[techtalk] Installing linux without CDROM or floppy?

[Akkana]

I yielded to impulse and ordered one of those tiny Vaios (SR17).
Of course, the first thing I want to do is install Linux on it (as
a dual-boot), preferably Redhat 7.1 since I want the 2.4 kernel for
USB and Redhat is what we support at work.

The problem is that it comes with neither a CDROM nor a floppy drive.
I have a PCMCIA ethernet card, and getting a copy of a linux install CD
onto the disk's second partition or a local NFS server is no problem. 
But how do I boot the Linux installer without a floppy or CDROM?

I expect to buy an external CDROM anyway (perhaps a CD-RW, which
aren't actually much more expensive than the read-only sort), but the
Sony PCMCIA one costs a fortune and I'm not sure whether the machine
will boot off a non-Sony USB floppy or CD (maybe a USB Mac floppy?)
Can I just assume that the machine will boot off any ol' USB
floppy or CD drive?  (Sounds risky.)

I've been combing google looking for help, but I haven't found
anything.  Is there some way, under Windows, that I can copy
a linux boot floppy onto the second partition and the boot into
that partition?  I have Partition Magic, if that helps.  Or can I
buy an aftermarket CDROM and expect it to be bootable?

-- 
	...Akkana       http://www.shallowsky.com