What is the best distro of ubuntu to install on a Dell Inspiron 7000 notebook circa 2000-2001?
Thanks

It is entirely dependent on your hardware, the details of which you haven't provided. Processor, RAM, graphics card, etc. please.

Or if you'd prefer to do your own research, the Ubuntu system requirements are well-documented: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...emRequirements

Many users find that Ubuntu is a poor choice for older hardware. Puppy, SliTaz, TinyCore, etc. are designed specifically for antiques and have much lower hardware requirements.

Yes, it would be a big help if you could provide the hardware specs of your system. At the very least tell us the CPU, memory, and graphics card as Snowpine said.
Some quick googling suggests that this is quite a "vintage" system:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...pcyc/specs.htm
WJMiller52,
Is that your system's specs??
According to that page, the maximum memory for that laptop is 384MB. To have any hope of running Ubuntu on that system, you would be well advised to max out the memory capacity to that 384MB.

If you really want to run Ubuntu on that system, I would recommend a minimum Ubuntu install like this:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal
I would also recommend as an alternative to Ubuntu, you could install one of the lightweight linux distros that are designed for older computers like Slitaz or Puppy, or possibly Tiny Core.
Slackware, using one of the lightweight window managers like Fluxbox or Open Box, may also work.

My old Dell 7000 is a PII 366, 384mb ram (512 installed but only detects 384), 10gig hard drive, either zircon modem/nic card or a Belkin USB wireless adapter for networking (the belkin adapter works good with the newer distros based on Ubuntu 10.04).

I was using it as a backup web/samba server while my main one was being rebuilt. Worked OK but low disk space hindered it's use. I was using Debian 5 installed using the netinstall disk image. No desktop was used.

I recently installed Xubuntu on it and found LXDE runs OK. Not a speed demon by any means, but could be used for a spare computer while waiting on a better machine. In the past I have run Slackware on it but it was an old version.

My suggestion would be to do a minimal install of Debian and then only install the bare minimum X components and a lightweight desktop like fluxbox or LXDE.