LXDE is the lightest one you mention. You may also want to check out IceWM or an enlightenment distro.
XFCE is a bit light than gnome 2, but comparable in features.
Gnome-shell and KDE are simply too heavy for that maching.
Also linux mint 9 is no longer supported. You may just want to try debian 6.0 with the netinstall image.
?
2012-06-06 14:12:18 UTC
LXDE.
Gnome and KDE are too much for that setup, especially the RAM.
Mint's XFCE is based on Debian Testing, *not* on Ubuntu; as such it's designed for more advanced Linux users. It's a fine distribution, but just bear in mind the rolling release nature of Debian Testing and it's associated pros and cons.
『 』
2012-06-05 22:14:38 UTC
I recommend that you give Bodhi Linux http://bodhilinux.com/ a try which utilizes the e17 DE.
System Requirements
300mhz i386 Processor
128megs of RAM
1.5g HD space
Acid Zebra
2012-06-06 14:14:54 UTC
On a box like that I'd look into blackbox/fluxbox/whitebox as a window manager.
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