Quote Originally Posted by kevin05jan
I really enjoy using knoppix and I prefer having it installed on my HD on my old PC. However I wanna buy an IBM Thinkpad 600e and downgrade myself with hardwares a bit coz it will have only PII 400Mhz and 128MB. Question is:
1) will knoppix still perform fine?
2) is it better to upgrade my RAM
3) 400Mhz enough? I though the CPU isnt really that important but the RAM is.
I tried it on a PII 400Mhz PC w/64MB of RAM, a very old SONY Vaio. It was a little tight, but it worked with KDE. My conclusions trying different distributions over the years in terms of memory and CPU speed are:

1. Memory and swapping are inversely proportional. Since most Knoppix don't have swap partitions, running on 64MB RAM or even 128MB, is awfully tight. You may have to rethink which GUI you use.

2. Processor matters mostly for graphical rendering for regular users. A good video card will partially compensate for it. GIMP runs much better on my regular desktop (PIII 800Mhz PC w/256MB of RAM and nice video card) than on my notebook (P4 double the speed and double the RAM with a poor video card).

3. Games are a different animal, you'll need as much hardware as you can get, including video and sound card.

My $.02

--GN