I've been running knoppix-mode on a PII 450 (384 M RAM) for 3 months. Every morning when I boot up I thank Klaus Knopper.

I used Partition Commander to create 4 FAT32 partitions:
8 G for Win98
2 G for the CD files, next version CD files and misc.
500 M for the swap file.
9 G for my /home.
Booted Win98, downloaded Knoppix, burned it to a CD with Nero, Copied the files on the CD to 2 G partition. Rebooted and set BIOS to boot from CD, booted into Knoppix, clicked K=>KNOPPIX=>Root Shell (I love this!) and put a floppy in and entered:
dd if=/mnt/cdrom/KNOPPIX/boot.img of=/dev/fd0
The rare time I need Win98 I take the floppy out. I enter:
knoppix home=/dev/hda4 at the boot: prompt tho this may no longer be necessary with 9-24.
I clicked K=>KNOPPIX=>Configure and created the swap file.
I clicked K=>KNOPPIX=>Configure and created /home.
When I upgrade Knoppix I copy the CD files to the 2 G partition and create a new start up diskette.
Upgrading doesn't get any easier. And that persistent /home can be copied to USB 'thumb' drive and easily moved to another computer.
I love surfing with a smug attitude, Root me!
Thank you, Klaus Knopper.