Best Unix for a shitty laptop

Not that bad in terms of specs - but most distros (FreeBSD, ReactOS, Gentoo) don't agree with my hardware.
What a Unix OS that's small enough to learn about operating systems while still being likely to work with my shitty laptop?

>>8
If you had read >>1-san's post, you would know that he wants
to learn about operating systems

Academic OSes are designed specifically for learning about operating systems.