For old computers?

You can certainly install a text-mode Ubuntu and add a WM on top (U-Lite is another light Ubuntu that packages this up a little), but it's a lot less newbie friendly than simply booting a Crunchbang Live CD, playing with it, and then installing to hard disk using the graphical Ubuntu installer.

The Crunchbang team deserve huge credit for delivering a light distro that is Ubuntu-based, meaning easy installation, easy security updates, and a huge library of apps, even on very old PCs.