First time Linux user- which release should I start with?
 

I'm a first time (or should I say future) linux user, what would be a good starter distro to use with this system?
Thank you in advance.

Operating System
MS Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3
CPU
Intel Celeron M 350
Intel Celeron M 350
Dothan 90nm Technology
RAM
256MB DDR @ 166MHz (2.5-3-3-7)
Motherboard
TOSHIBA EAL20 (BAN)
Graphics
Plug and Play Monitor (1024x768@60Hz)
Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics

edit-
My appologies- moderator, please move this post to distribution forum. Thank you.

Slow CPU and low RAM. I suggest Linux Mint 10 Julia LXDE edition (see: here).

Thank you w1k0, I'll give it a try and let you know how it works.

The Mint website says of the standard version "512 MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage)". You will need the Xfce version: they give as an example for that:
Mint Xfce + Writer + Calc + Firefox + Thunderbird + VLC + Rhythmbox: 220 MB RAM
Get it here http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1725

Thank you David, I'll try that. The LXDE looks nice and is easy to navigate but once I start running apps it freezes.

Can you increase your RAM at all? Getting yourself up to 512 meg would help a lot.

Research your motherboard and find out what's the maximum amount of RAM it can handle. Get that much RAM. Yes, you will need a light distribution due to your slow CPU, but you should be able to have a capable and stable system all the same.

More RAM is definate need but will have to wait for a while, recently laid off so money's a little tight right now.

Here are a few distros that I have successfully used with 256mb of RAM: Puppy, SliTaz, AntiX, CrunchBang.

Thank you snowpine, I'm downloading the mint Xfce right now but I'm eager to try you're suggestions, too. I love that you can tryout any distro using liveusb. I think you've all witnessed the birth of a future Linux addict!

I haven't tried Mint Xfce, but it has a good reputation. Enjoy! :)

Having used AntiX, SliTaz, CrunchBang and Puppy, my vote goes to Puppy. However, it's a matter of personal preference. I encourage you to try them all, along with any other distros that strike your fancy.

I use AntiX on my laptop and Crunchbang on my desktop (it can handle a lot more, I just prefer a minimal distro, I have Mint 10 on another pc with lots of bells and whistles.) AntiX is great for slower machines, and not too much of a learning curve. My fiance fell in love with crunchbang after 30 seconds with the livecd.

If you have trouble with Mint Xfce, I too would recommend AntiX, CrunchBang, Slitaz, and Puppy (in that order). Puppy can be a bit fussy: on my desktop it runs but won't install, on my laptop it won't even run.

I really appreciate all of the suggestions. So far I've tried Fedora, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Mint 10 gnome, Xfce, and lxde, Crunchbang, and AntiX.

When downloading and transfering Crunchbang and AntiX to my USB via universal USB installer I received several "file broken" errors.

The others seemed to boot up just fine. I recognise that performance is lower using a live usb vs. installing on the hard drive but the common issue I'm having with each distro is app freezes and crashes (especially the web browser and video player). Is there perhaps a setting that would help?

I think a swap file (even if it has to go on a flash drive) would help.