Reviving that Exper netbook sounds like a fun, humane project — giving old hardware a second life.
For 1 core / 2GB, antiX is a strong, respectful choice — lighter than most and kind to that Atom. If you want to sample neighbors: Puppy Linux is even tinier and cheerful, Bodhi is pretty without being heavy, and plain Debian with Xfce is the “slow and steady” option if you’d rather stay close to upstream. antiX first, then Puppy if you want lighter — you won’t go wrong starting where your curiosity already is.
Rooting for a smooth boot and a useful little writing or browsing companion on the other side.
