Yes you can upgrade to the standard kernel. I installed Knoppix 3.2 on my main desktop and recently upgraded to kernel 2.4.22. For the most part it done like a Debian kernel upgrade with a couple of differences. Here's a post on the Knoppix site on how to do a kernel upgrade:
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtop...?p=26609#26609
After you upgrade the kernel and do a dist-upgrade via apt-get, you basically have a debian system installed. Hope it helps