Minimum PC spec for IDE & sketches

Is there a 'minimum spec' that a computer needs to have to be compatible with an Arduino board and IDE- apart from a USB port!

I have some old PCs (10 to 15 yrs old!) at my disposal running on Win98 (but they could run Linux).

So, is there a minimum RAM, FSB speed, processor, etc required to run the IDE, and to enable sketches to download reasonably quickly?

The Arduino IDE is very unlikely to work correctly on Windows 98. If you want to continue using Windows, it will have to be a version based on the NT kernel (NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7) and may need to be a later version (XP, Vista, or 7).

Win98 didn't do USB, did it? So long ago ...
I suppose a Serial Com port would work, have to bypass the USB interface - or use a Serial to USB adapter cable?
Might not have the needed COM ports.

Win98 didn't do USB, did it?

I can't remember either (mostly skipped 98). But that does remind me... scratch NT off my list.

if they are in the 10-12 year range and you put linux on them you should be good to go. I use a zipit z2 sometimes and it will load the ide, if you're willing to wait about 10 minutes. That's at 300Mhz cpu with 32 megs of ram. It works very well with avrdude and avr-gcc though if you are willing to learn how to use them. On a side note the zipits are end of life now, so the main redistributer for them is selling them at around $12 each if you're interested. The contact info is on the zipit wiki.

Win98 didn't do USB, did it?

I've got an old Gateway (with a 'massive' 500Mhz chip and 256kb of RAM) and usb works just fine on Win98SE!
Check out this link for useful info on Win98 & USB support http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php.

Nice one, iggy. That's gonna be hard to beat!!! But 10 minutes is not 'reasonably quickly' in my book.

So assuming that usb support is not an issue, anyone got up and running on anything a bit faster than a Zipit?

The main issue is the ram, if you have something with 64-128MB it should be much faster. If not you can just use avr-gcc with a makefile and avrdude to upload. It's actually pretty easy, here's one guide I found googling quick http://johanneshoff.com/arduino-command-line.html(I haven't tried this one specifically, but it looks fine).