a linux challenge

i came across a dell latitude cs this summer for $10. needless to say it is now mine.

the battery works, needs a new hard drive.

the challenge here is:
I want to install linux on it. how do i go about doing this with no floppy or cd drive?

I dont want to put 50 bucks down on a hd if there isnt a way to make this work.

if you check out the user guide you will see it has an "external media bay connector" on the side. basically its an IDE interface with a proprietary connector. if someone can point me toward a cable for this interface i would be thankful. thats one option.

the other is if there is some way to partition the laptop hd to have the install data on the hd itself, boot it, then install linux to the rest of the drive.

thoughts? ideas? anything helps. thanks

[edit] spelling