I decided that instead of trying to build a whole new machine for collecting games and running them natively, I'd use the existing T42 I got at a flea market a year back. It's already upgraded with another stick of ram, a 120gb hdd, and cleaned. I played around with it some, trying out different OSes. I just never settled on anything because I was bouncing between wanting to run them on my modern machine or build a desktop. I'll probably be moving out to my first apartment soon, so saving money and space is now a must.

My plan is simply to install Windows 98, Unofficial SP 2.1, nusb 3.3, DirectX7.0a, daemon tools, and retrozilla. Then maybe enable DMA and digital redbook audio. I'm done with over-complicating my software.

However, the driver hunt for this thing is "fun" as it is (the battery driver has to be taken from win2000 fyi + i forget which but one of the official drivers on thinkpads.com BSODs your machine), but on top of it I have ZERO clue what driver to install for the Radeon 7500 it comes with. Existing/similar threads don't give much insight.
-Catalyst 6.2 is the latest.
-I know you need 4.2 to run KOTOR properly, but that's a title more fit for XP+ so that sorta doesn't matter.
-Some people suggest 3.x for compatibility and performance reasons, but its ambiguous which 3.x. To play it safe, some people just run 3.1 so they don't have to trial and error.
-VXD Drivers exist, but I'm not sure up to which version. Also, I'm not sure if the stability vs performance tradeoff is worth it.
-Many have suggested Omega Drivers, but they're near IMPOSSIBLE to find for 9x/ME, despite the fact that they do exist up to catalyst 6.2 I believe. It was hard enough just finding the ones for catalyst 3.1 when I had ME on it.
-On top of all the above, many later versions warn you of needing/demand directx 8. Some say you can get around this and install anyway, but I believe that depends on version. I've personally installed them and then used a DX removal tool to uninstall and reinstall 7.0a, but it feels too hacky to be safe, unless someone can convince me otherwise that a driver designed for 8.0 won't freak out with 7.0a.

Any insight?