i have a compaq presario 1200 xl126 and i would like to find suitable a version of linux to put on it.
the system itself has:
amd k6 iii processor not sure of the exact clock speed
4 mb trident video card
trident sound card and display
187 mb of ram and a 5.5 gig hd
id like to find a flavour of linux that will install and run as fast if not faster than my windows 2000 that is already on it.id also like to use kde as my desktop manager. im and intermediate user of linux, and am not afraid of command prompt or compiling. any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry to say, but if You want to get the most out of older hardware, I think the first thing You should do is to skip the fat desktop environments, ie KDE and Gnome. Instead, use one of the low footprint ones, such as IceWM, Fluxbox, Windowmaker, XFCE, etc. I've often found that if I do a minimal install (Debian, Slackware, Ubuntu SERVER install) just to get the basic system and build from that, it's easier to hold down size and number of packages. With a good package manager (I like debs best) You just chose to add, for example, icewm, and the dependencies will sort out what extras You really need, such as X and fonts, and what's optional.
Also, make sure to disable any services You don't need. Even though they may sleep eternally and get swapped out, they still use resources, such as ram/swap, and makes You machine slower to start and shutdown.

With that much ram, a Slackware + fluxbox install will be blazing
fast.You got plenty of ram there.I know loads of people that use
that combo with like 60-100MB of ram with no problems.Just like
lakris said, say away from a heay WM.

I have a Presario 1675, which shows-up in the boot-messages as 1275XL. The specs for the two systems differ primarily in the disk and memory capacity and the screen, if I recall correctly. Anyway, my Presario was running Debian Etch without problems before the PCMCIA connector died; before that it ran Debian Sarge, again without problems. I've also run RedHat v7.3 and v9, if that helps. Prime reason I went to Debian was that I could not compile RedHat kernel modules and get them to work.

One thing I did was to get a larger hard disk drive; don't know if you are afraid of doing some surgery. If the 1200 has a USB port an external hard disk drive could be plugged into it to get more space. If it does not have a USB port, try a Micro-Innovations 4-port USB PCMCIA board - worked perfectly in my Presario with Debian Sarge and Etch after my USB port died.

K-R.