Yes, it will run on a Celeron machine no problem (I'm using Knoppix 3.3 and a 1GHz Celeron 256m ram to post this).

What errors are you getting when you boot from CD? Try and narrow down the problem: is the CD OK? (checksum or another machine), do you get to the knoppix boot screen? If so, try booting with various no- parameters to skip parts of the hardware detection.

If you post the details here of what's not working, there are many people here who can hopefully help you out.