go for damn small linux. it has a browser (glinks), few texteditors (vim, emacs), xmms (winamplike), mail (sylpheed)...

more info on their homepage:
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
it requires 64M ram for graphical. and 16 for textmode.
here is a interestng thing for you (486 33Mhz with 16 M ram)
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/486.html