[plt-scheme] installation problems

I'm guessing that you'd benefit from running DrScheme rather than just 
the "mzscheme" command-line tool.

Are you sure that the machine at school has 218MB total?  A more typical 
number near there would be 256MB total, or maybe 248MB total plus 8MB 
video RAM.

In any case, you should be able to run DrScheme in 200-some total MB 
reasonably if you strip down the rest of your desktop software.  If you 
don't have lots more RAM than you need, you want to be running just a 
plain X window manager, like Fvwm, not the ridiculously bloated Gnome.

With 200-some MB, if you start up Firefox to read documentation online 
while running DrScheme, things will get a lot slower, as the computer's 
virtual memory system temporarily swaps pieces of DrScheme and Firefox 
onto disk.  The solution

Also, see whether you can beg or borrow an old laptop you can use for 
your work, and whether the computers at school will accommodate more 
memory.  (A 512MB stick of PC133 is about $10.)  Being able to run both 
DrScheme and a semi-modern Web browser at the same time will help you 
work/learn faster.

-- 
http://www.neilvandyke.org/