Any suggestions for linux builds on AMD Athlon XP 2000+ w/2G ram?
 

Yes, it's 15 years old but I'm way older and still work.

AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (running at 1.5GHz) and 2G of RAM on an Asus motherboard with an XP OS (yuk). Currently running Mint 18.1 on my new machine but don't want to part-out my old one.

Any suggestions as to which build would work well on this old 32-bit machine? Would Mint 32-bit be too much for it? It still needs to be user-friendly for those in my household who are not familiar with Linux.

I'd go with antiX. Specially designed for older/lower spec machines, but well designed and very functional.

Lawn Ranger,

+1 for antiX-16.1 which is a lightweight distro based on Debian and is specially designed for older, low-powered hardware:
http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

It punches well above its weight!

Download the 32 bit antiX-16.1_386-full.iso:
http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?tit...Page#Downloads

antiX-16 FAQs:
http://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/...FAQ/index.html

Distrowatch on the previous antiX-15:
https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20150810#antix

Desktop image:
https://distrowatch.com/images/cgfjoewdlbc/antix.png

I might be tempted to run OpenSuse. Boot to network boot cd and then you could use usb with the dvd info on it.

You will have to try some of the minimal distro's to get an idea of what you like. The more you try the better.

I recommend getting MX-16 in 32bit. https://mxlinux.org/

My thanks to all that have responded. I appreciate the time taken to respond to my question. These suggestions are a great starting point and I look forward to learning more about Linux.

I agree that AntiX is an ideal place to start. openSUSE for 32 bit is only available in its Tumbleweed rolling release, which may not be very well suited for a family expecting stability. That said, I do have Tumbleweed running on multiple Athlon XP class machines, all with KDE3 as the desktop.