

I've always been partial to CentOS which is basically a build off Red Hat Enterprise Linux. I have it running on everything from an older Opteron 170 (dual core, released in 2006ish) to a newer Xeon x3450 so it should support what you're using easily enough and it's rock-solid. Version I'm running is 6.5 - I don't know if I'm liking the newer 7.0 which changes quite a few things on how it runs (systemd etc).

 

[skittle]

Generally most people will recommend Xubuntu because it is light on resources, easy to use.. 2GB of ram is enough for any modern distrobution. Go ahead and grab the latest 15.04 version.

 

[giantbucket]

thanks. i'll try both of those and see which I find easier to get around. I've used Ubuntu and Xubuntu years ago, so I've forgotten most of it which means I know as much about RH as U/X.

maybe i'll start with CentOS this time. thx!

 

[FiL]

if you like Redhat you might want to try Fedora. pick a desktop environment of your choice, for low powered systems, i'd recommend xfce.