I'm considering this option because the Satellite 2800 is limited to 192 mb ram (64 mb soldered on + 128 mb SD100 ram).
I bought a 256 mb chip but the bios does not accept it.

The machines are not all that different, the 300 has a cpu that is about 250mhz faster and a nvidia Geforce video instead of the Savage chip on the 2800.
Some of the later 2800s did support 128+256 mb but the bios files come packaged together, does not seem possible to choose the 'wrong' one. I could try to look at all the installers i can find of course.

So, is this likely to brick my old Toshiba? I guess it will if this is truly a hardware limitation.

I wouldn't risk it man.... Even though the systems are similar, the overall underlying circuits are most likely different, thus using a different BIOS could and will most likely brick your computer.

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Thanks, better not risk it then. The pc is still useful when i work in a big reading hall,
no one bothers to steal it..
Runs quite well with antiX, openbox with no icons, no login manager, a browser, dict (Lexica) and a dictionary running in wine. And Abiword etc too. Have to avoid running too much at a time.
Will try to increase size of swap partition.
The RAM chip cost only $10.
There is a bios for a 2805 though, made for XP. Less of a risk
Don't wanna lose the old workhorse

It is sometimes possible to 'crossflash' BIOSes (eg, if you have a nForce 2 chipset motherboard from gigabyte, it is _someimes_ possible to flash using a asus nforce 2 BIOS) but that is still risky, even with desktop boards. In situations where it does work, you can sometimes have devices disabled (eg, if the sound/netowrking chips differ from board to board)

With the added complexity of laptops, even a well researched crossflashing could still brick it.

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now, as long as the machine starts it will be possible to flash back the old bios. Most bioses start whatever the video card I guess but this is some kind of special toshiba bios so..