Linux MINT is a friendly face on Ubuntu for people coming from the Windows world. I use the Mint MATE (Mat-Tay) desktop.
I find that the versions of Mint I want to run REQUIRE that one must be able to boot from a DVD or USB flash drive. This could well rule out your old machine.
512 MB of RAM is the minimum recommended - 1 GB is suggested.
"Everyone" will recommend that you run Linux from a "live" DVD/flash drive to make certain that your hardware is adequate. Operation from a USB flash drive is MUCH faster than from an optical disk. You'll find that most "friendly" distributions of Linux are too large to fit on a CD. They include most of the software you'll want like an Office suite, scanner and printer drivers, etc.
I have found that the oldest hand-me-down PCs really aren't suitable for Ubuntu/Mint.
People will say that other versions of Linux will run on lesser hardware ... but I think you are interested in a widely-used version. Ubuntu claims to have the largest number of users, and the Mint version ("Ubuntu inside") comes in next.
Last edited by seacue; 24th May 2014 at 03:38.