Dam small linux used to fit on a floppy
The new goal of DSL is to pack as much usable desktop distribution into an image small enough to fit on a single CD, or a hard limit of 700MB.
Who still has a floppy drive that works
Or even floppy disks
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I’ve used couple of different software Firewalls running Linux that ran on a single floppy disk…
Can’t remember the name of the main one - but you used their website to build your image (it was free) and it downloaded a floppy disk (1.44 mb for 3.5" floppy) image. IT worked quite well. Even gave you a HTTP page to configure/change various things… Worked just fine with ADSL…
The other one was called “Linux Router Project”… Maybe that latter one got rolled into OpenWRT? I didn’t really use it - it was more involved and technical than the previous one.
But - then I found IPCop / Smoothwall - which was an ISO image to install… That worked a treat for a few years actually…
Ran all of the above on a 486-DX 100 with 32 or 64 MB RAM…
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I had a 486 dx66 with 128Mb ram . It was Vesa Localbus, not PCI.
It ran FreeBSD really well. Even ran a TWM window manager. Would not run a DE.
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I first used X11 on Linux on a 386 with 8 MB RAM - it ran okay… No idea what the WM or DE (was it even a DE?) were… Maybe OLWM? I think it had “__WM” name - so yeah - just a window manager - not a full Desktop Environment…
I’d previously used X11 on Solaris sparc systems… Probably “OpenWindows” - but I also recall seeing the Motif look and feel of CDE.
Back then it wasn’t that different with Windows or Linux using X11.
Slackware 3.0 Linux : boot into TTY session, then run “startx”.
Windows : boot into MS-DOS and run “win” (I even set Windows 95 to work like this).
And that’s how I still run my desktop (due to some issue with GDM).
Pop!_OS 22.04 Linux : boot into TTY session, run “startx” 
(I kinda prefer it this way - I feel like I have more control)
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Yeah, more control. If a login screen hangs it takes drastic intervention to regain control.
I ran CP/M system on a 386. It came on 8 inch floppies.
Even had menus and a sort of a gui.
“Study the past if you would define the future.”
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I did the same before but now I have bashrc modded to start the window manager (wayland) after login. I also have cinnamon (xorg) as a backup if Wayland has issues. Then I just type startx.
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How do you get out if it hangs?
Use another tty maybe?
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If Sway/Hyprland crashes during login I’m already in the tty so just type startx
If I am using Sway/Hyprland and want to go cinnamon I press windows key+m to exit to tty and startx
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I don’t think I have a floppy drive anymore, but pretty sure I do have some floppies in the closet. Unless my wife has been in there without me knowing, which is possible.
You could start a new fashion trend bring them out… 
i have a drive in an external box I made for a client a few years back but he never turned up to collect its stored next to some zip disks from a mac I do have access to that drive and cannot remember why i kept them.
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I’d like to nominate Q4OS. It is lightweight and has excellent performance on older setups. I use it on my old Acer Aspire1 netbook, maxed out at 2GB RAM. With the Trinity desktop environment, it has a professional appearance, comes with Libre Office installed out of the box. and even has full hibernation enabled without the need to jump through multiple hoops to get it functional. I did manage to get hibernation working on my Linux Mint systems, but it was a major undertaking.
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OK… List of good distros that dont get a rating…acvording to your votes.
Puppy 3
Void 2
Gentoo 1
Slackware 1
Q4OS 1
and some vague mention of distros on floppies.
I notice Q4OS offers Trinity DE. I like that
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I nominate Alpine Linux. It has various ways to easily install a vm, a text based or X system, and best of all, it has rock solid 64 and 32 bit systems available for installation.
I actually set it up on a 20 year old Asus eeepc and it works well (I have it set up as a bedside alarm clock 
and pi-hole for a small home network)
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I agree that Alpine is super useful. We use it as a base for our containers, but I’ve never tried to run it on a laptop or even as a VM when running with a desktop environment. That should go on my ToDo list.
I think Ubuntu is underrated in some ways. It catches a lot of flack for being so corporate, but it serves as a base for many other distros. It’s pretty incredible.
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Ubuntu is such a solid base for all the drivers they provide out of the box.
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It is better known than some ofthe other nominations, because of its use in containers, buf yes , it makes a fine hard install. Chimera, which I have used, is based on Alpine.
Yeah, it is not just a container image.
So the votes now are
Puppy 3
Void 2
Alpine 2
Gentoo 1
Slackware 1
Q4OS 1
That is an interesting list .
Have you noticed that the entries are all non-systemd except Q4OS. Puppy can be either, depending on what it is based on.
Actually 3 for Alpine, you, me, and Jackson
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I have already had my vote, it was Void.
I usually work my way back to Peppermint Devuan, to avoid systemd and to stay in the Debian ecosystem. And, darn it, it just plugs along snappily and without problems. Another I might mention is the Emmabuntus implementation based on Debian. But it uses systemd.
Sorry only one vote each . Peppermint is no 55 on distrowatch?.. I guess that is underrated.
It does not have to be non-systemd…I was just noting that.
So, updated list
Puppy 3
Void 2
Alpine 2
Gentoo 1
Slackware 1
Q4OS 1
Peppermint Devuan 1
Now some second mentions
Emmabuntus 1
Antix 1
Antix is my honorable second mention.
It is Debian based without systemd. It is a fine choice for older machines, especially laptops needing Wifi. It comes with a choice of window managers. It has a gui for service management.