My PC is maybe 7 years old, about the same as the one I'm trying to fix. Very
similar specs. P4 2.6 , 512mb, 10gb HDD
I first tried Linux a few years ago and at the time Ubuntu 7.10 was current and
after some brilliant help from this group (Joe in particular, thanks pal ;) I
was happily up and running with dial up internet.
The thinking at the time was that my "OLD" system was not going to be compatible
with future upgrades and that the older PC's are better suited to the older
versions.
It was suggested that 8.04 was the most modern version I should attempt to
install. By the time I got this advice I could no longer get 8.04 easily so I
have made do with 7.10 and I have to say it has served my VERY simple computing
needs well.