Which is the best version of Linux for use on my HP2133 with Via C7-M microprocessor?

The VIA C7-M is a full blown X86 CPU, so you should be able to run any 32 bit Linux distribution on it. Depending on the amount of RAM and the disk size you may be better choosing a not so hardware-hungry desktop environment. Please post those specs also, so that we can give better recommendations.

My HP2133 has 1G of ram and 120G hard disk. I have as external disk drive. I now have windows XP and it is so slow. I hope Linux will help with the speed. I don't plan to leave XP on the machine.
Thanks for your help.

According to the Wikipedia article about that machine it could be ordered with Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop, so may be it would be good to give openSuse a try, but according to the specs you should be able to run any distro. Since I don't have experience with neither the VIA CPU nor the VIA Chrome 9 graphics I don't know how fast that machine really is. I would try to run it with XFCE or LXDE as desktop environment. Since I assume that you don't have much experience with Linux I think that one of the "easier" distributions would fit your needs best, so I would try Lubuntu, Mint XFCE edition or antiX. If you want to learn some more I would recommend Vector Linux, Debian with LXDE or XFCE, Zenwalk or Slackware with XFCE.
Just try a few and see which one is best for you, it is all about personal preferences.

1 members found this post helpful.

I have a netbook with a VIA C7 processor (1,6 Ghz) and 1 gb of ram, and I've tried Debian, Arch and Ubuntu with it (Ubuntu worked a bit slower than the others when using it -Ubuntu with Gnome, that is). Both, Debian and Arch worked pretty good with it. It also helps using something like XFCE or LXDE instead of Gnome, as suggested by TobiSGD.

If I may add a few words:

1. You have 1 gig of ram. That is sufficient, but since performance is your sore point, can you add more? Ram is like rich, you are never too much

2. Look into distros that have light GUIs (not KDE, not Gnome). You have received some good recommendations already, follow those.

3. Your computer's specifications are more than sufficient for any modern linux distribution, but you want performance, so I am taking it in that context.

4. What will you be using the computer for? Server duty is one thing. Web browsing another. You say Windows XP is slow, under what conditions? Let us know and suggestions can be fine tuned to your needs.

5. Suggestions can be fine tuned to your comfort levels also. What is your comfort level with computers and delving into their innards. "Friendly" distributions require performance and resource trade offs, others, not so much.

1GB should be enough. I currently have Opera and OpenOffice running and the total memory usage, including cache and buffers, is only 473MB. I've just looked at the data for your CPU and it's 1.5GHz; my AMD's 1.8GHz. If Windows XP is sluggish, then something's up with it. I've heard that Windows's performance does degrade over time but, never having used it, I don't know the cure.

A suitable Linux would run well. I'd suggest Xfce for the user interface. KDE might be too bulky and complex, LXDE too small. Gnome is undergoing massive changes, so you don't want to get used to Gnome 2 this year, only to have to get used to Gnome 3 next year.

The Xfce version of Mint is very nice. It's a rolling-release distro, which means you update regularly and never have to install a new version. Salix may require a little more effort but is equally good. You can see my mini-reviews of both elsewhere on this site.

The VIA is going to be slower, at the same clock speed, than the AMD. It should still be quite workable, with, eg XFCE and provided that you don't intend to do anything too adventurous with it, though.