Which distro for a very old laptop?

[Roza]

Hello! I was hoping I can make a use of my old laptop. I am currently taking classes for which I need to use gcc so I'm looking for a linux distro on which I could do that.

The laptops specs are: Pentium III, CPU 1200MHz and only 256mb of RAM.
It currently has windows xp oh and the distro iso has to fit on a CD, it will not boot from a USB or DVD (tried).

 

[arochester]

I used to have a thing about Pentium 3s.

Unfortunately, they are largely redundant and not much will run on them now. Check out the specific specs of your machine to see if the RAM can be reasonably upgraded. Old memory can cost more than newer memory.

There's
Puppy Linux (and the Pup derivatives)
Vector Linux Light
Elive
SliTaz
Tiny Core OS
wattOS
...they won't give you whizz-bang results...

They might not come with GCC installed and you might have to do that yourself.

BEWARE! You cannot add heavyweight apps to a lightweight OS without it becoming heavy itself!

 

[Roza]

Thanks for the reply.
Yeah I know, I won't be using is for anything else than some stuff with C. Okay I was afraid of that (that I'll have to install gcc myself) is that something anyone can do? I have a very limited knowledge of linux. Or should I save time and just give up now?

 

[arochester]

wattOs is BASED on Ubuntu.

You might have to connect by cable to your router first until you can figure out wifi.

So it might be as simple (!!!???) as using the command: sudo apt install gcc

 

[Roza]

Okay thanks alot!