Linux will run fine on a machine such as that. I currently run Gentoo (www.gentoo.org) on a 833MHz machine, and Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com) on a 1.2GHz machine. I'd suggest using 512MB of ram, but you'll want at least 256MB.
bob, August 2006
Chances are it'll run just fine. Your biggest problems may be an unrecognized LAN Card or Video Card if they're too old.