Thanks to all, I'll try and get a copy of Debian 4 and give it a whirl

Update
I have tried Ubuntu and as advised it just wont work. So next tried Zenwalk, that nearly worked but fell at the last hurdle.
After downloading to a CD and loading I got a few errors on the install program, nothing that seemed too serious though as it spoke about packages that I didnt need like Gimp; At the end of the install and after inputting user details it came back with a partitioning error.....something about there not being enough space. I was then left at the # prompt and not able to do anything but reboot.( is there anyway to format the HDD now that there is no windows on it)?
Next It have tried a few sites for a ram upgrade, yet none have anything for my machine.....aaagrh!
So now im going to try Damnsmalllinux and if that dont work, well I dont know.

Does anybody know if DSL has drivers for a Belkin wireless pcmcia card or do i need to use a wrapper?

just as a information note
I'm going to all this trouble to build this machine so my parent can use email and a IM app to keep intouch with us when we immigrate next month, so a easy to use GUI is very important.

I have my own update. I am currently installing Ubuntu 8.04 on my 64meg 300mhz laptop using the alternate installer.

I BEGAN the install on Monday. It is STILL INSTALLING, four days later. Tuesday, it had gotten as far as the "Select and install software" step. It spent at least a day "stuck" at 1%. However, I could clearly hear the hard drive working so I let it go on. Yesterday, it made good progress, up to over 60%. Currently, it's at 63%. At this rate, I have high hopes that Ubuntu 8.04 will be installed within another week.

Obviously, I'm...patient.

Now, installing Debian 4.0 only took fifteen minutes or so (I don't know how long exactly, since I only went back to it every once in a while). However, I spent over a week trying and failing to get a Belkin USB wireless adapter working. Hopefully, this Belkin wireless adapter will work out-of-box with Ubuntu 8.04...whenever it finally gets out of the box...some days from now...

USB Wireless adapter.. Nothing like compounding the difficulty of an already hard task. Wireless isn't always easy in Linux, choosing a USB adapter just makes it harder.

Is there a PCMCIA slot on that laptop ? if so do yourself a favor and purchase a decent wireless adapter such as the Asus WL-107G which uses the ralink chip set took less than 5 minutes to configure in Debian..

To install the driver for this card is simply...
aptitude install build-essential module-assistant
m-a update
m-a prepare
m-a a-i rt2500

Then configure your /etc/network/interfaces file

That would work in Ubuntu as well.

Thanks! I'll consider it. However, this laptop is just a throw-around "toy" machine. I spent zero dollars acquiring it, and I spent zero dollars on the USB wireless adapter. I'm not going to start spending money on it now.

Still, I might spend some money on my cute little Toshiba Libretto 70ct. I love the adorable little thing. It only has a 16bit PCMCIA slot, though, and AFAICT there's no such thing as a 16bit PCMCIA wireless adapter capable of WPA encryption.

So Isaac
would it be worth trying debian 4.0 ? As my belkin wireless is pcmcia.
And whats the deal with these alternate install disks can you explain a little morr to someone whise on a steep learning curve??

I recommend you add more RAM... Try going to www.crucial.com look for your system and it would tell you what is the maximum RAM. I bet it's about 256MB.
Good Luck!

I can say that Debian 4.0 will run nicely on your machine, but I'm concerned about how easy/hard it will be to get your wireless adapter working. All I can definitively say is that I have had a hard time with my Belkin USB adapter. Maybe you'll have a better experience with your PCMCIA adapter.

The prefered method of installing Debian 4.0 is to use the minimal "netinstall" CD. However, this assumes you'll be doing the install on a computer with a fast wired internet connection. If that means transplanting the laptop's hard drive to another laptop, then I suggest doing it that way. If you have a USB or PCMCIA wired ethernet adapter, then that'll be even easier.

After doing a minimal install (deselect all software suites except for "laptop"), then you'll want to install some basic software. I describe my suggestions on the first page of this thread.

Here's a link to my help wanted thread on the Belkin USB adapter. My attempts ended in failure, so far, but perhaps you can use the same advice with success:

Belkin USB Wireless zd1211 in Debian 4.0 (works in Ubuntu)