Dell Inspiron 1200
 

Please inform me as to the best version of LINUX to use on a Dell Inspiron 1200.

http://www.pcworld.com/product/26745...ron-1200-.html

Something light looks in order. Tiny Core. Slitaz. I guess.

Hi:

Welcome to Linux Questions dfhoover.

The minimum system requirements for Lubuntu is a Pentium II or a Celeron with PAE support. 128 MB of RAM and 2 GB of space on the HDD.
http://lubuntu.net/

Tiny Core
http://tinycorelinux.net/overview.html
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=tinycore

Puppy Linux
Click on the blue link on the page that says 'ibiblio.org' and than choose either 32-bit or 64-bit according to your computers architecture.

http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%...%20Release.htm

Slitaz
SliTaz GNU/Linux is supported on all machines based on the i486 or x86 Intel compatible processors. The Live CD has four variants of SliTaz, requiring from 192 MB of RAM for the Core system to 48 MB for a text mode and X Window System. SliTaz can even run in 16 MB of RAM and a little swap memory.

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=slitaz

puppy.
woof

I had an inspiron 1200 w/ upgraded ram, and ran fedora up through about fedora 18. Slow but worked (xfce)

I used debian on my inspiron 1150 with 512MB of RAM. Running X and a modern web browser might be a bit rough in 256MB RAM. I still use that dell, when I need to read an optical disc. Or when I need an ethernet to wifi adapter/bridge. I was using it to watch youtube at 640x360 which was almost fullscreen on the 1024x768 LCD screen. But the backlight to that screen burned out and the GPU doesn't do much in terms of modern resolutions over VGA. Plus other factors so it's mostly retired now.