Is this possible with DSL?

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[TheJoshMan2000]

I basically want to make a Pentium III "Look" like a new computer.  That is, with DSL, a look like Windows 7 or 8.1, the latest browsers and the newest version of Office.  I honestly know nothing about using Wine but I'm willing to try.  Basically, I work in an office with old computers and there is no budget to upgrade the machines.

Before I begin trying this out, would Damn Small Linux even work? Is it customizable? There are YouTube videos of people turning Linux into a copycat of Windows.  Would it work on DSL?

[CNK]

I can't say I know much about themes for JWM (the DSL window manager). Searching for JWM Windows 7 Themes shows that this has been done on Puppy Linux, but it probably uses a newer version of JWM than DSL, and I don't know how close it is functionally.

New versions of Firefox won't run on DSL natively, but perhaps it could work in Wine (I doubt it, sounds like too much of a cheat, but I guess it's possible). You should check the Wine compatibility database to see what is compatible with the latest version of Wine that is available as a MyDSL extension (unless you want to compile it yourself). That's V. 0.9.59.

Honestly, I probably wouldn't bother to do this in DSL, I'd use Windows XP on the PCs (assuming you have licenses/don't care that you don't) and run "LiteStep" as an explorer replacement. I've done this on my Windows machines (for performance reasons mainly). It basically offers a lot more customisation to the Windows interface than the standard XP themes system does and there are tons of modern looking themes available. Only problem is that the community is a bit dead (remind you of something), so there's a possibility that at least there isn't a Windows 8.1 look-a-like.

Also Puppy is still another choice (http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=59230&sid=26fb4641b21629966170c4cfffa4ce00)

[TheJoshMan2000]

The machines in question currently have Windows XP on them.  Everything on them opens slowly.  Basically, that entails IE 6, Firefox (I forget which version) and Office 2000.  Google Images does not even work on these machines, anymore, probably due to a CPU/Memory constraint in conjunction with Windows XP.  When you click on images, they go directly to the source of the site, and not a drop-down where you have the option to view the site or the image itself.  It takes maybe 30 seconds (it seems) to launch Mozilla Firefox and the machine crawls after a few open tabs.  This is why I want to try this.

[CNK]

Well if XP isn't working, that pretty much leads back to my previous suggestions. Well, one could always go back to Windows 98 (can actually run some new software with an add-on called "KernelEx"), but you're probably going down the right path already.

Other than DSL and Puppy, some other options might be CDLinux and (depending on the specs of the PCs) Knoppix. The hardest part will be making them look convincingly like a new Windows (although it seems to have been done before with Puppy), are you sure there's that much shame in running Linux?