Fastest Linux distro

[Mit240]

My friend has a really old computer. it has a intel celeron D cpu and 256 mb or ram (pitiful). He currently has windows xp installed but it has now become too slow even after a clean install. what is the fastest one as ive tried: ubuntu(straight to swap and login to dm takes 10 min), puppy (programs spontaneously close) and DSL(couldn't boot)
please help me if any more information is required i will give. my friend isn't too good with terminals(scare him) so a usable gui is needed.

[The Thunder Chimp]

One that's neither a friendly install or a fully deployed desktop distribution is xPud (http://www.xpud.org/). It's amazingly fast to boot (4 seconds on my laptop), and really easy to use. It's hard to do anything else than open office, instant messaging or Internet Browsing, but it's definetly worth a shot.

Lubuntu (lubuntu.net) should be interesting too.

Contact me should you need any more information. ;)

[snowpine]

Puppy gets my vote; drop by the Puppy Forums and see if you can troubleshoot the "programs spontaneously close" issue.

SliTaz is also an excellent choice for older hardware, but it may require some terminal tweaking to get set up.

[darrelljon]

Puppy Linux

[dagdeniz]

I'd try a minimal Ubuntu install plus Lxde or Xfce, because e.g. Lubuntu becomes more heavyweight with standart Ubuntu configuration than minimal Ubuntu+Xfce or Lxde.
Or try Debian (Lenny or Testing/Squeeze, which became as stable as Ubuntu LTS recently) + Xfce if you say "I want no command line during installation".

[bobcollard]

While Xfce is recommended by most for older computers I'd try Fluxbox from Linux Mint as light and fast. It is a Ubuntu derivative.

[Mit240]

thx everyone for your contributions as i believe i mentioned (or forgot to) i tried puppy. The thunder chimps suggestion of xpud worked fine. also i tried crunchbanglite which had a default 95mb ram usage(good enough) but it had the spontanious prob too
damn you guys are freindly.:popcorn:thx again

[JP121]

Linux Mint has a Fluxbox version you may want to try. Their GUI is very friendly.