Here is my laptop situation:

I have an old toshiba protege. Pentuim I , 133mhz, 64mbRAM, 6 gb hdd.

I am looking to put a linux distro on it that will give basic functionality and still run with some relative effeciency.

The MAIN problem is getting the install loaded: I do not have a floppy for it AND it does not have a cdrom. It does have an attachment for ethernet that worked in the win98 install that was previouly loaded.
My friend has a connector for attatching a laptop hdd to regular ide cables, So i could put it into my main case and copy an image over . How would i run the intalls??

So what are my options??

Thanks for all help

Could you not install it over a network?
if you have ethernet, i think that would work...
just an idea.

You do have a way to put the laptop HDD in a desktop box?

If that desktop box also has a cdrom, I would load something like Slackware 10 (2.4.26) on the HDD. And, since you have room, I would load everything. You can lighten it up later if you want with pkgtool. In install operation install Lilo in the MBR of the HDD.

Once the HDD is loaded, stick it in the laptop, and away you go. The tweeking will now start. YOu have plenty of RAM for using a window manager as long as it isn't Gnome or KDE.

Thanks Guzzi,

Thats what I was lookin' for. I caught myself still stuck in a microsoft world mentality. Thinkin that you can't install the os on a different hardware and then swap it over.

Glad thats mostly gone from my world.

So you recommend Slackware. Never tried it , but am up for it. I was thinkin more along the lines of damn small, but am open for other distro suggestions for my hardware.

Thanks a ton.