I need run a good Linux distribution on an old notebook with Athlon 1.2 and 128MB. I tried use a lite version of Win XP and some popular Linux distros but all of them was too heavy to this machine. The distro need be ease to use by a beginner user. It don't need be small, just light.
I did a lot of research including here and I can't get a good answer.
I have used Damn Small Linux many times to great success for older machines with little in the way of system resources. It is based on Debian so you have the benefit of apt/ aptitude and has as I recall a couple of versions that come with different levels of pre-installed software. http://www.damnsmalllinux.org
It's not a distribution, and I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but, I find OpenBSD to be an excellent unix like operating system that runs very nicely on older hardware, has excellent manual pages, and generally just works. I also find it excellent for a beginner, due to it's excellent FAQ and documentation.
Puppy Linux and Arch Linux come to mind
Arch is a pain to configure,but will give you the best performance you can get from any hardware
You can try Lubuntu at http://lubuntu.net. It only requires 128MB memory and can be installed on very old hardwares.
Lubuntu is a fast and lightweight operating system. The core of the system is based on Linux and Ubuntu. Lubuntu uses the minimal desktop LXDE, and a selection of light applications. We focus on speed and energy-efficiency. Because of this, Lubuntu has very low hardware requirements. Lubuntu was founded by Mario Behling and is currently mainly developed by Julien Lavergne.
