I have a Sony Vaio PCG-Z505 which I need to install Linux on. There is support for a CD drive through the PCMIA slot, and a USB Floppy drive. However, I do not know how to boot from the CD, and as a result I am unable to install Linux in all the ways I know how to. What else can I do to get Linux onto the laptop?

Also does anyone know if I should be able to boot from the PCMIA CD drive because I have been unable to.

I guess if you wait long enough you can figure out any problem. I am able to boot from CD at this point...I have tried to install gentoo and dsl and this is the error message I get from dsl...Can't find KNOPPIX filesystem, sorry. Dropping you to a (very limited) shell. Press reset button to quit. What is going wrong here???

I'd try some other distro before you pull your remaining hairs out
Did a little searching.. nice machine for Linux! I see a network card is built in? with a network card, you could try installing over the network from a webserver, then you won't have to worry about cdrom switching or broken install support for external drives
Distributions I know to support various install types are Redhat, and Mandrake (Now called Mandriva).
From the search I did I noticed that Redhat seems to be common to the Viao PCG-Z505, perhaps you could try this one first and see how you like it, It should have enough installation options to allow you to tweak it into a slim, fast machine.
Since Fedora is (like) Redhat, you could also try that.

Good luck!

You will need to let the installer know about the cdrom (after it boots from it). I also had problems with the installer autodetecting hardware so I disabled it.

Once you boot from the CDROM, type the following:

gentoo ide2=0x180,0x386 nodetect

That should get you going on to the next steps (per the Gentoo Handbook).

Since autodetection was turned off, you will need to load the kernel module for the NIC. I believe most Z505 laptops have an Intel Exther Express Pro 100 NIC (well mine does, it is a Z505JS). The module is called e100, so you will need to type the following in order to load the module:

modprobe e100

This should be enough information to get the install up and running.

Good Luck