Interesting article/tutorial about how to keep from upgrading your older hardware all the time and build your own customized system able to run on weaker hardware.

Source: Lightweight Linux, Part 1

Leverage older hardware and break the hardware/software upgrade cycle

Todd E. Sundsted (todd-p2p@etcee.com)
Vice president, Etcee LLC
October 2002

Hardware is only as old as the software it runs: a modern operating system and up-to-date applications return an older system to productivity. This article provides best practices and step-by-step guidance on how to build a working Linux system on older hardware or on modern hardware with limited memory and storage.

Find out more
~micael