The 256MB is as bad or worse than the 2MB video memory, at least when it comes to *most* Linux versions. But you can try one of the Xfce based distros such as Xubuntu or Mint-Xfce (my personal favorite) & see how it runs on that system. Or if you have the discs, you could use 98Lite to create a hybrid version of WinME that would scream on that system. The demo version of 98Lite is free & never expires: http://www.litepc.com/98lite.html

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Many distro's can be installed. Your main problem is the gui or window used. Things like xbuntu and others that run lightweight gui would be supported as well as command line. It is not the video memory it is the main memory. You can use vesa if not supported until you get a supported video working. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

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Like others have mentioned, Xubuntu would most likely run pretty nicely on that machine...and you get something based on Debian which I personally prefer. Download the 9.04 Jaunty Jakalope version from here http://www.xubuntu.org/get#jaunty

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I used to like Vector but haven't used it in a long time. Should run on that fine. See distrowatch.com for other ideas also. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

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I started looking through old cd's I had and found I have a copy of xubuntu 8.10. I must have downloaded it when I got Ubuntu. I don't even remember making it but i'll give it a try first. I remember first trying Mandrake linux, it had more of a generic gui and less requirements. Funny how things change. I was looking at the new Fedora 11 64 bit for a machine to give it a try and it suggested 1Ghz cpu & 512mb of ram for optimal performance. MSI K8N Neo AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.21ghz 1.5GB DDR 3200 nVidia N6600 256mb video Segate 500 gig sata NEC ND-3500AG DVD R/RW

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If you still want to try out stuff, consider running virtualbox or other VM on a newer system with good specs. Most or all can run ISO's without burning and no need to reboot. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

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Well it's definitely video related as I've tried all the lightweight distros I can find and can't get any to display a gui. Apparently modern linux does not like the Intel 2mb 82815 graphics controller. Xubuntu or most other distros will crash when time for X to load. It looks like a frozen scrambled video in the background. One thing I tried was robbing a large pci video card and testing again. This time with xubuntu it booted right up fine. Everything worked fine except for it wouldn't connect to the internet / lan. DHCP was enabled but never would find a network. So I guess i'll either have to find some small but decent pci cards or find a 2mb video workaround. MSI K8N Neo AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.21ghz 1.5GB DDR 3200 nVidia N6600 256mb video Segate 500 gig sata NEC ND-3500AG DVD R/RW

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