A 400mb install is the bare bones install, won't have much fun with that, but it does function properly. He can make a pretty good install of SuSE with 1gb and have 1 left. But you still must meet the memory requirement.

Also sounds like you are attempting a default install. After you get another ram stick, it will make the swap partition and the / partition for you.

Do some searching on AO for partitioning etc., it's not that difficult and most likely, eventually you'll be doing it anyway.

cheers