[ninjatux]

You should try FreeBSD. It has binary and source installation, so you won't need to compile anything. It's fairly easy to use and setup and won't push the system. By the way, there's a pretty big difference in performance between the later Pentium IIIs and any Pentium II. You should know what you have that way you'll know the limit better. Pentium II or III could mean two different things because the early Pentium IIIs performed similarly to the latest Pentium IIs while the later Pentium IIIs performed quite a bit better than the earliest Pentium IIIs.