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What Linux Distro to use on an old Dell Vostro 1500?

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Hey fellas, so I have a old dell that I fixed up that has not been used in years, that I been wanting to fix. But I want to use it as to mess around with, or use as a sort of daily back up driver. I am not sure what a good distro will be good to use on it. Any thoughts? To add is there is any say off the wall OS or cool things like that I like to know.
 
AntiX Linux. Full stop.

I use MX Linux (they also do AntiX) for my full phat desktop and I can testify that the MX devs know what the hell they're doing and you aren't going to get a more convenient and stable distro than MX, and by direct extension, AntiX.

Also, AntiX runs great on a toaster.

Arnox said:
Had AntiX 23 running on just one core and 272 MB of RAM capacity and it was STILL fast. Bootup times were still very fast as well. I'm so proud of the AntiX and MX team. This is a feat. You could easily run AntiX on embedded systems with how performant and light it is. I think I could still have lowered the RAM even more, but sadly, the Linux kernel built for AntiX can't accept less than 272 MB of RAM and will fail to boot all the way.

(The only thing that could finally bring the system to its knees was Firefox, funnily enough. Literally everything else ran amazing, considering the incredibly meager specs.)

All that said though... You may also want to consider either Windows XP or Windows 7 depending on what you want to do with it or if you want to indulge in some nostalgia. Linux will be amazing for any modern use cases you wanna put the laptop through, and Windows will handle old school program and game compatibility like nobody's business while also running incredibly well, and ESPECIALLY Windows XP.
 
Oh, also, if you want to turn the laptop into a makeshift server, you'll want to instead get the light version of Debian 12. No desktop environment. Just the CLI.
 
Dude thanks for the info @Arnox. I forgot about running old windows. I have been using Linux and it growing on me. Be good to get some testing in before Windows 10 stops getting updates so I can get my newer laptop onto a good OS. Now this is funny I did noticed that old Dell laptops feel so much more sturdy then the one I have that is I think 2016 model. Was Dell back then more higher Quality? Forgot to add it is a old dell vostro 1500.
 
Be good to get some testing in before Windows 10 stops getting updates

Funny you should mention Windows 10 actually...


Was Dell back then more higher Quality? Forgot to add it is a old dell vostro 1500.

I think the old Dells were indeed much better built. This one seems to have been made in 2007. I have a workstation beast that was made in 2012. That thing is so damn good, though it's also a heavy bastard.
 
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