I have an Asus EEE PC 701 4G - one of the original ones - and would like to install a new OS on it.What options are out there?I'm looking for:Easy to use (it's for my parents)Office softwareIdeally not abandonwareWeb browsing
What are suitable distros for the Asus EEE PC 701 4G?
distribution choice;small distribution
The bigger question you'll need to think about is what window manager to use.  I use fluxbox, which I find works well.  But you might want to find one of the eeepc-optimized distros with their heavily customized UIs.  In the early days, I was all over the eeeuser.com forum, and there was quite a bit of discussion there about distros for the eeepc.  It's down for maintenance at the moment, but I'm sure they still have a number of threads on suggestions, in the archives if nothing else.  I recall trying a couple distros that had a similar setup to the original OS, with big buttons on, basically, a home screen.You should show them a few options, and watch them use it for a bit.. See which one they like, and which one is easiest for them to use.That said, if you find they use best a traditional interface, you should consider Arch.I have had Arch Linux on my original Eeepc (preordered, I've had it since the beginning) for several years now, it has been great.  With the small HD, you need a small distro with fairly precise control over packages, which it gives.  I can get the size down around 600M, and you could probably do better with just what your parents need.  Maintenance might be a bit difficult for your parents, but they probably won't be doing much of that themselves anyway (and with the way it's set up, I find it easier to adjust than Ubuntu, which I have to use for work). 