Linux Laptop install

[Gonzo]

I bought a Dell Latitude XPi for $22 on Ebay and want to get linux on it. The problem I am having is that it doenst have a CD-Rom. I bought a docking station for it (again off Ebay for $5, I love that place) so now I have a SCSI port, Ethernet port, ect. I am borrowing an external SCSI CD rom from a friend to try to install Linux. Of course I cant boot directly from the CD, and I am actually having a hard time finding drivers for my SCSI adapter, and even if I did find the drivers, I have no idea how to make a linux boot disk with them on it. Then I would have to get those drivers into the install. Is there a distribution that is better at handling SCSI adapters and installing from SCSI CD rom? I have tried Mandrake 7.2, 8.0 b1, 8.0 b3, Red hat 6.2, and FreeBSD 4.3

Anyone have any ideas?

Oh, almost forgot, I cant copy the cd to the drive then install because at the moment I only have a 500 MB HD.

[ken257]

Do you have a desktop comp handy? Install an ftp server on the desktop and make the linux boot disks to do an ftp install. the boot floppies should have what you need to get the nic up and running so you can install via ftp. i setup an old ibm laptop like this using a pcmcia nic. with this method you can also choose to do a http install off of a web server.

[mcrites]

If you have a decent line to the Internet, you can plug that puppy and do a web/ftp install from the internet. Most distros should do this. I have installed debian with boot disks from the floppy drive, and installed the base system and other packages from the Internet. I think thats the best thing to do, esp if you have low ram. One of the reason I switched to debian on my server was that redhat required 24 megs of ram to do a net install, and I only had 16 on the server. Debian rules!