Hello frns..
i hav p3 866 MHz processor with 128 MB ram and 40 GB hdd..i hav installed red hat 9 on 5 gb partition and also have given about 600 MB as swap..still red hat 9 is very slow..can someone tell me tweaks to make it little faster..compiling kernel is a option i tried..dont' knw what to do...if it continues this way..i may hav to go back to Micorsoft world..

pls someone help me out...both kde and gnome r equally slow..

keep in mind that by comparison xp should have at least 256mb ram miminum, and I know red hat isn't as bloated as xp, but really, 128 is far too low imho.

I was using 1,024mb sdpc133 (with AMD T-bird 1.2ghz) and it was running very well, now I have only 512ddr @333mhz (AMD Xp 2600 though) and it is still fast

Your cpu speed is ok, but I would add some ram. Also, you can tweak it a little by going into kde-system settings- server settings - services and removing anything that is checked off that you don't need.

I'd also suggest u stick another 128 or 256 or change 128 with a 512 on ur mobo. I've also the same problem, my spec is amd333, 256mb, 8mb gc. Swap space is 512mb. According to my understanding the os will only use as much swap as u physical ram, the rest remain unused. I make a 512 for possible upgrade.
I believe the real reason for the slowing down is the many services or servers that u (I also) unknowingly configured to run during the installation. U just try those start -> (anything with system setting .. ) to find out the control for services and servers. Uncheck some that u believe u ll not need them. But it is also quite danger. So just remember wut u do, if thing go wrong u can rollback. U can also see on the system resource manager (something) to see which service/process used the most physical memories. Most of them are those X, Window-session .. Be carefull of those. X-window can not be disable .. but cup .. can if u don't have printer installed ..