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OS recommendations for Pent.III 128MB laptop

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skwire:
Put XP on it.  Like Ath says, I think you'll be surprised how well it runs.  If you don't like how it runs, try something else.   :D

Edvard:
I'll agree with most sentiments here that XP should do you just fine.
The minimum specs are 233MHz and 128MB, so maybe disable as many services as you can stand, use the 'Classic' interface to reduce your memory footprint, and +1 for giving it an nLite shakedown.
Plus, your familiarity with XP means you know what to expect and how to use it as soon as it gets installed, so spare you some possible frustration.
I'd also go for the extra 256MB especially if you plan on keeping this laptop around for a while, every little bit helps to extend it's life.

As far as Free OS's, I hope you brought a can opener for those worms  ;).
You say you want something as easy as XP to install, and to be honest, I've had most Linux installs go much easier than Windows, even though they might seem more complicated at the time.
It's what you do after it's installed that will be uncharted territory for you.

I agree many of the big-name Linux distros (Ubuntu, Suse, Fedora, etc.) won't be very comfy on what you have, but I had good experiences with Debian Stable on even lower-spec machines.
Still easy to use, but without a whole lot of 'extra' to get tangled in (saving memory), and it'll have a full complement of drivers, so hopefully no issues there.
Just do a little reading to get familiar with Debian's "APT" software management system, and you'll be trying out writing tools in no time.

For low memory and speed requirements, I recommend Slitaz or Puppy.
I've ran them both on a 400MHz laptop with 128MB, and both ran very well, despite Eóin's comments.   ;)
They're both designed to run from a CD or USB so you can try them out right away, but can be installed very easily to the hard drive, which would save memory.
The tradeoff is there will be some learning and setup involved, which might be more than you want to tackle for just a writing machine, and especially since you don't have experience with alternative OS's, but it's there if you're game...

app103:
I would recommend the memory upgrade and installing XP. But I'd make a list of all the hardware and make sure there are XP drivers for everything, first.

If you decide to go with XP, use a classic theme and not the FisherPrice XP Luna crap. If it runs way too sluggish and locks up on you every few seconds, turn the desktop color settings down to medium (16 bit) and/or use a lower resolution. (I had to do this on my snail)

Do not install Win98 unless it is a last resort, again, making sure there are drivers for everything first. While Win98 drivers (and some Win95 ones) generally work well with WinME, the reverse isn't a good idea. Don't use WinME drivers with Win98.  

Another option is to make a backup of the drivers currently installed on it (you should do this any way, just in case) and consider getting a full retail copy of WinME (trust me on this one and stay away from OEM and upgrade versions). Since that is what it is currently running, you know there are drivers for it and can use the backup if you need to. If you do decide to install a copy of ME on it, contact me privately and I'll give you some tips from personal experience to make it a nicer ride, rather than the nightmares you have heard about.

Keep in mind that any 9x/ME option will greatly limit the software you can run on it, forcing you to have to hunt down and use outdated versions in a lot of cases. Because the older versions are unsupported, you will be limited to mostly old freeware and old stuff sold in boxes (you can't buy a brand new license for older stuff, as the keys provided probably won't work in older versions in most cases) This could also mean security holes and bugs that you won't be getting any fixes for, and there won't be any for the OS itself, either. This is also the case with 2k, with regards to OS updates, and some developers are dropping 2k support in their software, so as time goes on, it will suffer the same plight as 9x/ME. This is why I'd advise this only as a last resort.

f0dder:
I wouldn't like XP on 128 megs of ram - nLite would definitely be required, but even with that, given SP3's bloat? Ugh. If you could stuff in 256 it's doable, with 512 it'd be enjoyable.

But win2k? That's definitely doable on 128meg. I used to run it on a 700MHz Athlon with 160 megs of ram, and stuff like Visual Studio 6 ran just fine.

MilesAhead:
I ran Mandrake 9.1 fine on a machine with specs very close to yours.  It was a Gateway desktop Pentium III 550 MHz with 128 MB ram.

I believe I had OS/2 3.0 installed on the same machine. I was a bit sluggish with only 128 MB ram.  But Mandrake screamed on that machine!! Running XWindows with XEmacs and other Gui apps the machine had very snappy response.  Also the drivers included with Mandrake 9.1 may be a good fit for that machine.

If you try the install and it doesn't go smoothly then just wipe the disk when you install XP.  To install Mandrake without broadband you may want to look for a 3 CD set of .iso images to avoid having to download any packages.  But for editors and common apps I'd be surprised if everything you needed wasn't on the first CD.

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