zenwalk http://www.zenwalk.org/ or
vector http://vectorlinux.com/

- bloat-free, one application per task
- xfce -> very fast desktop environment based on GTK+ (looks and feels a lot like GNOME, but is faster)
- fast boot (~42s to DE)
- good support for wireless cards (i have an atheros myself, however zenwalk did not find it during the installation so i use ndiswrapper which works great, vector found it instantly)

- surf the internet -> firefox or opera
- instant messaging (icq/msn) -> pidgin
- writing texts -> openoffice (must be downloaded, does not come on the cd)
- programming in java (eclipse) -> must be downloaded, does not come on the cd
- playing small games (solitair, sudoku etc.) -> part of GNOME or KDE (can be installed from the repository as well)

these are slackware based distros which i use myself, i found them to be very stable, reliable, fast, and quickly booting (what you can't say about all those x-buntus or debians out there). i can't say that the limited number of graphic config utilities on slackware is a handicap, most things are configured during the installation automatically. however, if you never used linux before, it might be a bit confusing, but you'll get used to it.

if you want a "beginner" distribution with a large german-based user base, try suse.

most distributions offer live CDs, so you can test everything before installing.

one word about 64bit OSes (as you have a 64bit cpu): don't bother, use the 32 bit versions.


ps: neither DamnSmallLinux nor PuppyLinux will satisfy you.