I've tested Meerkat with several hardware setups and here are the simple results.
If you want to skip the "I did this", you can jump to the bottom.
For years as a "test" I enable the "Euphoria" screensaver and then run it in different hardware configurations. It is a very good, quick, visual, indicator of what the system will do under a load.
Because of the Plasma desktop I also used the System Load widgit.
Meerkat ran on a 32 bit and 1 gig of RAM machine but it was "laggy". The Euphoria screen jerked. The "System Load Viewer" widgit showed the CPU running pretty much full and the ram full. I used it and I got to enjoy the plasma desktop but things were kinda slow.
Meerkat ran better with a 64 bit(AMD dual processor) and 1 gig and it was LESS laggy but still noticeable if you do a lot of memory dependant apps at once, like I watch a movie and do word processing at the same time. The Euphoria saver was less "jerky", the System monitor showed the CPU running easily but RAM was still full bore.
The word processing went fine and the movie went fine WITHIN the programs but then when I wanted to start something else , it was really laggy. Again, when the program was running I could work easily within it. The lag is in starting, stopping or transitioning.
The dual processors were both working but were throttled to 1 gig so i over-rode the throttleing( it is supposed to keep your CPU temp in a good range) and things got a LOT better.
The Euphoria screen saver ran "normally" no jerking of the lines, and the System Monitor showed the CPU with almost no display, the CPU was really idling. But the RAM was still running almost full bore(1 gig). I was able to easily do work, and watch a movie, but when changing from one app to another or starting a new one there was some lag.
The addition of another gig of RAM (to 2 gig) made things REALLY SNAPPY.
As a test, I reset the throttleing switch back to "throttle" and the CPU display in System Monitor shows more "bar" but it is still really rather idling.
So.... you really can run Meerkat on lower power machines, depending on what you want to do, and I, personally would RATHER stay with low power stuff, but Meerkat really shines on a 64 bit, 2 gig machine.
The video card, by the way, is an Nvidia 6600.
NOTE: the System Load widgit does not say on the widgit itself, what the bars mean. The bars are left to right: CPU, RAM, SWAP.
NOTE 2: if you decide to "un" throttle and are worried about the possible effects on temperature the Hardware Temperature settings widgit give an instantaneous bar and also a cumulative running temperature graph.
woodsmoke
If you want to skip the "I did this", you can jump to the bottom.
For years as a "test" I enable the "Euphoria" screensaver and then run it in different hardware configurations. It is a very good, quick, visual, indicator of what the system will do under a load.
Because of the Plasma desktop I also used the System Load widgit.
Meerkat ran on a 32 bit and 1 gig of RAM machine but it was "laggy". The Euphoria screen jerked. The "System Load Viewer" widgit showed the CPU running pretty much full and the ram full. I used it and I got to enjoy the plasma desktop but things were kinda slow.
Meerkat ran better with a 64 bit(AMD dual processor) and 1 gig and it was LESS laggy but still noticeable if you do a lot of memory dependant apps at once, like I watch a movie and do word processing at the same time. The Euphoria saver was less "jerky", the System monitor showed the CPU running easily but RAM was still full bore.
The word processing went fine and the movie went fine WITHIN the programs but then when I wanted to start something else , it was really laggy. Again, when the program was running I could work easily within it. The lag is in starting, stopping or transitioning.
The dual processors were both working but were throttled to 1 gig so i over-rode the throttleing( it is supposed to keep your CPU temp in a good range) and things got a LOT better.
The Euphoria screen saver ran "normally" no jerking of the lines, and the System Monitor showed the CPU with almost no display, the CPU was really idling. But the RAM was still running almost full bore(1 gig). I was able to easily do work, and watch a movie, but when changing from one app to another or starting a new one there was some lag.The addition of another gig of RAM (to 2 gig) made things REALLY SNAPPY.
As a test, I reset the throttleing switch back to "throttle" and the CPU display in System Monitor shows more "bar" but it is still really rather idling.
So.... you really can run Meerkat on lower power machines, depending on what you want to do, and I, personally would RATHER stay with low power stuff, but Meerkat really shines on a 64 bit, 2 gig machine.
The video card, by the way, is an Nvidia 6600.
NOTE: the System Load widgit does not say on the widgit itself, what the bars mean. The bars are left to right: CPU, RAM, SWAP.
NOTE 2: if you decide to "un" throttle and are worried about the possible effects on temperature the Hardware Temperature settings widgit give an instantaneous bar and also a cumulative running temperature graph.
woodsmoke