As someone avobe stated, Could you be A little More specific on the PII? How hany Mgz is it running? Also what About the Ram?
It sounds to me as if the Linux Godfarther might be an option A.K.A Knoppix, You can check the Link I've posted below for Other Distros that might work on your machine
i think macdude425 is right. fluxbox is certainly a lot more compact than kde or gnome so give it a shot. mini-distros i would reccomend: Puppy linux (http://www.goosee.com) , its great to run on a windows hdd it can mount itself on a virtual filesystem and store settings, apps etc. Damn Small Linux (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org) this is tiny, it only takes maybe 90mins-2 hours to download on dialup.