os for pentium 2

[spartaman64]

so im doing an pentium 2 build and im not sure what OS to use that would fit the era of a pentium 2. I would prefer not to spend any money though i guess 5 dollars wont set me back much. i would also like instructions on how to make a bootable usb with the os 

[The Official Czex]

Mint?

[TacticalCuda]

XP or 98

[TacticalCuda]

You need to get the installation disk's or iso and just unload it onto a working unencrypted usb drive or CD

[spartaman64]

XP or 98

do you know where to get a copy of 98?

[spartaman64]

Mint?

im going for an ancient exotic OS and i think mint is fairly modern

[The Official Czex]

im going for an ancient exotic OS and i think mint is fairly modern

 

MS-DOS

[spartaman64]

MS-DOS

is that the one with only command line? im looking for a gui

[spartaman64]

You need to get the installation disk's or iso and just unload it onto a working unencrypted usb drive or CD

you think if i ask microsoft for a key they would give it to me?

[TacticalCuda]

^ 

 

There's plenty of copy's of 98 online

[Azgoth 2]

A Pentium II?  Dang.  People have already mentioned old versions of Windows, but unless you're just screwing around to built a retro-machine, I'd actually recommend a modern OS.  There are plenty built to run on super old hardware.

 

Some extreme-lightweight Linux distros (for using your computer as a computer):

• Tiny Core Linux--a modern, actively developed project that will boot on half a peeled potato.  It's probably the single most minimal OS you can find, boots super fast, and can run on an i486, though a Pentium II happens to be the recommended minimum CPU.  It also needs 48MB of RAM and can run entirely from memory for super duper speedy awesome.  But, be warned, it's a weird Linux distro to use for a few reasons.  There's a 15MB iso which has a full GUI and basically nothing else, of an 86MB with some additional software (not sure what offhand).  There's a spin-off distro, NanoLinux, that's based on Tiny Core, but I don't know much about it other than it looks pretty decent.
• Damn Small Linux--Unlike Tiny Core, this has a decent amount of features and programs pre-packaged, despite a 50MB .iso file and being designed to run, like Tiny Core, on an i486 processor or later.  Tiny Core actually was the result of devs from DSL deciding DSL wasn't small enough and starting their own project.  This is probably the best bet in terms of quality and ease of use among the Linux distros in this list.
• SliTaz--a very interesting distro, designed for ultra-small footprints while having quite a startling amount of pre-packaged software.  The root filesystem is compressed so it takes up ~40MB disk space.  Of the distros so far, I think this one has the highest requirements to run, but it should, I imagine, still run fine on a Pentium II.  Be warned, though, it's a completely from-scratch distro, and getting it configured for a permanent install can be pretty weird compared to other distros.  It's designed largely as a portable OS, so doing permanent installs--while definitely possible--is treated more as "the other way of doing it".

If you want some more exotic/esoteric and non-Linux stuff (mostly for experimenting with and seeing some interesting, different stuff):

• MenuetOS or its derivative, Kolibri OS.  Both are operating systems written entirely in x86 Assembler (and x86_64 for the 64-bit versions).  The system images are a jaw-dropping 1.44MB (!!!).  While Menuet has been around for about fifteen years at this point, it's still in beta because I think it's being developed by just two people.  Kolibri is much more finished, but still has a long way to go before being suitable for general/daily use, despite being forked in 2004.  At present, though, both projects are more computer science/programming experiments than they are full, usable operating systems.  But my god do they boot faster than anything I've seen in my life.
• Haiku is an interesting project, meant to recreate (in full open-source glory) the semi-popular BeOS from a while back.  It's been an ongoing project for years, and is still in alpha, but as long as your particular Pentium II has at least 128GHz clock speed, you should be able to run it.  The website says it's pretty stable at present and is suitable for tasks like web browsing and e-mail and document editing.

And some properly retro operating systems (predating the Pentium II era, mostly; these are for nostalgia only):

• IBM's semi-legendary OS/2, which is still actually used for a lot of ATMs and cash registers/point-of-sale machines.  People who used it seemed to think it was pretty great, but it was ultimately doomed by its lack of compatibility with software on MS DOS, which had the largest market share.
• Windows ME, if you hate yourself and the very notion of "an OS that works" is anathema to you.