I'll bet 8.6 runs just fine on a PPC Powerbook 500 series.
While OS9 really likes 64MB or more of RAM, I find 8.6 runs perfectly well with 32MB (and therefore with 40MB).
It's true the 33MHz bus speed is a slight bottleneck, but it's still in the same general ballpark as the 40MHz bus speed of many desktop Macs of the era. And 8.6 also runs perfectly well (within the limits of the machines) even on the Road Apple Performa 6200/6300 series, which I believe have a 37MHz system bus.
The big hit would come when running lots of apps at once with VM enabled - then the PB's slow HD would come into play.
So I'd say disable any unnecessary extensions and don't run more than 3 apps at the same time (or more than 2 if one is a Web browser).
M
While OS9 really likes 64MB or more of RAM, I find 8.6 runs perfectly well with 32MB (and therefore with 40MB).
It's true the 33MHz bus speed is a slight bottleneck, but it's still in the same general ballpark as the 40MHz bus speed of many desktop Macs of the era. And 8.6 also runs perfectly well (within the limits of the machines) even on the Road Apple Performa 6200/6300 series, which I believe have a 37MHz system bus.
The big hit would come when running lots of apps at once with VM enabled - then the PB's slow HD would come into play.
So I'd say disable any unnecessary extensions and don't run more than 3 apps at the same time (or more than 2 if one is a Web browser).
M