3 Linux distros that run on 2.8GB of RAM when even the ‘lightweight’ ones choke

I’ve usually trusted the word “lightweight” on a Linux distro’s homepage. Pick anything with that label, drop it on old hardware, and it should run fine, or so I assumed. Now I’ve actually tested the assumption on my 2012-era HP Pavilion m6, and one distro built specifically to be tiny still fell apart the moment I opened a real browser.