Ubuntu on older mechines

[Corvair]

Okay, here's the deal:

First my computer at my home that I use for linux has 2 40gb harddrives, 256mb of ram and could run Red Hat Linux 9 with Gnome and KDE as fine and smooth as the install of Windows XP it also uses. Are there any special considerations I have to do? This computer started with Windows ME.

Also, my friend is going to use ubuntu as well, her computer started out with Windows ME..and that's all I know. I know I will be able to use Grub without chainloading on ME only systems, but is there anything else I should know?

[aysiu]

Not really sure what you're asking.
Go ahead and install Ubuntu. If something goes wrong, post the problem.

[Corvair]

I'm asking, do I have to do special adjustments to what I install to optimize ubuntu on older mechines? Like using XFCE instead of Gnome as your desktop. I'm not concerned about my computer (it could run gnome 2.2 just fine). I'm just concerned about my friend here, I'll try to get some more info about her computer.

[aysiu]

Well, make sure she has a swap partition that's twice the RAM, and, yes, use XFCE. I can't think of anything else.