Based on the fact you're using Arch I'm going to guess that you've already considered the distros they are meant for older hardware like damn small Linux and puppy Linux; but you want to set this up for a child and Hannah Montana Linux fits the bill even though this distro is mean as a joke, I bet the aesthetics will work.
this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2025
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The kiddo will love the puppy!
With 4GB RAM, a dedicated GPU and a new SSD, you'll be able to install and run any Linux distro.
For someone who doesn't want to deal with maintenance, I'd recommend Fedora Kinoite.
The desktop is similar to Windows, you install all programs through the app store, updates are installed when ready during the next reboot, when something goes wrong you can just reboot into the last working state, and the command line is almost entirely useless.
Aurora is a downstream Kinoite distro by the Universal Blue project. It is tweaked to be a bit more user friendly and has a lot of tweaks and changes. I recommend anyone try it out.
GODDAMN IT! I ain't givin' you muh Debian, you goddamn Loch Ness Monster!
(but that distro looks sexy as fsck!)
Linux Mint will work wonderfully on it. It has 4 GB RAM and a cpu that scores 1220 CPU points on passmark benchmark. That's more than enough to run Mint with Cinnamon -- which is very Windows-like, and the recommended distro for windows users.
I'd suggest you install it for him, and you configure it as it should (go through the prefs). Also, disable a couple of startup things found in the utility in the prefs, e.g. the wizard and the reports, to save ram. To save even more ram, install chrome for your friend (I know, I know, Firefox is there, but Chrome uses less ram on youtube -- almost 2/3s). On a 4 gb laptop, for someone who specifically wants to use youtube, that matters. And along with it, ublock origin on the medium level, so it can block youtube ads.
Weird (but not really unexpected) that Chrome uses less RAM in this case. I think I'll consider this too, thanks!
uBlock Medium requires some unbreaking of websites, so i would avoid it on this laptop. Ungoogled Chromium could be a good replacement for chrome.
You have an opportunity. Give him a pre-installed Linux and a terminal, along with a page of commands that he can run to do neat things... including starting the GUI to watch his favourite (ideally pre-downloaded) videos, running some demos, etc.
Don't make it too easy, but not too hard (2 you said? Can type a few characters though..)... Add to it over the years, unlocking the power, and guiding him to discover more by himself.
Kids won't become tech savvy if we hand everything to them on a silver platter, with touch screens, controllers, and flashy games. It can be bland and boring, until they do something.
It might just be the most life changing gift they ever receive.
Oh yeah, that sounds good. He's a smart kid already, for sure, and his dad is an old nerd (like me tbh, except 10 years my senior) so yeah, might just do something like this... But maybe at first keep it as a Youtube-machine, until he learns to speak and comprehend more stuff. But thank you for the idea, though! Really didn't consider this before.
Debian with XFCE works well on my old netbook (~15 yr old).
Addendum: I should add that the distro should be Debian or Arch based basically (as these are the ones I know best, or have the most experience with), because if something doesn't work (for some reason) I will be the one debugging it, and I kinda don't want to learn a new distro and its quirks in order to do so. Because I'm lazy like that. So I'm gravitating towards maybe Manjaro or L/Xubuntu.
If you want something that will scream on that hardware, AntiX (Debian based). AntiX runs much faster than Windows XP on my Pentium 3 rig from the late 90s.
Otherwise, I'd go with one of the flavors of Linux Mint, which should also run fine, especially if you go with Xfce or MATE.
If it can run Windows 7 fine, it can run Mint even better.
I have seen your Debian/Arch addendum, but since it's meant to be easy and for simple media consumption only, how about Fedora Silverblue with a couple of Flatpak games for kids? You'll barely have to look after it as it's immutable, will update itself and the stock Fedora Gnome setup is pretty basic and simple enough for a smart kid. Plus he's two- I doubt he will need anything outside of Flatpaks and a paint program.
NixOS with gnome
What about Manjaro with XFCE? That would have graphical package manager/settings/etc out of the box without being very heavy