I use DSL on an old Dell 400MHz Celeron L400c and it runs pretty quick. I'd say faster than Windows 98 did on that box. As far as boot up time, I really can't say since its been running for about 2 years now without a reboot ;) Its playing a list of mp3s in mp3blaster to provide music on hold for a PBX phone system. Every once in a while I ssh in and change the playlist. Good example of repurposed old hardware.