> A smartphone... you're right, I didn't think of that, but the hardware I
> described is very much like the one of a modern smartphone!!!
> Are you saying that PostgreSQL+PostGIS can actually run on a
> smartphone??? Intriguing...
> Did anyone ever actually tried that???
While the performance of ARM cpus used in smartphones, PDAs, etc, is
pretty good, this hardware is optimized for small size and low power use,
thus you generally get quite low memory bandwidth, the problem of Flash
endurance, and lack of standard interfaces to hook up to the rest of your
system.
Embedded PC-Compatible hardware in the 600 MHz range you mention would
probably get a DIMM memory module (maybe for the only reason that
mass-production makes them so cheap) so you'd get a much higher memory
bandwidth, and much larger RAM. Even if the CPU is only 2x faster than a
smartphone, if the memory bandwidth is 10x higher, you'll see the
difference. It would also have standard interfaces, very useful for you,
and you can hook it up to a real SSD (not a micro-SD card) with real flash
wear leveling algorithms.
But yeah since today's smartphones are more powerful that the desktops of
10 years ago (which ran PG just fine) it would probably work, if you can
run Linux on it...