Am renovating an ancient laptop with limited hardware (512mb RAM, 18gb HD) to run on the web. LibreOffice is perfect, but first-time “newbie” users will want a semi-Windows environment. Windows similarity means
basic features like a desktop with icons, drop-down menus, right-click for menu-driven operations like copy, move, delete, etc.
Any Linux Desktop distribution provides all features you need…
choose one of top Seven from this Overview
( for “ancient” Laptop-hardware take one of the Variants with [ X fce] as Windowmanager )
LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is perhaps most lightweight full desktop, but it’s also most primitive by looks and features.
XFCE is perhaps second most lightweight full desktop, and less primitive as LXDE. I’d go for XFCE, it’s not so much heavier but is less primitive.
“Ancient” for a PC could be 5 years. I installed Linux on now >=11 year old IBM Thinkpad x40. I had to used Linux Mint Debian because of special hardware feature which is not supported by ubuntu versions.
Booting time under Windows XP 6 1/2 min under LM Debian 2 1/2 min. Runs stable. Our machine for friends who want to use LibO, access the internet, etc.
It is said that the RAM can be increased from 512 MB to 1 GB. I expect that then the ancient machine will run even a bit faster.
By my experience Linux is the best for brandnew and ancient PCs. The search for the most suitable Linux version could sometimes be a bit tricky. Good luck!